to accept the Judge of the United States Circuit Court when, against the advice of the whole administrative circle, I proposed him.
Again and again in our prolonged negotiations we returned, as in a vicious circle, to this point; again and again we reached this impasse.
LXI
Meanwhile, the franchises were expiring, and the
time drew on when the company would have no
rights left in the streets. And here was the opportunity
for the mind that had the power, or the
defect, of isolating propositions, of regarding them
as absolute, of ignoring the intricate relativity of
life. "Put the company off the streets," was the
cry; "make it stop running its cars; bring it to its
knees." However, we could not bring the company
to its knees without bringing the riders to their
feet; we could not put the company off the streets,
without at the same time and by the same process,
putting the people on the streets; when the cars
stopped running the people began walking. The
public convenience was paramount.
Then Mr. Cornell Schreiber, the City Solicitor, hit upon a plan. He drew an ordinance providing that the company could use the streets wherein its rights had expired, only on the condition that it carry passengers at a three-cent fare, and the ordinance was at once passed by the council. It was of doubtful legality, but it had its effect in a world
