Year: 1874

THE VANDERBILT QUICK TRANSIT BILL.
EXTRAORDINARY FRANCHISES FOR AN oVERGRowN
MONoPOLY-PRosPECT OF THE PASSAGE OF THE
BII-THE GOVERNOR NOT LIKELY TO SIGN 1T.
[FRoM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRBuNE.I


ALBANY, March 2S.-The Vanderbilt and Third
ave. quick transit bills were reached in Committee OF
the Whole of the Senate to-day, but as there was
not quorum of members present, they were pro-
roquedn on motion of Senator Fox, without any dis
cussion of their merits and they will probably be up
again some time next week. Thus far the char
acter of these bills. as schemes of quick
transit for New York City, have been lost sight OF
in the somewhat scandalous controversy that has
arisen about the haste with which they were re-
ported, and the partiality shown to them by the
Railroad Committees of the two Houses. An exam
ina.ion of the bills themselves will not be likely 10
lessen the astonishment with which the public mas
regarded the action of the commttees for 1t Is sie
to say that in the history OF railroad legsia
ton for New-YOr City have such extraordinary
privileges and such valuable franchises been granted
or even asked for by any man or set OF men, as are
proposed by these bills to be given to these two
wealthy corporations.


The favorite argument and almost the only one
used by the advocates of the Fourthave. or Wander
bilt bill is that if Mr. Vanderbilt gets charter tor
quick transit he will build the road. whereas there





no probability that any other man or corporation
will do it, 1t is a sufficient answer to this plea to
say that two years ago, when Mr. Vanderbilt asked
for and obtained, to the exclusion OF other
equally meritorious bills, his charter for an
underground road from the Forty-second-st.
Depot to the City Hall, he made the same
emphatic promises to build the road that ne
makes now and yet not single foot OF the road
has been built or attempted twas on the strength
of these promises to extend quick transit from
Forty-second-st. down town, that he induced the
Legislature to pass that extraordinary bill by which
the city is made to pay half land report says the
whoe) of the expense of sinking the Fourth-ave.
track from Forty-second-st to the Harlem River.
Thus the city has already paid, or is now paying.
upward of 81, 100000 to aid Mr.. Vanderbilts quick
transit schemes while it has steadily refused to as
sist any one else in the same direction.


When Vanderbilt made his promises and obtained
his charter two years ago. the strife in the Legsla-
ture was for underground charters Now, he finds
the tendency is toward elevated roads, and SO he
comes forward with an elevated scheme, backed up
by the old promises; but, lest the people
should be suspicious of repetition of the old trick
to stave off all quick transit, he magnanimously
offers in his bill to forfeit the enormous sum OF
100000 if he again fails to fulfill his PROMISE So
much rdicule has been cast upon this trfng forfeit
that il is said Mr. Vanderbilt has instructed his
agents. when the bill comes up for discussion in the
Legislature to increase the forfeit to S2O0OOO Or II
necessary, to half a million. This has the appear
ance of earnestness and plausibility, but, when
other provisions of the bill to be examined it
will be seen that the forfeit" whether it be one
hundred thousand OF ten million, is of no conse-
quence, and Vanderbilt would doubtless just as
soon make it the one as the other.


The 18th section of the bill provides that the
Harlem Railroad Company shall execute and de-
liver TO the Controller its corporate bond in the sum
of 100000 conditioned that the road shall be in
operation within two years and six months after the
passage of the act" the said time being extended
so long as said New-York and Harlem Railroad Com
pany may be necessarily and unavodably hindered
or delayed by pending legal proceedings against it,"
It will readily be seen how easy it would be under
this provision to put off the building of the road for
an indefinite number of years without forfeitng the
s1OOOOO while Vanderbilt all the while retained
possession of the line as to prevent any one else
from building alquick transit road. All he would
have to do would be to wait till near the expiration
of the two years and six months, and then, as soon
as he began work on the road, procure some one to
begin legal proceedings, which could be renewed
every time spade was stuck in the ground and kept
"pending" till doomsday.


All this rests on the probable assumption that Mr..
Vanderbilts object in the present bill is the same as
il was two years ago-tO prevent any one else from
doing what he does not intend to do himself. But
SUPPOSE on the other hand. that he Is sincere and
really intends build quick transit road, provided
he can secure the passage of this bill The question
then arises: What kind of a road does he propose
to buildi What are the provisions of the bill For
it is no very great generosity or magnanlmity In
Mr. Vanderbilt to offer to build quick transit rail-
road provided he is to be allowed to build any kind
of road he peases without regard to the public con-
yenience or the use by other citizens OF the public
thoroughfares. The city might have had quick tran
| sit 20 years ago on such terms. Almost anybody
would build a quick transit road if he were per-


nitted to build it in the cheapest manner possible
and was allowed to take possession of whole streets
for the purpose and this is practically what the
| Vanderbilt bill allows The difficulty has been
| hitherto to devise some means of quick transit that
would not interfere with the legitimate use of the
streets by the public destroy the value of private
| property In the great multitude of quick transit
schemes that have been pressed on the attention OF
| the Legislature during the last Is years, no one
| previous to this Vanderbilt bill has ever had the
| effrontery to ask to build road on posts
standing in the middle of the street, and occupying
the roadway devoted to the of the public 1t is
doubtful indeed whether the Legislature has the
constitutional right to grant any such privilege to
any man OF corporation, and. if it has, it ought not
| to be granted to man who already possesses more
valuable franchises, obtained FROM the Legislature,
| than all other men in Ncw-YOrk combined.


But this is not the only privilege proposed to be
given away by the Vanderbilt bill. Let the people
of New York read and consider the following para
graph which forms the closing lines of Section of
| the bill:


| aha he OF