The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1911-08-31

~ . the one Aanl ana hi. ware
hoaoe eear the river front on the othss
- esnoect both with this subway, the
pes0Aaeion was instantly granted. but
esaSas4 with an expense demand upon
hAD ~ something like Q million dol.
iAss.
0oe1ly could give Miss Haldans Q
0nSsa dollars to play with; he would
noe spend ten cents for bribery. He
saV instantly that the demand upoa
hin vas mere attempt to hold him
up To build the switch would cost
perhaps forty Or nifty thousand dol
lars; The privilege might be worth az
much more; but inssmuch a. no
strests were crossed. no overhead traf.
DC hindered. he was doubtful even Al
to that The road had been built By
private capital-subscribedb by the peo-
pls-on public franchise The in
terssts OF the public were supposed to
BE- paramount. A reasonable return
upon Their investment was all that the
promoters had . right to expect.
Gorniy had consulted his attorneys,
had appealed to the city council. and
had done everything that he could to
settle the matter short Of publishing
the whole affair He had failed ab-
soiuteIy everywhere. The members OF
tho Transportation committee Of the
board OF aldermen were very sorry,
but they did not see what could be
done. gentle hint that Gormly
might prefer to indemnify the alder
men for their trouble In case they
should give him permission was met
with pained silence or explosive wrath.
II was furthermore pointed out to him
that the board had no power, the
rights OF the people having been vest
I'd In the corporation for . ninety n inc
year period. II was too bad that the
innocent aldermen had allowed them
solves TO be placed in such an unfor-
tunats position: but so It was-and
there you were. There was NO help
for the matter. and Gormlys only rs-
source was to pay the money unless
he wanted to unload his goods into
| truck wagons and vans and cart them
all over the city. OF course he could
do this; but 1t would be much easier,
more profitable and more desirable in
every way II he had the right to run
cars out on the pier alongside of the
vessels of his feet and transport the
merchandise In bulk in that way.
He was in . very desperate situa-
ton. Here he was saddled with .
twenty fve-year lease OF one OF tho
most expensjve piers in New York:
here he had q great warehouse six
blocks or more away from the pier:
here he had also a vast store several
miles from the warehouse: here was
. railroad that practically connected
all three. provided one or two little
spurs or switches could be built from
pier to railroad. and from warehouse
to railroad II was perhaps the one
mistake that he had made in his bust
ness career not to have arranged mat
ters before all this came to a climax.
The railroad people meant to make
him pay They we're resolved that
that he would not
He was not alone In his position,
however: for It was found on all sides
he discovered 1t by making quiet in.
quirtes-that other shippers and
merchants seeking similar privileges
were being held up in the same way.
The road had proved enormously ex-
pensive to build the stock had been
watered numerically. Contracts
which had been entered into for tho
construction OF switches were found
TO be Of little value; means were avail.
able to break them and evade them.
and the whole water front Of New
York found itself practically helpless
in the grasp Of this octopus Of a corpo-
ration.
There had been no clamor In the pa
pers over this matter; but there was
a tremendous undercurrent of resent
ment and dissatisfaction and Gormly
thought he saw an opportunity Of turn
ing 1t to his own account. To expose
the iniQuitous methods OF procedure
OF the Gotham Freight Traction com
pany, to bring about its ruin or its
downfall by depriving 1t Of the fran
chise It was abusing to safeguard the
people In their rights In any further
| E ahlb, ~dS ScI ItdililS MI obJe't suLh
GENTLY high and sufficiently vast to
attract the attention, and, should he
succeed. to awaken the admiration OF
any being. And Gormly himself with
out losing sight of Miss Haldane be-
| gan to look at the possibilities from .
| high and noble point of view, in which
self-interest took a secondary position.
/ Therefore. late in November he
came boldly out in the open. and over
his own name vigorously attacked the
/ Gotham Freight Traction company.
He did 1t In unique way, too. In
stead of the full page advertisement
Of Gormly's store which appeared
simultaneously in all the great dailies.
there was presented one morning in
clear, direct. businesslike English .
statement of the whole situation ex-
actly as 1t was. There were no threats.
no menaces, no intimations Of any fu-
ture D1ap or nvrpOae. lust h1unt