New-York tribune., 1919-05-14

street railway lines? If you believe
that the city should now undertake
such ownership and operation, please
state:
"U) What funds of the city are
available for such purpose, and the
relation of such funds to the debt
limit, if any?
"(2) The total amount Of funds
required to purchase the surface
lines?
"(3) The overhead expense for
operating the aforesaid lines per
year?
go The legal right involved and
the methods to bring about municipal
operation?
''In addition to the foregoing, what
has been done and what are your
immediate plans to solve the street
railway situation?
"By what law, contract or legal
process will this plan be put into
operation and at what cost to the
city, and what will be the fare to the
passenger and at what cost to the
taxpayer?
"How much longer must our citi-
zens put up with demoralized
street railway service which is go
ing from bad to worse?
"Be it further resolved, That the
Committee on Rules Of the Board of
Aldermen be and it hereby Is re-
quested to appoint a committee OF
seven members Of this board with
full power to investigate the entire
subject referred to herein, and with
the further power to subpoena and
compel the attendance of witnesses
for the purpose of examination"
Tammany Kills Resolution
Aldcrman William P. Kenneally, the
majority leader, moved to table the
after it had been read.
"If you Democrats are sincere about
municipal ownership, why not have
the questions answered by the
Mayor" inquired Alderman Quinn.
The resolution was tabled by a solid
Tammany vote.
The Aldermen voted quickly to grant
$4,000 to the Corporation Counsel ia
engage experts to continue the 1lgn1
against the State of New Jersey and
the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commls-
sion after hearing DR.. William >
O'Sullivan explain the reason; =,
"Within four years, possibly three,
said DR.. O'Sullivan, who is noted
bacteriologist and chemist, "if we lost
the fight-and we may for lack OF this
haitian Island will be q sewer and the
city's health will be at the mercy OF
pestilence. We are seeking to enjoln--
and for five years we have been sue
cessful-the inland New Jersey towns
emptying into the Passaic River from
carrying their sewage, amounting to
400, ,000,O 900 gallons daily, at point not
far from the Battery. At present the
discharge of the sewers of New YORK
City in these waters amounts to
9OO,OOO,oO0 gallons daily. Of course
the success of the fight against New
Jersey will not solve the problem. We
must have eventually trunk line
sewer extending into the ocean,
Pestilence Is Predicted
Alderman Wirth, who has also made
study of the sewage disposal prob
lem. said that he believed it would be
only short time when New York City
would be a victim of it's shortsighted
ness and that it would be trying to live
in a pestilential atmosphere of sui.
phereted hydrogen, which IS createe
by the sewage which is precipitated te
the bottom of the waters of the harbor
"This gas breeds cholera, typhus
typhoid. malaria and kindred diseases,
said Alderman Wirth.
The attack on Mayor Hylan by the
labor unions was embodied in a reso
luton unanimously adopted by the
Central Federated Union of Greater
New York, the Women's Trade Unior
League, the Central Federated Unio1
of Brooklyn and the United Hebrew
Trades.
The labor organizations charged tina
the Mayors recommendation that tn
Aldermen prohibit the holding @
meetings in alien tongues "has n
other affect than the disruption of tn
unions where members conduct bust
ness in foreign language" 1t char
acterized the Mayors recommending
and his letter accompanying it as I"
base slander on our loyal non-Englis
"un-American."