New-York tribune., 1906-12-23
THE CONNECTING RAILROAD.

The agreement between the city officials and
the Pennsylvania Railroad authorities on terms
for the New York Connecting Railway fran
chise IS a compromise creditable to both par
ties. When the plans for this important link
TO bring Brooklyn and Long Island into con-
nection with continental traffic systems We're
first made certain local statesmen whose Prin-
cipal stock in trade is corporation batting pro-
posed to hold up the railroad, in the name Of
the people, for payments and concessions which
no railroad which had to commend its enter
prises 10 sound financiers TO secure the money
TO carry them ont could dream of accepting.
Some OF these statesmen had the notion that
they could make this short piece Of track
handle by which to control interstate commerce,
and they also attempted TO make the grant de-
sired from the city the excuse for charging not
merely the extreme value of the right TO cross
certain streets and other public places, which
was all they could grant but also for the right
of the company to use its own private prop
erty.
The railroad officials properly refused to sub
nit TO any extOrtiOn, and the loose talking
statesmen. some of whom, perhaps, have been
subdued in spirit by learning that it does not
pay to preach riot even against an unpopular
corporation learned that Brooklyn wanted this
read quite as much as the railroad company
did Good sense having finally prevailed to
this extent, accommodation was in sight.
The city asked larger compensation than had
been offered TO it. and additional safeguards as
10 rates and plans of improvement, and the
railroad company concluded that what ii had
announced as its maximum of concession could
be increased to meet demands which were rea-
sOnable and intended to benefit the public
rather than for eXtortiOn and TO block the
enterprise for the benefit Of self-advertslng
corporation baiters.
The result is an agreement by which the
railroad company will pay 10 per cent more
for the franchise than the rapid transit COM
missioners had been prepared TO accept, will
submit plans for its bridge and buildings to the
Municipal Art Commission will make rates
for intIamural passenger traffic subject 10 the
approval of the local authorities will pay the
cost of any necessary changes in the grade OF
existing streets or in the sewerage or drainage
system on account of the construction and will
exclude all advertising from its property. On
the other hand, the city recedes from its posi-
ton far as to make the Appellate Division
the arbiter of any difference as TO compenSa-
ton for the renewal Of the franchise twenty
five years hence, itself accepts the burden of
opening any new streets across the railroad
property and recognizes the fact that its reve-
nues have been already and will be hereafter
still more largely increased by the rise in
business by the railroad.
II would have been a public misfortune if
| any uncompromising attitude on either side had
prevented the building of this railroad, for it
| means a great development for this city. y
! large tract of land suitable for manufacturing
! on Long Island will he made accessible TO
| the commerce of the country. Passenger and
freight traffic with the West and with New
| England will be made direct, and Brooklyn's
| commercial isolation will be ended. Further
| more, New York City as a whole will he
| brought more directly into the line of traffic
between the West and New England. and the
obstacles which have tended TO divert that bust
| ness around the city will be overcome. The
municipal authorities have been right to insist
upon payment of the fullest compensation for
the grants which they make and trying to get
better terms than the railroad company had at
first offered, but they entitled to great credit
for finally reaching a reasonable agreement.
and not permitting the cries of demagogues to
set them across the path OF great public enter
prise.