IN ]ST E W JERSEY.
BY IsT O B/ IMI _A- UST.
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RAIL ROAD MANAGEMENT
IN NEW JERSEY.
ITS HTFLUEITOE
UPON
THE NEW YORK SUBURB.
BY IT O B, JVC _A_ IT,
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A NATIVE CITIZEN OF ESSEX COUNTY
I
Cheap Intercommunication is necessary to our Prosperity and Development.
NEWARK, N. J.
1864.
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SÎMteÊÔ Of RM-W'* Y ECOMtl&fSS,
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zdiezdic-^TEID
To the people of Essex County, especially to those who cannot
afford to pay the tribute, and to all Jerseyinen who desire the
disfranchisement of the State from the iron bands which enchain
her, and the restoration of those natural rights enjoyed by her sister
States.
RAILROAD MANAGEMENT IN NEW JERSEY.
INTRODUCTORY".
The writer undertakes to give expression to a deep-rooted con¬
viction which he believes to be common, especially to the people
of the North-Eastern part of New Jersey. He has no inter¬
est in making these statements, except that which is common
to most of his neighbors and friends ; and moreover he has no
prejudice to gratify, or private ends to serve. His convictions
on this subject are no stronger than those expressed by every
disinterested intelligent citizen, with whom he converses.
THE NEW JERSEY SUBURB OF NEW YORK.
From the point of observation from whence the eagle sees
or he who sits in the parachute of a balloon, New York city
is observed to occupy a triangular island, which is bounded on
either side by two wide, deep rivers.
Passing the inhabited eastern boundary across the ferry, we
see an almost boundless extent of territory, perfectly level
and sparsely inhabited even to the shore of the ocean on the
south side of Long Island. Few will contend that any portion
of Long Island, which is within accessible distance of the city, is
free from malarious diseases, unless it be'upon the u barrens,"
or the sea beach. From some knowlege and experience on the
subject, the writer boldly asserts that a half century of depop¬
ulation, and consequently of non-cultivation, would reduce
these plains to somewhat the condition of the " Campagna di
Roma," now a pestilential plain, once the site of cities in
advance of all others in the world in luxury, elegance, civiliza¬
tion and refinement.
The northern suburbs of New York city, even up into
Westchester Co., have always been remarkable for the miasm
4
which produces fever and ague and remittent fevers. It is true
that the railroads, by a liberal provision, draw the denizens of
the city far up into the healthy districts of New York and
Connecticut, to reach which requires hours of railway journev
during every business day.
Let us fancy that one of the occupants of the parachute of
the balloon, which we have supposed to be suspended over
the city, is a stranger to the country, and knows nothing of
State boundaries. He points westward, and says, that is a
beautiful suburb. Those palisades and yonder hill, which
extends southward from them, are indeed beautiful. That
charming headland at Wehawken, this thriving opposite city,
that beautiful chain of mountains, pierced by the Passaic
river at Paterson, and extending southward beyond the utmost
reach of vision, the sides of which seem to be covered with
charming villas and thriving villages, while the great valley
between, is apparently filled with densely populous districts,
among which I am told is a large city, which approaches a
hundred thousand inhabitants. It is said, moreover, that the
sides and slopes of yonder mountain afford almost the only
entirely healthful suburb of the Metropolis of the United
States. Why, if all this is true, does not the city extend in
this direction? We will suppose his respondent to be one of
that class of New Yorkers who seem really to believe that
the soil of all territory that does not look to Albany as its
Capital city, becomes at once red and despicable. He answers,
" that is over in Jersey—it is out of the United States.7' That
country is filled with fever and ague and mosquitos. Well,
how is it with the country across the river ? Is that out of
the United States? Oh, no! that is in New York State. But
is it fever and-agueish ? I admit that intermittent fever and
mosquitos abound there. How about the country north ?
Fever and ague has always been said to prevail in Westchester
county. Is Jersey worse than the suburbs north and east?
Oh, no! but it is Jersey. Do not these mountain sides afford
delightful and healthful residences, easily reached from Broad¬
way or Wall street? Ohl yes? but it is out of the State.
