New-York tribune., 1921-09-09
Curran Gives
Remedy for
Traction Ills
Continued from pass one)

Continued from pass one)
through the length of this long, thin
island and into the Bronx, until It be-
gan to spill over eastward into Brook
lyn and Queens, and now southwark.
to some extent, into Richmond. Our
transit arteries for years were north
and south lines. and the great pre-
pcnderance of our roads and tubes to-
day runs north and south Added to
this We have ali the lines radiating
from lower Manhattan. on one side Of
the East River to Brooklyn and Queens
on the other. The result is 8 trans
portation system that consists of the
! rub OF wheel-that is lower Man.
hattan-with spokes radiating out in
! every direction from the hub and end
ing in the air. There is no rim to
this wheel: it is only hub and spokes.
Here is city plan that is fatal, on its
face, to any comfortable transporta-
tlon of our citizens
If you would go from the Bronx to
BROOKLYN you must begin at the outer
end Of that spoke in the Bronx, go
down into the hub in lower Manhattan,
| and then out another spoke until you
land in the air again somewhere in
Brooklyn. The same is true if you go
from Brooklyn to Queens; you must 20
| through Lower Manhattan What we
need is rim to that wheel, belt line,
and then another interior belt line, be-
tween the rim and the hub, SO that
people going from Brooklyn to Queens
may go directly over a crosstown line
| instead of having to struggle through
the congested hub of the wheel in
lower Manhattan. The same holds true
between Queens and the Bronx. The
same holds true between Brooklyn and
Richmond Instead of a transportation
! picture that looks like the hub and
/ spokes of wheel without any rim.
! we should have the cobweb design. In
a cobweb you will find that the spider,
wisely enough, provides a rim and in
terror rims, or laterals or belt lines, in
addition 20 the strands that compose
/ the hub and the spokes, and that is a
sensible plan built by sensible animal
for business purposes.
Up to Next Board of Estimate
Il believe this should be the prin-
cipal task of the next Board of Esti-
mate. The present board has neither
the ability nor the vision to have any
thing to do with it. But | hope the
. next board will be equipped to handle
A. ciAN ~ iCdu III tuls lGtU. 90 long
we have striven in our transit and
i housing efforts to stay aboard a horse
galloplng IN the wrong direction. Gov
eminent has got to be the rider here
and the rider has got to lead the horse
back IN the right direction. We have
got to help people to work near their
homes and to live near their work and
to play near their homes as we'll
I'VE never can catch up by adding
more spokes converging at the hub
/ We must add the laterals. But before
that we must lead business and indus
try into other boroughs beside Man
haitian. If you could turn a few Of
Manhattan's loft buildings into apart
ment houses and put up new loft build
ings in the fattands of Queens and In
the Bronx you would be doing some
thing real and something lasting.
Must Increase Home Rule
That is my constructive plan. 1t
can only be accomplished gradually.
but it must come, if we are ever to
emerge from the transit blind alley
through which we are now struggling
But, ABOVE all, let us insist that we
have omething to say ourselves about
these matters as we'll as about the sub
sidiary questions Of contracts between
the city and transportation companies.
Our only chance to work these things
out to our own satisfaction is to do it
ourselves under an increased rather
than decreased measure OF home rule.
AS a city we have made our mistakes,
and we are at present enduring a four
year mistake that we Iuade at the mu-
nicipal election OF 1917. But we shall
survive that mistake. In local govern
ment we slip back step occasionally,
but the next time we go two steps for
ward
1T was wrong to make our trans
portation system the prey of politics
and finance, and it is wrong to deprive
us of control over our own property.
Two wrongs Go not make right. 1t is
imperative that We solve our transit
problem, and it is vital that we retain
local control. Those two must go hand
in hand"
Opposes Fare Increases
The Republican, Coalition candidate
declared that he was opposed TO any
Increase in fares. Ee said it was
his firm belief that a comprehensive
plan for the future and the reorganiza-
ton of the present traction systems
could be accomplished on the basis of
a fve-cent fare. The candidates. transit
talk aroused great enthusiasm in his
Bronx Audiences. He presented his
fifteen points in. his personal platform
to the Bronx voters, as we'll as to the
audiences in Brooklyn, Manhattan and
Queens, where he also spoke last night.
Mexican Reds Back Miners
MEXICO CITY. Sept. s-A vote of