Arizona republican., 1909-06-29
WORLDS C0STLIEST
 STREET CAR SERVICE
ARCHAIC HORSE CAR LINE IN
 NEW YORK.
Memorable Hearst Mcclellan Mayor aIty Contest Ends After Nearly
 Four Years and Great Expense

New York. June 23.-(Special Cor
 respondence of The Republican,
 This city now holds the unenviable
 record of possessing the most ex-
 pensive street railroad in the world,
 which affords the blue ribbon ex-
 ample of the methods of financial 1 jugglery that brought about the
 wrecking of the greater part of the local traction system. Even New Workers. accustomed as they are to
 the ins and outs of the city's trans
 portation lines have had their eyes | opened by the report on this unique property which has just been made 1 to the public service commission. The
 line in question which runs across the | city from river to river is of the horse car variety. It is a trifle over
 three miles in length. is equipped with I single track with turnouts and owns and operates rolling stock to
 the extent of three horse cars It is 1 in a word about the most antiquated example of a surface transportation
 line in the city. and yet the figures l on file with the public service com
 mission show that the men in charge
 of the company claimed to have spent $1,063.244 a mile for equipment, , a sum, it is asserted, which would replace the present outfit with tracks of silver ard gold covered cars. The franchise for this remarkable line was issued, in 1886, and ten years later the road went into the hands of a receiver. This was at the begin
 ming of the receivership epidemic which resulted in most of the surface lines in Manhattan coming into the possession of the Metropolitan clique. Upon the requirement of the little road by these interests stocks and bonds were issued to the amount of S3,000.00 At present the line is be- ing operated. by a receiver at a loss of 23O per cent, and altogether it af- lords a most striking example not only of the traction situation here, but of methods of high finance as we'll
 It is likely to be some time before Father Knickerbocker can be expected again to manifest much interest in the luxury of two mayors, since eX- perience has show nsuch an indul- gence to be entirely too expensive It is only after three and a half years that the city's only experiment in this line has been closed, and the comedy. which at times promised to become tragedy, of two municipal dromios closed. The final word in this exciting drama was only written this week and it took the form of signature on a check which leaves the city with $s3,576 less than it had before. Although it was nearly four years ago that Hearst and Mcclellan ran such an astonishingly close race for the job of being mayor of Great CT New York that each claimed to have been elected. It was only last year, after the famous recount of the ballots and subsequent to the intro duction of much testimony dealing with all sorts of political scandal, that Mt. Mcclellan was finally de- clared to be the winner. More than s1.OO0.OOO, it is estimated, has been spent by the city in straightening out this tangle, of which the check for $S3,576 was a final payment to Mayor McClelland by the city for his eX- penses in the recount fight. To be forced to put up a million dollars for the privilege of seeing two candidates fight over the chief office in his city government is an opportunity which hardly appeals to Father Knfcker- booker, and it is likely that if re- currence of the situation ever takes place there will be marked apathy on the part of the city for the role of referee.
 The police department, whose mem bers are variously known as the finest or de cops" according to the part of the city in which one lives, is apparently in for a hard summer. Not a day passes now but some irate citizen adduces all sorts of alleged evidence of police corruption. The whole affair started by the arraign- ment of Police Commissioner Bing- ham by Justice Gaynor for the all legged arbitrary methods of the police which has acted as an opening wedge for all sorts of attacks on the police department, many of which are evidently the result of spite. while others are simply ludicrous. Perhaps the strangest of these was recently made by a pickpocket named Smith who admitted that he had followed the profession for F years against an officer who was sent to Detroit to bring him back after his arrests there. According to Smith the officer proposed game of cards, but as neither had any money with which to gamble the prisoner was turned