Year: 1870

The Governors veto of the Arcade Railway


bill il righteous act and meets the approVa'


OF the whole community, excepting only those


coteries of sharpers who live by coatrvlhs inc


passage OF outrageous laws and then selling TO


capitalists the privileges such laws secure; ex-


ceptlng also, ofcourse, some oyergrown raiifoao


nononolIsts who cannot endure with patience


any restraint upon their arrogant invasion OF


the rights of others. In the document in


which the Governor communicates his Official
action on the bill he examines its more mpor-
tant provisions; and the perusal Of his exposi-
ton Of these will excite natural wonder how
it came about that the friends and advocates
of the bill escaped respective coats of tar and
feathers at the hands of an indignant people.
The reasons supporting the Governors official
action are stated with overwhelming force,
and they present such picture ofproposed
outrage upon people that 1t is scarcely con-
ceiyable how legislative body could so
betray its trust as to give its sanction to the
bill. If such bill as this Arcade abomnation
can pass through both houses Of our State
Legislature, after due time given for delibera-
tion, and after exposure by the press and the
people of its enormities, what bill may not
pass, and to what Infamous schemes will our
law makers not give countenance for fees


Let the people read Governor Hofiman's veto
to Justly appreciate the evil to which a Legis-


lature may be equal, and TO justly appreciate
also from what iniquities the State may be
| saved by fearless and upright Executive.
For all the astonishing privileges given by


this bill there was an implied consideration


certainly of value to the people. This con-
sideration was that the company should afford
to the people facilities for travel by steam from
one extremity to the other of this island


There is no probability that the company
would ever have fairly complied with this con-
| tract 1t might have given transit to and fro
between certain points, where it found it
| highly profitable and would certainly have
| had no regard to the convenience of people on
| the less paying parts OF Its route, as no
| security or guarantee was required OF 1t. But
| in this supposed consideration we still see the
great need of the people Of this city. I'm
doubtedly we are very badly off for satsfac-
tory means of communication between the
| extremities of the town, and there is no city


in the world 80 peculiarly placed to make
such communication an imperative necessity
to comfort and convenience. Business is CEN
tired in one section of the city TO an extent
scarcely known in other cities, and from that


business part of the metropolis dwelling
| houses are so absolutely crowded out that
after business hours it seems like some


plague-ridden, desolate, deserted city, while
the thousands who lately swarmed there


have gone, by general migration, to another


part of the town, miles away. In Paris and


London there is no such definite division of the
J city as this; yet there they have easy, conve-
! nient, we'll regulated and rapid means of loco


motion from point to point, and here we have


only the choice of the uncomfortable horse car,


the numbering, impossible omnibus, or long


and weary walk.


| Our need, therefore, oil rapid, comfortable


transit is one upon which we cannot insist too


much and there are persons who argue that,


because the Arcade Railway would have sup; sup;
| pIivu tnI5, we snUuiu nave accepted 1t with all
| its enOrmities. But while we doubt whether
| that company would have lived up to its pro-


misses on this head we are also of opinion that
even the most excellent facilities of travel


might be purchased at too high a prices


and we believe that mans consent to the
destruction of his business is too high


price to pay for being carried pleasantly to
the place where his business was. We believe


that our projectors have not yet proposed the
only plan Of uptown travel that will perma-
| nently answer all requirements. This plan is
| by ordinary steam cars upon rails laid on an


elevated causeway supported by masonry,


and made much stronger than the sup


ports of our railway on Greenwich
street proved itself to be yesterday.
| This plan succeeds infinitely better than all
others in cities where all others have been
tried The railway that comes to the Fen
church street station in London passes over
several miles of that city on a level with the
roofs of the smaller houses. The railways
| that cross the Thames and all the city to the
south Of the Thames are on still higher level.
| The Lyons railways traverse part of Paris in
| the same way. Those roads interfere with no
| streets, aud where they cross streets they form
| an open arch. They interfere with no public
or private interest, and, of course, where pri-


vate property is taken for their use it is taken


under the general laws that regulate such


transactions. They do not smother travellers


in tunnels nor infict upon them, indeed, any


sort of discomfort. They give pleasant,


easy and fast ride up in the open air; and


that is the sort Of ride our people want from


the Battery to Spuyten Duyvil.


/ The Ele evatcd Railway Accident.


The elevated railway on Greenwich street,