Question of Equity?

    Mr. Raymond heard from Mr. Tasker in a letter dated October 13. The letter ignored Mr. Raymond’s August 30 proposal of removing all references to nighttime service. Instead it argued that the correct path was for the Ferry Company to sue Mr. Rouse if it objected to his competition, not the role of the Town to prohibit him from using the Town Dock for his ferry service. Also the Town insisted that Poggatticut daytime service be at least hourly.

These are the houses on Summerfield Place and Chequit Avenue. This profile ws severely disrupted when George N. Webster's house burned to the ground. It was replaced by the neo-Classical house that stands today. Henry Belknap's house on the far left has also been replaced.
    Mr. Raymond was not pleased. He responded on October 15. "The question is now solely one of equity and fairness." He insisted that the Ferry Company would not accept competition from the same Town Dock, for which it paid rent of $100 per year, from another ferry service which paid no rent and still provide year round night time service at a loss. He requested that all reference to night service be eliminated from the lease. He also insisted that a "suitable schedule" would be maintained, based on past practice and present traffic, working toward profitability but it was not the Town's business to tell the Ferry Company how to run its business. He hand delivered to Mr. Baldwin a copy of his letter to Mr. Tasker, "to squarely record the Ferry [Company] contention RE: schedules and night service and eliminations with the Town to avoid any possible chance of claim it was not informed by Mr. Tasker."
    On October 18, Mr. Tasker wrote and suggested that the "difference seem to me so trivial." He suggested that he and Mr. Smith meet with Mr. Raymond when he will shortly be on the Island. Mr. Raymond responded that he would not soon be on the Island but offered to entertain them at lunch at his club in New York City either Saturday or Monday. On October 21, Mr. Tasker responded that he would relay Mr. Raymond's invitation and added, "As the matter stands at present, it is unfortunate that the Town expended money on a contemplated ferry service." He enclosed a copy of his letter to Mr. Raymond in a letter to Mr. Smith which he concluded, "I judge from the tenor of Mr. Raymond's letter that he will not deviate from his 'ultimatum'."
    Mr. Raymond was not pleased:
    The concluding sentence of your letter the 21st inst., indicates what I have feared, you are advising the Town under misunderstanding of the facts.
    The Town has not spent a single penny with respect to night service, the only point at issue. The slip was not built for that service, and is not required.
    It would be unthinkable if the Ferry were suggesting that it will not give the exact service the slip was provided and the expenditure made for.
    On the contrary the Ferry is fully tendering all that was ever discussed, mentioned, or contemplated, in the building of a slip to accommodate the Poggatticut.
    No one will be bold enough to set up there was expectation or promise that the Poggatticut was to be in evening service...
    Since Spring the Town officials have been acquainted with the detail suggestion re lease from us. Despite the fact that I was available on the Island for consultation throughout the summer, not a move was made in that direction until the season ending. Responsibility for delay rests there. The Ferry has been prompt to answer every communication. I am still at the Town’s command for conference here anytime the 28th on.

This is a vew from thePoggatticut Hotel lawn in 1921. Note the Heights Association house on the right.
    Inexplicable, on that same day, Mr. Raymond received a single undated lease signed by Mr. Smith and Mr. Baldwin without the Town seal. He had already returned it to Mr. Tasker unsigned twice. He returned it to Mr. Smith with an explanation that the lease in that form as sent was not acceptable. "The Ferry Company has been ready to at once commence service to the Town slip with the Poggatticut as of October 1."
    Then things got really interesting. On October 29, Mr. Raymond received the following letter from Francis A. Myers, the local contractor who had built the Town slip.
    Mr. Charles Henry Smith informs me that the failure of the Ferry Company to land at the new slip of the town dock is due to the fact that the Ferry Company through you is demanding what to my mind are unfair and unreasonable conditions. Mr. Smith states to me that the Ferry Company want to have the right to fence in the Ferry Slip and Town Dock, excluding therefrom anybody who desires to use the same to ship goods or to receive them which receipt or shipment of goods would, in no way, interfere with the ferry business.
    Mr. Smith also claims that you have had the lease for some time and refuses to sign it thereby denying the Winter residents of the Island the great convenience that would result in the use of the slip during the Winter.
    I am not a stockholder of the Shelter Island Heights Association, but I am a property owner and a Winter resident and I wish to protest against the stand taken by the Ferry Company as unfair and unreasonable. I desire to use the town dock to land lumber which I bring around from Sag Harbor and others demand the use of the dock to send away vegetables and other goods from the Island. The Tax Payers of the Island paid for the dock and they are entitled to the use of it. I think if the Ferry Company gets the use of the dock for Ferry purposes only, giving the Winter residents the use of the dock for other than ferry purposes, it is all the Ferry Company can reasonably expect. I do not want to be antagonistic to the new management, but I feel in demanding the right to fence in the property that the entire population has paid for, the Ferry Company is unreasonable and unfair and I protest against any such action.

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