From the "reform" Legislature of 1982 Vanderbilt secured all that he
sought. The act was so dexterously worded that while not nominally
giving a perpetual franchise, it practically revoked the qualified
parts of the charter of 1832. It also compassionately relieved him of
the necessity of having to pay out about $4,000,000, in replacing the
dangerous roadway, by imposing that cost upon New York City. Once
these improvements were made, Vanderbilt bonded them as though they
had been made with private money.


"REFORM" AS IT WORKS OUT.

But these were not his only gifts from the "reform" Legislature. The
Harlem Railroad owned, as we have seen, the Fourth avenue surface
line of horse cars. Although until this time it extended to Seventy-
ninth street only, this line was then the second most profitable in
New York City. In 1864, for instance, it carried nearly six million
passengers, and its gross earnings were $735,000. It did not pay, nor
was required to pay, a single cent in taxation. By 1872 the city's
population had grown to 950,000. Vanderbilt concluded that the time
was fruitful to gather in a few more miles of the public streets.

The Legislature was acquiescent. Chapter 325 of the Laws of 1872
allowed him to extend the line from Seventy-ninth street to as far
north as Madison avenue should thereafter be opened. "But see," said
the Legislature in effect, "how mindful of the public interests we
have been. We have imposed a tax of five per cent, on all gross
receipts above Seventy-ninth street." When, however, the time came to
collect, Vanderbilt innocently pretended that he had no means of
knowing whether the fares were taken in on that section of the line,