Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-01-30
SENATOR KEAN
AND BRIDGES.
His Position in the Matter Is Mis-
understood, Il Is Claimed
Other New Jersey News.
tFrom the NEWS CONSEQUENTLY

(From the NEWS Correspondents
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30:-There
seems to be a lot of misrepresentation
with reference to the amendment
Senator Kean introduced in the sen
ate to the river and harbor bill. il
was introduced by him at the request
of $4,000 commuters who travel daily,
on the various railroads crossing the
Passaic river and Hackensack river
and Its adoption would be for their
direct benefit. While there is a lot
of misrepresentation with reference TO
this proposed amendment there is al
so a lot of interest being manifested
in the matter.
Senator Kean is being fairly delug-
ed with letters from commuters livr
ing at Newark, Orange, Elizabeth
and many other towns on the lines
of the Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western railroad, the Erie railroad
and the Pennsylvania railroad, and
naturally they are all heartily In IA
vor of the proposed amendment. To
them a few minutes delay on ac7
NColib VI sui OINh dio W VI AuSN ihSoAlft
the loss of ten. or twelve minutes IN
reaching their Offices in New York,
and If this happens frequently Ii
makes a lot of difference to them. AT
least, that is the way they look at it,
The Board of Trade, of Newark, is
opposed to the closing of the draw
bridges for any period of time, ex-
cept as under the present regulations.
Visions of decayed river traffic seem
to confront the members like a spec
tire when there is any agitation of the
matter to give the railroads any more
fleeway than they have at present.
and there is a big hue and cry against
any modification of the present regu-
lations. Not content with expressing
their disapproval of the proposed
amendment to Senator Kean, who,
simply introduced it to oblige 25, 900
of his constituents who happened to
be commuters, the Board of Trade
sets out to lombard the members of
the New Jersey delegation with let
tiers and petitions calling upon them
to prevent g%revious injury to the in
dustrial plants of Newark. One
would almost imagine that a serious
danger did confront the city of New
ark. instead of something that would
hardly have any terrible effects even
upon the commerce of the river.
Attitude of War Department.
The attitude of the War Depart
ment is known to be opposed to the
change of the present regulations.
Colonel William r. Livermore, Corps
of Engineers, in his report on the
condition of the Passaic river, has
this to say:
The greater part of the land tariff
between New York and New England
on one hand, and the south and west
on the other, crosses the northern
part of the proposed improvement,
and it is not to the interest of COM
merce to check or delay these great
transcontinental routes. The bridges
across the Passaic river are, for the
most part, insufficient for the wants
of the traffic either by land or sea.
They should be so constructed that
the trains passing over them would
never be delayed, and eventually the
railroads will find it advantageous to
pass in tunnels. Where the river
banks are high the bridges can read
lily be made high enough and the
water deep enough to allow vessels
to pass at all stages of the tide with
out opening the draw except a few
vessels with masts. which should only
be allowed to pass at a few fixed hours
of the day or night, and accordingly
the channel in the upper part of the
river should be deep enough to allow
the passage of these vessels without
regard of the state of the tide.
1t may be seen from this report
that Colonel Livermore, while oppos-
ing any modification OF the regula
lions. admits that the vessels with
masts should have certain hours
when they might pass through the
bridges.
All Can Bo Heard.
Senator Kean will see that the in
terests involved have an opportunity
to be heard before the committee on
commerce, which will have charge of