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What difference does that make ? As soon as you enter that
State you must pay dearly for the privilege. It costs you a
quarter of a dollar to go seven miles, and another quarter to
reach those beautiful mountain slopes that seem to lie at our
very feet. To cross the State involves a heavy impost. In
truth, our Jersey neighbors seem to think that they can
do without us. It is a matter of indifference to them
whether or not we settle among them. Therefore, they
seem to be quite agreed that their corporations should tax
all comers as much as they please, and they readily submit
to be taxed themselves, by the enormous fares which they
pay in order to reach the Metropolis. To make certain
the perpetuation to this policy, their ancestors granted perpetual
rights to corporations to control bridges and all possible ap¬
proaches to the city ; and more than this, whenever these cor¬
porations ask for an increase or extension of these franchises,
it is readily and cheerfully granted them. On the other hand,
if any Company ask for the privilege of making other roads,
it is at once refused by the most conclusive majorities. A
highly respectable corporation has sought for years to open
a new and cheaper avenue, but are constantly refused. Are
Jerseymen all agreed in this thing? They are supposed
to be, since no protest is heard, and not even a respectable
minority is found to oppose these traditional doctrines.
We will come down from our balloon and enter calmly and
dispassionately into the inquiry—" How are the Jersey sub¬
urbs of New York influenced by the Railway management
of the State."
THE INFLUENCE OF HIGH FARES UPON OUR SUBURBS.
We affirm first: That the fares westward from New York
are dearer than those demanded to enter the suburbs of any
large city in the world.
We believe this proposition easily proved.
Second. That this cause operates to prevent the population
of our Jersey suburb.
Third. That it affects very greatly the value of property
in New Jersey.
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Fourth. That it affects trade.
Fifth. That it affects the manufacturing and farming in¬
terests of New Jersey.
Sixth. That it injures the reputation of the State.
Under these heads we propose to discuss this subject :
Newark, for example, can never hope to thrive as a provin¬
cial city. It is as a suburb of the great Metropolis that she
expects success. Who can doubt but if annexed to the
State of New York, all her material interests would be im¬
mediately advanced ? Why ? Because it would come under
the dominion of her liberal laws, her liberal influence, her
liberal expenditure, and her care taking, up-building policy.
But, says the Railroad man, has not Newark quadrupled her
inhabitants within twenty years ? Has not real estate in New¬
ark and on the mountain slopes westward more than doubled
in value within that period ? Have not many large manufac¬
turing establishments sprung up ? All this is true. But it is
not true that it is the result of Railroad management, but ir»
spite of it. Our increase has been very far less rapid in point
of population, increase in the value of property, and manufac¬
turing capital than other suburbs equally accessible and avail¬
able. With our nearness, our manufacturing reputation, and
that influence which attracts to a manufacturing focus, together
with our navigable river, our healthful climate and our accessi¬
bility, our gain is far less than it should have been. Persons
who regard only a particular locality, believe that no part
of the world ever witnessed such progress. We must re¬
member the world is getting older. London, in a very brief
period, has added to her extent more than the whole present
city of New York. Paris has far outgrown her former
boundaries. NewYork city has become so extended that up
town, which once meant above Canal street, now is a term as
indefinite as the " far West," which in our day has meant
" the valley of the Genesee."
From New York, Harlem—which is at the same distance as
N ewark—is reached for five cents ; and on Long Island, distant
points are but five or ten cents. In this day of railways, the
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distance is of little importance, or even the time. The question
is—how many cents, dimes or dollars is the place distant ? The
suburbs of London, whether by land or water, at distances as
great as from New York to Orange Mountain, are reached for
an amount equal to our dime; and any suburb of Paris
can be approached for that or a less sum. The same is true
of the suburban villages of Rome, Naples, Vienna, etc. In
Europe, moreover, the poor man can travel within his means.
If he would go in the style of a lord, he takes the first class ;
if in that of a merchant, the second ; if a laborer, the third.
