New-York tribune., 1910-06-07
DUB It RUBBER RAILROAD
Commuters Awake to Find New
Haven Line Stretched.
SURPRISE I'M TIME TABLES
Leaflets Puzzlingly Make Dis
tances Between Stations
Greater Overnight.

The rubber railroad" is the new name
Of the New York. New Haven & Hartford
/ Railroad in the mouths Of its commuters
! This bit of pleasantly which has an omi-
nous ring to those who are fighting the
roads increased Communication rates. fol-
/ lowed the appearance of new time tables,
which showed that Mr.. Mellen had
| stretched his railroad overnight, increasing
the distances between the Grand Central
Station and every station from Woodlawn,
| y. Y, TO Stamford. Conn
/ The time tables in effect till June gave
! these distances in miles for the principal
stations: Woodlawn. 1903; Mount Vernon.
l3.65; New Rochelle. 1852: Port Chester,
1854, and Stamford. 1913
To the innocent commuters the distances
had the appearance of being figured accu-
rately to the hundreth point. But the new
time tables showed that they lived a mile
and a half or more further from New York
on June than they did June 4 The
railroads new distances for the same sta
tions are: Woodlawn, 1873; Mount Vernon,
15.7: New Rochelle. 1856; Port Chester 27.6;
Stamford. 35.5. A 1909 leafet of the Harlem
road. which owns the line to Woodlawn,
gives the distance from the Grand Central
Station only III miles.
No more, say the commuters, are the
good old days, when the New Haven print
ed ''Compensations of a Commuter, as Seen
by John Kendrick Bangs and gave it
away free with every time table What a
JOY it is to dwell in the suburbs" ran the
legend. ITO get sniff of the real earth
and to feel that one can stretch out ones
arms on either side. even as old Winged
Victory used to stretch her pinions, without
barking ones knuckles on the Venetian
of do+ no err
Hugh M. Hewson Indignant.
THE New Haven printed that and adver-
tised low rates of communication until re
Gently" Indignantly said Hugh NJ Hewson,
who represents the Westchester County
commuters. Now, on thirty days notice
it proposes to increase fares in way that
amounts to putting a $1,Gc0 mortgage on
every home along its line. a Mount Vernon
man, who will have to pay large increase
on account of himself and family, told me
yestel day he would rather give the rail
road a mortgage of 5000 on his home and
call things square The new distances be
tween stations should have been made
shorter instead of longer. being less by the
length of two city blocks, as the trains now
come to 44th street.
a preliminary draft of a protest to the
Interstate Commerce Commission, which
will be made by the Local Improvement
League of Sound Beach, Conn, has been
drawn UP by the president of the board,
Percy D. Adams. a New York lawyer The
argument against increased fares will be to
this effect:
That the New Haven road has not COM
piled with the United States statute re
quiring the posting of proposed changes for
| thirty days; that we are informed and
believe that by reason of the change pro-
posed certain long hauls Will be made at
a lower rate than certain shorter hauls,
alleging that the communication rate from
| Greenwich will be less than from Port
/ Chester; that the changes will tend to in
| crease congestion of population in the
g-eater City of New York; that the in
! crease is in violation of the moral obliga-
tions of the railroad to those who, in con-
| temptation of a low rate and of a possibly
lower rate. have settled and invested cap
itaI along the line; that if the contract of
1913 with the Harlem Railroad is an oner-
Gus one, the New Haven road, at the eX-
piration of each five years, should request
an arbitration in revision of the terms;
that the change of motive power and the
eliminating of certain members of train
crews in Connecticut have very much re-
duced the operating expenses of the division
involved. that the service in point of time
and frequency of trains has deteriorated;
that the stations involved are not sufficient
" safeguarded to protect life and limb;
that the increased rate would be discrimi-
mating against the territory involved, TO the
damage of the residents
Don c. Seitz, business manager of The
New York World who lives at Cos Cob,
has been influential in calling a meeting Of
the Greenwich Board of Trade to protest
against the new rates. DR.. Winfield Ayres,
! Of New York and Stamford; Edwin J.
| Lucas. of Sound Beach, and William J.
| Davids of Riverside, also are active in the
| agitation.