The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-25


 to the call. for the discussion of the street car matter. ana, if it be found nec- essary, to Introduce and act upon an ordinance revokfng the franchise here- tofore granted to, and now held by, the Montgomery Traction Company"
 The exact language of the call issued by President Gunter and published in yesterdays Advertiser was as follows:
 Montgomery. Ala, Nov. 2S, 1906. ITO the Honorable City Council of Montgomery:
 "Gent1emen-You will please attend a special meeting of your honorable body this evening (Friday) November 23.. 1908, at six (e) o'clock ?. f11.,. for the purpose of considering the street railway matters. and for the purpose of introducing and acting upon an or- dinance repeating and forfeitfng to the city of Montgomery the franchises heretofore granted the Montgomery Traction Company.
 By order of the President.
 John J. Farley,
 "City Clerk"
 Ruth Makes His 'FReply."
 Alderman Ruth was the first mem ber of the Council to catch the eye of the presiding officer when business. under the call. was asked for. erose to a question of personal privilege, he said. because of the reports that had been published in the newspapers re- garding the Council He had always tried to be a conservative member of the Council, he said, and to act as he believed to be right. He believed the other members of the Council had tried to do the same thIng and they were men of judgment of affairs.
 And yet, he said. the members of the Council had been held up to ridicule in the public prints. and had been repre- sented in a light that was decidedly distasteful. Every effort, he said, re- verting to the street car matter, had been made to have the Traction Com pany follow proper course, and do the things it should do. but they had failed. The Council had then tried the separate car ordinance as last resort. in it's effort to make the company per form its contract with the city, and because of that effort that had been made by the members Se the Council, he did not desire t9 be misrcpresented hfore the public. Ne had no words too strong. he said in conclusion. for these "villifying reports" by the newspapers
 Strauss Gives History.
 Alderman Strauss was the next Councilman to give a personal priyi- leRe" explanation of the street car situation. He said that he felt impell- ed. as chairman of the committee on -pEfNltOBGS AuQ 0ACCETlCdA control, to make a thorough expLana~ tion of the true history of the street car negotiations. This he proceeded to do, beginning with the request made by the Traction Company for & franchise or the consolidated company last De- cember. sr a rp An attempt had been made, said Mr.. Strauss, by some individual or indivi- dua1s. or by some corporation. to hold the Council up to more or less ridieule. Hc wanted. in turn, to criticise ,who- ever 1t was that caused the arrest of the innocent motormen at Court Square Friday morning, as they were simply doing their duty, simply carrying out the orders from headquarters.
 At the time of the application for the consolidation franchise last De- cember. said Mr. Strauss, many things were promised. but few had been done. He confessed that the Council had gone little slow at that time, but 1t was done, he said. because the members of the Council had feared that some such situation would arise later on.
 Tt would have been better" said he, If the people had let us alone at that time, ana let us take our own time, If they had let us alone then, we would have got more income out of the com pany, and 1t would have been income that would have been justly taken LuS 5lTSSL CaA GOAhPdhys AS using our streets
 Tt was in April" continued MT. Strauss. that we finally gave the franchise Since then. the only im- provement that has been made has been the giving of transfers. None of the other improvements that were promis- ! Ad have been made.
 This Council has tried to act fairly toward the Traction Company. We bear no malice. The Traction Compa- ny people are my friends, personally. But I am here, like the rest of the Councilmen. to represent the public, and not to be held up to public ridicule. We had laws enough, before this last ordinance was passed, to have solved the question, if the Mayor had have enforced them at the proper time. If he had. we would probably not be here today. as they would like- | lv have proved the solution.
 | A Word to Reporters. But finally in August, I think 1t was, the situation became suchr that | Alderman Jones from the Seventh Ward Introduced an ordinance requiring sepa- rate cars for the races, and it was re- | ferred to the committee of which am chairman. We met several times and want the reporters to take this down just as well as it can be done and saw the street car men, and did l everything we could to get the rlght kind of an ordinance.
 This ordinance was passed, but the Mayor vetoed it, and the Council, as 1t had the right, passed 1t over the Ma yor's veto. But a week or SO after that had an inkliug that if the city tried to enforce it. the street ear com panv would get on its head and try to make it as hard for the travelling pub llic. as we'll as for citizens generally as possible.
 T confess that I did not hink that Iit would be necessary to enforce every lline of that ordinance, but those citi- zens living in the vicinity of the Washington Park or Highland Avenue Hines will bear me out in the state meut that the ordinance was an abso- flute necessity. There the rottenest rolling stock had been installed, and all the conditions were such as to be disgrace to the town. Refers to Experiment.
 Not desiring to see any trouble oe' tween the city and the company nov ! ed the appointment of a special com mittec. with the author of the ordi- nance, the Alderman from the Seventh | Ward as it's chairman, to take up the matter. and see what could be done | We held a conference or two with the Traction Company officials. and the company very kindly offered to exper' iment in any way we wished.
 Some of us thought that putting lone cars on the crowded lines would hell a. little: others suggested that fixet partitions would relieve the situation and some wanted movable partltionI tried. The company did put a ooupl' of long cars on the Highland Avenu'