The poor widow, or the laborer or mechanic in Newark,
must pay the half dollar to go to New York, although perhaps
it took a day to earn it, and he needs it to buy bread. The
millionaire pays no more. A city is made up of the city and
its suburbs. The one makes the other—each is dependent
upon the other. It may be às necessary for the poor man to
pass from the suburb to the city as to buy the loaf required
for his supper. Separate the two by an enormous price, and
you at the same time, exactly in the proportion to price, injure
the suburb Brooklyn was said to have increased in popula¬
tion we believe twenty thousand in eighteen months when the
ferriage was reduced one single penny. It is no longer an
experiment; it is now fully demonstrated that well located
railroads will pay at a moderate price. Increase of facilities
increases business.
Rowland Hill has taught us a lesson that this generation
cannot forget without shame, that if the demand is very great
and the source large, a great reduction of price increases in¬
stead of diminishing the receipts.
The interests of a village sometimes require the purchase
of a bridge, that it should be passed free of toll.
A proposition has been made to connect the City of New¬
ark with East Newark. If this plan, so important for the
physical and moral health of both communities, should suc¬
ceed, " vested rights," that accursed bar to progress and de¬
velopment, will refuse a free bridge and the thing must faib
or meet with partial success.
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newark could afford to buy out the railroad.
If Newark could purchase the " New Jersey Kailroad," at
almost any price, and put the price of passage to Jersey City at
ten cents, with no tickets or commutations, we believe that the
running expenses would be realized at once, and that very
soon a dividend would be declared. We doubt not but if this
could be done, real estate in Newark would advance as it has
in Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Harlem, etc. The advance in
the real value of property would in a single year pay all
the enormous expense of the transaction.\ Between Jersey
City and the Orange Mountain there is a population of per¬
haps 200,000 who regard New York city as the centre.
It is the market. Their social relations with it are such
that they really constitute a part of the great city. A
New York paper with its advertisements is thrown every
morning into their houses. Amusements, lectures, parties,
concerts, fairs, marriages and funerals attract them to the city.
The frequency with which these visits are made with many
must depend upon the price, while a large number must go at
any price. The rich man may afford to do it, but no community
is made up wholly of the rich. The middle and poorer
classes are as necessary as they, to constitute the whole.
what it costs to go to new york.
The price for seven miles west from New York is, for the
stranger who does not know how to manage, thirty or thirty-
three cents. If to some degree posted, he passes for twenty-five.
If still better acquainted and his plans are fully formed for
returning, he can accomplish the journey for twenty cents. It
!s true that a car runs about daylight in a single direction
cheaper, but this fact is only learned from the advertisements.
Nobody goes in this car—it is available for no one, nor is it
expected to be. The price of commutation to Newark is about
the same as for fifty miles in any other direction, and the price
to Bloomfield, five miles further west, is as great as for about
one hundred and fifty miles in any other direction from the
ity of New York. A single passage to Montclair near
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Llewellyn Park, about eleven miles as the bird flies, is almost
a half dollar. And thus in this way the splendid situations on
the Orange and Bloomfield Mountains, which command charm¬
ing scenery and a perfectly healthy atmosphere, are fenced off
so that the man of moderate means cannot take his family
thither.
We assert that no such price is demanded in approach¬
ing any other city, composed of town and suburbs. New
York has no less interest in the subject when seen from
one point of view. The eastern slope of the Orange moun¬
tain range is situated in time as near Wall street as the
Fifth Avenue Hotel, and they are favored by breezes as
healthful as those that play about the summits of the
Rocky Mountains. We will promise to prove, if disputed,
that in no other direction from New York will so short a
period of time bring the traveller into" an atmosphere so free
from all noxious influences. Here fever and ague are un¬
known at any season of any year. Where else can the same be
truthfully said of any other locality within a single hour of
New York city? The moral and social atmosphere of our
westward mountain slope is as desirable as is the physical. It
is just such a rural suburb as New York city needs, and may
prove a very great blessing to her worn and overworked popu¬
lation. Newark is the most important town in New Jersey,
and to no other place in the State is the fare so proportionately
high. We could furnish many illustrations.
Parties often come out in the spring to buy or hire.
They are met with thirty cents or a quarter of a dollar
charge for seven miles. Inquiry is made and they learn
that it will cost twenty-five dollars a quarter to convey the
head of the family to his daily business. The wife and
grown up children wish to go to the city on an average per¬
haps once a week, making an expense of two or three dollars,
involving a cost of about one hundred and twenty-five dol¬
lars for three months. All this added to the cost of living and
keeping the city residence makes so large a show that the thing-
is abandoned,
2
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influence upon the value of property.
