TOY OFFICIALS 



259 



blinded to a situation so vitally affecting the Park Board 

 plans and so directly affecting, for all the future, the people 

 of the county. 



THE PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION. 



With this view the joint committee on parkways on June 

 17, 1903, wrote President T. McCarter, referring to the 

 "drastic measures taken by the former management of the 

 traction interests to avoid insolvency," made necessary by 

 the unrestricted over-capitalization, get-rich-quick policy of 

 the various companies, and to the disposition theretofore 

 "to destroy the parkways" — a policy, the committee believed 

 "the continuation of which would not appear favorable," 

 or appeal "to yourself and associates in the new manage- 

 ment, either in the interest of your corporation or in the 

 public interest you now have the opportunity to serve ac- 

 ceptably." 



The reply, as editorially interpreted by the News, was: 

 "Yery beautiful and touching is the solicitude of the Public 

 Service Corporation for the good of the dear public. Mr. 

 McCarter is a firm believer in parkways so long as they do 

 not interfere with the plans ^of that corporation,' " — which 

 quotation gives, in a few words, the gist of the whole letter. 

 The attitude of the company was indicated in the conclud- 

 ing paragraph of this letter, as follows: "If the right of 

 the railway to extend its tracks on Central avenue be sus- 

 tained, the question will then have to be determined by the 

 real needs of the people, to whom the duty of Public Ser- 

 vice is paramount." 



The East Orange railway ordinance case was yet before 

 the higher court, and the next move on the chessboard of 

 parkway affairs was the reintroduction, on October 5, 1903, 

 of the transfer ordinance in the Orange Common Council. 

 Since the action of the Republican City Committee the year 

 previous, and the continued public agitation in favor of the 

 parkways, the sentiment, outside of the limited circle of the 

 opposing Mayor and those especially friendly to the traction 

 company, appeared to consist of a general demand for favor- 



