New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-12-06

resource was to pay the money, unless he wanted to
unload his goods into truck wagons and vans ana
cart them all over the city
LIE was in a very desperate situation Here ne
IL was saddled with a twenty-tve-year lease OF one
Of the most expensive piers IN New YORK mere ne
had great warehouse six blocks or more away from
the er here he had also a vast store several miles
from the warehouse; here was railroad that prac-
tcallv connected all three provided one or two htte
srrs or switches could be built from per TO railroad
and from warehouse to railroad. The railroad people
meant TO make him pay; he was equalE deItlIllSu
He was not alone in his position however. for it
was found on all sides that other shippers ana
merchants seeking similar privilege were belng neld
up in the same way. The whole Waterfront OF New
York found itself tied up by this octopus OF cor
poratiOn- -
There had been no clamor in the papers over TINS
matter It being the habit of the conservative DS-
ness man to work quietly as long as ne Coulu' -
aqi+ate nothing to grin and bear it while endurance
was possible: but there tremendous under
current of resentment and dissatisfaction ana
Gorrnlv thought he an opportunity OF turning 1t
10 his own account. To expose the injurious
met bods of procedure OF the Gotham Freight lTac-
ton Company, to bring about It's rum or ITS Gown
fall by deprivng it of the franchise 1t was abusing
10 safeguard the people in their rights IN any frthe
grants was certainly object sufficiently high and
Sufficiently vast to attract the attention, and should
he succeed TO awaken the admiration of any being.
Inasnuch as Miss Haldane was deeply interested IN
the welfare of the people at large and III general,
nothing thought Gormly, could more conduce to ms
nj
Gormly himself began to look at the possibilities
from a high and noble point of view, IN which self
interest took secondary position
CONSEQUENTLY, late in November he came
- boldly out in the open, and over his own name
vigorously attacked the Gotham Freight traction
Company. He did it in a unique way too. Instead
~ the fun page advertisement of Gormlys store
that appeared simultaneously IN all the great
daiiies there was presented one morning IN clear,
direct busnessike English statement OF the whole
situation exactly as it There were no threats,
no menaces no intimations, of any future plan or
purpose; Just blunt statement of facts printed IN
large double-leaded type, and signed with the
familiar fac-simile of his now famous autograph
The move made an instant sensation. The news
1apers took it up. They were not lOath TO take up
The cudge1s for such a heavy advertiser as Gormly,
ANYWAY. Other merchants, freighters, and shippers
interviewed, and case was SpeedlIy MADE out
against the Gotham Freight Traction Company
which would have shaken to pieces a less ponder
Gus less thick skinned, less Indifferent organization.
Even the authorities interviewed, and they
shed hvpocrtical tears the unfortunate trick
cry by which the public had been bunkoed out OF
It's legitimate rights. They beat their breasts and
made plalntlVe confessions OF how they mad been
DefoOled by the willy corporate interests but they
took occasion at the time to point out that
there nothing whatever to be done about 1t.
The party in power that had long dOmI-
mated the metropolis. To be sure, it gave the
city fairly good government; but the people
paid over and over again. Graft abounded every
where. The party out OF power, which had
been out of power so long that it had per
force become virtuous did not hesitate to f
point the dreadful state of affairs to all II
who would listen; but its efforts had far rs
been unavaing, and the party in power re- v
manned there doing 1t pleased, perhaps X
manned there because OF its 50 doing. IN
NOV. the Gotham Freight Traction Com B
~ pany had its weak point. Things that de IL
pend upon the collision of 50 many unscrupu- IN
ious men, not to say villains usually have ~
weak point. 1t IS wise man, genius, in NJ
deed, who finds these vulnerable spots and III