No man can doubt but that the value of real estate is very far
less than the distance or relation to the great metropolis would
justify, or in view of the value of property in opposite direc¬
tions. A large first class hotel could be sustained in Newark
but for the high railroad fare. It is as easy to reach our Park
from Wall street as Fourteenth street in New York, but
it costs three dollars a week to go and return from business. If
the family consists of other adult members the necessity of
frequent communication considerably increases the expense.
Says a father to-day, " I wish to go to the Fair in Brooklyn,
but I must pay the railroad two dollars, which with the
entrance fee will make the excursion cost me six dollars."
Thus a very large number of our families are deprived of
the ordinarily very great advantages of living near an im.
portant city. We are in sight and still widely separated.
Almost every day there is presented to the business man
some striking example of the manner in which the pecuniary
interests of Newark and vicinity are injured by the illiberal
and selfish policy of our Railway managers. No man in busi¬
ness but is indirectly taxed heavily for the support of the Rail¬
road even if he never travels upon it.
There is no man who owns an acre or a lot who does not
unwillingly pay tribute to foreign tax-gatherers of the most in¬
exorable description. The Farming Interest peculiarly
suffers from this cause, indeed no class of people are unaffected.
the inevitable result.
Respect for traditionary vested rights and legal enactments
may hold for a while a whole community, but like pent
up waters behind a mud levee they cannot always be restrained.
A community will not always submit to be wronged. This is a
tax upon a necessary article—an impost which every man feels
but from which none can escape.
Till very recently the only avenue to the city was in the
hands of a single corporation. Another company has recent¬
ly opened a new route. To better accomplish their purposes
they induced the public to hope for relief. Though often de-
11
ceived they did expect these promises to be fulfilled. No
sooner accomplished than all enmity at once ceased, and the
two companies strike hands and agree jointly to control the
gateway to the city and perpetuate ancient usage and ancient
prices. More than this they agree to say to the people 11 Our
father made your yoke heavy, and we will add to your yoke ;
they chastised you with whips, but we will chastise you with
scorpions." No man is good enough to hold such power over
the interests of his fellow men, and surely no corporation—for
they are soulless—could be expected to do otherwise than as
they do. Railway managers do probably calculate that this
tremendous power is short lived—that these extraordinary
privileges which enable them to draw money continually from
an unwilling people, must sooner or later terminate.
If a dozen new board of directors should take the places of
the present in succession, each would act exactly as do. those
now in power. Magnanimity is not to be expected of corpora¬
tions while money is to be made. The people must force them
to respect their rights, and not till then will they yield one
cent to popular opinion. We must not blame individuals in the
railway management. They act very much as most of us would
do. They are probably constantly surprised that the people do
not interfere. There is a class of men who deserve the severest
reproaches. It is some legislators, who having sworn to serve
their constituents, go to the Capitol and unhesitatingly
bind more strongly the chains that hold and continually drag
down the people that they have sworn to serve. At home
they see the subject as their neighbors do ; at Trenton, it wears
"a someœhat different aspect." It is becoming understood that
the influence of certain corporations leads to our being con¬
tinually misrepresented at Trenton.
IMMEDIATE EFFECT UPON TRADE.
Says the retailer, " If we were further off" we could do
better." Who are your best customers ? Is it not those who
make their money in New York? Goods of most kinds are
sold cheaper in Newark than in New York, but purchasers
wish to enquire at the head of the market, and therefore desire
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first to visit New York, but this involves expense. The}' will
make no journey of enquiry. They collect their funds and go
to the city to pay often larger prices than at home. If for a
dime they could have run over "to look about," they would
probably have bought of their neighbor. A single case well
illustrates the manner in which the interests of New Jer¬
sey arc sacrificed. A lady leaves Eahway for New York
in the morning, to buy a suit of clothes for her son. She
thinks " I had rather buy in Newark, and I will stop and look."
