Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-11-03
Joke Is Becoming Serious.

Joke Is Becoming Serious
Rock Island has e fine street car
! system. No one who goes to another
/ city Of Rock Islands size or class can
fail to observe with pride this fact.
The Tri-City Railway company is a
public-spirited Institution, always ready
TO do its part In f1rthering the inter
I ests of the community. In return for
what It has done in service and public
/ enterprise, II has never failed to at
tain such rights and advantages by
franchise as it may from time to time
have asked Extensions have been
readily granted practically without con-
dition other than that the company
I give to the people first-class service.
/ This il has done to a notable degree.
! In Davenport, where new franchises
have been given, certain requirements
/ have been insisted upon that have
made that city one of the best street
car towns in the country. There is
hardly a business street there that is
/ not traversed by cars, while every
part OF the city is in touch with street
railway lines. The localities that were
not already reached were provided for
! in the extension ordinance granted a
! year and a half ago. which also includ-
| ed assurance of an interurban line to
Muscatine The internal improvements
I in the city OF Davenport were made
/ without delay. and the interurban is
/ well under way
In Moline the Improvements that
were required are all completed There
was no attempt at delay in Davenport,
but in Moline firmness was required in
the enforcement Of some of the pro-
visions. It was exercised and the
requirements of the franchise are now
in effect
But in Rock Island there is a differ
ent state of affairs. The company built
within reasonable time after the re
newal of the ordinance the extern
sion of the Third avenue line into the
southwest section of the city. II has
made Improvements in its property
otherwise. but none that was not nee
essaTy for the successful operation of
its cars. and would have been done
anyway.
There are three provisions of the
new ordinance which the company has
not as yet seen fit to comply with, one
the running of the Elm street cars to
the terminus of Fourth avenue. an
other the building of the line out Thir-
ty-eighth street, and the third and most
important, or al least the most dis
cussed of all, the completion of the
Long View loop This is a matter that
has been delayed so long that it has
become a joke, and it begins 70 look
now as if the street car company was
disposed TO rub the joke in, or at least
TO make a serious joke of it. All
along the Tri-City Railway company
has offered as its excuse TOR delay in
building the loop extension out TWEEN
ty-tifth street the fact il was impossi-
bic to secure dirt to make the neces-
-sary fills on Twenty-ffth street and
Thirteenth avenue, holding the city to
the strict letter of the ordinance that il
would furnish the material. The sub
jet is one to which Mayor Schriver
has given much Of his time since as
Stunning the duties Of his office, and
finally has succeeded in fulfilling the
City's part of the obligation to the
company. and it seemed as if every
thing was in readiness to make the
start out Twenty-fifth. When, 10 and
behold. here comes the company with
q list of further requirements. enumer-
ared in detail in last nights Argus,
which il is impossible for the city TO
meet between now and the time that
operations should begin this fall.
Briefly summed up. there are but
two cOniectures 20 be drawn from the
pretensiOus or contentious the Tri-City
Railway company now raises; one is
that il never has intended to complete
the Long View line and has been put .
ting the city off with subterfuges. and /
the other is that il foisted upon the I
city Ar the time IL was granted what /
auOuuts 10 . 25-year franchise. an ord /
nance that in so far as the city's /
rights are concerned is full of blow /
holes and jokers. and amounts 10 little /.
less than q sieve. The company can /
not afford 10 stand under either charge /
Ir has acquired too good a reputation .
for that, bur if it attempts 10 shirk its .
obligations further by reason Of petty F..
technicalities such as are enumerated /
in the letter received by Mayor Schri- /
Yer yesterday. there viii be but one /
left open TO the city.
The new ordinance for the entire /.
system in Rock Island which included /
the Long View extension as well as
the other Improvements named, pass
ed Nav >. 1910. In it it was provided
that the improvements would all be
completed within IS months The Is
months were up yesterday. and II the
company is really serious in the posi-
ton Il now assumes al the eleventh
hour. it should be given an ultimatum
and that ultimatum should have the
ring of courage back OF II
The Joke IS becoming too serious.