In Broad street she finds what she wants—has promised
to meet lier husband in New York—takes the car and is told
that her ticket is worthless. She is shown a hole in it and is
pointed to some fine print on the ticket, which reads "contin¬
uous line." She buys another. Meets her husband. Decides
to return and buy in Newark. Finds her ticket again valueless
—pays 80 cents the fourth time. Now the resolve to buy in
.Newark has made the trip cost one dollar and twenty
cents to go from Eahway to New York and home again.
These cases occur daily. They ought by no accident to occur ever.
The whole influence of the Eailroad is to prevent people
from stopping in the State. Thus Jersey City is made as inac¬
cessible as possible. One cannot step out of its depot into
Jersey City while waiting for the train, to make a purchase,
without encountering an employee at ever}' turn to demand
the passport, and plague and detain and embarrass. At one
time Jersey City was wholly cut off. When they complained
they were told, " If you do not put up with this, you will have
to submit to what is worse." It is a melancholy truth there is
no escape. We must go, and ivq have no other road, and our
Legislatures will give us no other.
The truth is that the New Jersey Eailroad Company is a
New York institution and is managed in the interest of New
York and not of New Jersey. The theory is that high fare
in New Jersey will keep New Yorkers at home and thus
secure to the stockholders—who are mostly landlords—high
rents in New York and big dividends in New Jersey.
The late Mr. Stephen Whitney once said at a meeting of the
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Board of New Jersey Railroad Directors, " We dorít want the
people to go into New Jersey nor to leave Neiv York city." The
stock of the road is not held in New Jersey but in New York,
no road can be expected to be worked so as to serve the
interests of a State by corporators and capitalists whose'resi¬
dence and interests are in another State. They are not to be
blamed. We of New Jersey are highly blameworthy because
we do not take care of ourselves.*
how our manufacturing interests are affected.
The effect upon the manufacturing interests is palpable. We
can call to mind many examples where the project of estab¬
lishing factories was abandoned on account of excessive
railway fares. One remarked, Newark is the best place in
the vicinity of New York, but the current expenses of my
family and employees is so great that I must go to Brooklyn"
—and he did—and his present factories cover a half acre of
ground. A manufacturer now in Williamsburg said to us,
"We would greatly prefer to manufacture in Newark but for
the exorbitant railroad fares. Such examples could be multi¬
plied indefinitely. We doubt not the reader can furnish them
himself. Newark is a manufacturing suburb of New
York city. This is her strength, her glory and her power.
In order to the full development of these advantages, we must
be pecuniarily nearer.
The reputation of our State ought to be dearer still.
As a native born Jerseyman of Jersey ancestors, even back
to the landing of Philip and Cartaret, the writer feels that the
fair name of our State is cheaply sold. We cannot afford to
draw State income from the granting of exclusive privileges
that are felt to be onerous by all.
To a large number of those who live in Essex County, the
Note.—Many of the gentlemen who compose the Board of Directors of the N. J. R.
R. we have long known, and we entertain for them the highest respect. Some noble
names will appear when the history of this Institution is written up, both from among the
living and the dead. The memories of the late President and the late Superintendent the
writer will ever love to honor. For ability, the latter was surpassed by none in this
country. Under his administration no railroad, in this or any other country, was more
ably managed. The mantle has fallen upon his worthy and talented son, who has been
educated into the duties of the position to which he succeeds. We have avoided carefully
the use of names—we deal with "principles, not men.''''
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State Capital is two or three dollars distant. To those of
Sussex and Warren, still further off. Thus State organizations
are discouraged and anything like State homogeneity is pre¬
vented. We must hear our State called " the State of Camden
and Amboy," and offer no denial. We must hear denounced
the " penny wise and pound foolish" plan of our ancestors,
which we perpetuate on the mere plea of profit and have no
word to say in extenuation. Our gallant, loyal little State, of
proud record, of ancestral fame, of honest hearts and real
wealth of memory and character, and all that makes a people
truly great, is literally sold to the Lords of the Rail.
It is said that the New Jersey Railroad asks for an extension for
fifty years, and the Camden and Amboy for a period scarcely
less. Thus the hopes of those who were looking forward to
the period of emancipation are as before-time exposed to cruel
disappointment. Extend for a half century. AVhat an age !
Newark will then, at the past ratio of increase, have a popula¬
tion of THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND, and a million
of people may crowd the depots for permission to ride to New
York. Our great city may have grown to be larger than the
present London. The whole territory west of Newark to the
Mountain may be occupied by inhabitants, and market gardens
may occupy our sterile waste of salt meadow. Shall then
a few men of another State control the only avenue by
which the city communicates with such a suburb? Has God
ever made men good enough to be the repository of such
"rights?"—we call them wrongs. Is it in men to properly
use such immunities? Were corporations ever magnanimous?
Why do legislatures meet annually, if it is wise and proper
thus to commit unborn generations—to legislate fifty years in
advance ? Is it because it is feared that our children will exer¬
cise no wisdom ?
As a Jerseyman we protest against such legislation in ad¬
vance. Let us have laws made and charters granted as we need
them. Let us have new roads made and new avenues opened
whenever and wherever capital seeks to open them. Let legisla¬
tures regulate, but not forbid.
15
The documents of our railroad corporations are filled with
such phrases as " State pride," " develope the resources of the
State," "for the interest of the State," and the Managers of
the Joint Companies in their preamble to act of settlement in
1831 say, " We hold the extinguishment of these exclusive privi¬
leges a matter of the greatest importance to the State." Still this is
one of the companies that ask an extension for a generation of
these very exclusive privileges, the extinguishment of which
is of the greatest importance to the State. What does all this
mean? Is it hypocrisy? We had rather believe that at one
point of time, thinking that they had all that they wanted or
could get, they spoke as citizens and not as a corporation.
Such language indicates to us that this corporation know they
are wrong ; that the profit is so great that they cannot afford to
do right, but if forced to it they would admit the verdict just,
and be glad to be relieved from the conviction as well as repu¬
tation of constantly wronging their fellow-citizens on the miser¬
able plea of adding to the resources of the State.
our geographical position.
Because God has placed a hill of trap rock and millions of
acres of low meadow between us and our metropolis, it affords
no reason why the flats should be crossed and the rock pierced
only by privileged corporations. Between us and the great
city flows two rivers the right to cross which was sold for three
entire generations. From our past experience with regard
to the facility of obtaining extensions, we may regard these
rights perpetual. They may extend to the time when " the
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll "—quite too long a
time to wait. We want to see relief in our time, or at least
hope for it in the life time of our children. Now none may span
these rivers without the consent of a corporation. With rivers
that we may not bridge, and hills that we may not pierce, and
plains that we may not traverse, how can we ever hope for
any considerable prosperity? If all is true that "opinion"
makers testify, we are driven to look after a higher law and
appeal to what is some times justifiable when all other means
have failed. A man who owns an acre of ground has a right
16
of access to the highway. Have not communities some rights ?
That portion of the State which is a suburb of New York,
must have, and will have, in some way, a cheap mode of inter¬
communication. The time cannot much longer be delayed.
The bonds that confine us must not be renewed and strengthened
If so, they will surely be broken. The political machinery
by which the people are perpetually wronged, is understood.
Henceforth our legislators will be held to the strictest personal
accountability. It requires no political sagacity to perceive
that the wave of popular opinion approaches upon which the
successful politician must mount or be overwhelmed.
conclusion.
Header—These thoughts have been hastily thrown together
in the midst of business engagements. The subject deserves
an abler pen and more elaboration. This is designed as merely
suggestive. It is quite likely that more will follow shortly.
The propositions made in this paper are either true, or they
are not true. If not true, they should be disproved, for the
public believe them. If true, they probably interest you more
than they do the writer. If you are an owner of propert}7-, if
you ever need to travel, or if you have any State pride, you
must feel an interest in this subject.
It may be too late to act. The iron bands may be drawn
and tightly riveted before this meets your eye, and then your
children's children cannot hope to see any chance for legal
redress or relief. We protest that legislators have no right
thus to bind the next generation ; and though we are a law-
abiding citizen, and believe in fidelity to contracts, in this
matter, we are no party to the obligation ; and promise in ad¬
vance that we shall never respect any such covenants, even if
a majority in our Legislature can be influenced in favor of their
ratification.