The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1864-04-10
The Defeat Of the Underground Broad
way RailrOad-TAe Schemes OF tho

The Defeat of the Underg round Broad
way kailrOad-The Schemes Of tho
Day.
The bill for an underground Broadway
railroad has been defeated in the Legislature
and thus this scheme becomes impracticable
although the four million dollars-the estimat.
ed cost of the road-were already subscribed
The very proposal to undertake such an affair
goes to prove that the spirit Of enterprise which
is at present rife in Europe has reached US
The Old World is more familiar with these Ell.
gantio schemes. The tunnel through the Alps
is half completed. Paris and London are honey
combed with underground railways There
is tunnel under the Thames river; and for
years past, in Paris and London, tunnel under
the British Channel from Dover to Calais, has
been a subject under earnest consideration.
1t is true that we have not reached the de-
gree of audacity which distinguishes the Euro
peans in these grand undertakings; but we are
fast gaining upon them in this respect. and
shall of course outstrip them ere long, as this
is essentially the land of enterprise and pro-
gress. We built. at cost of thirteen Millions
the Croton aqueduct, while Paris is yet with
out one, and now would find hundred mil
lions. if needed. for 3 similar enterprise. We
have made grand Park at cost Of five mil
lions-upon a bed Of rocks where at every foot
we were fighting nature and making garden.
We shall soon construct either tunnel or
grand suspension bridge to connect New York
with Brooklyn, and shall build stone pors all
around the city No matter how vast the
expense, provided the scheme presents to the
public the proper Inducements of reform utility
and fat dividends. Advancing with the age,
we are now fully alive to all great under
takings which heneft the people, and give
seven or eight per cent on the investment and
find without effort the millions needed to
carry them out.
How great contrast between the present
and the past Of but few years. Now We talk
ence which is not assumed During the ad
ministration of John Quincy Adams detail
cation in the accounts of treasury auditor
of four thousand dollars created prodigious
excitement, and an expense of thirteen millions
per annum politically demolished Mr.. Adams.
nhu yCs SomPoi"tiNSlJ iON yS0ic AuVC CiupScu
since the primitive period We refer to. and now
we have million of mon in the field, spend
two millions Of dollars per day, get up .
Metropolitan Fair that yields . Million ask no
foreign loans, raise millions all over the coun-
try for charitable purposes, build the largest
and most formidable fleets in the world, stand
any amount of imbecility in the government,
are constructing two or three railroads from
the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, fight
the biggest battles, shall connect the Old
World to the New with telegraphic wires, and
may yet tunnel the Atlantic and Pacific. The
necessities Of a position which our enemies
tondly hoped would prove our ruin have
caused us to realize the vast extent Of our
capabilities, and, by giving US q true know
ledge of our power, prepared us for great
enterprises and great progress. The war has
caused us to advance, in the short space OF
its duration, to stand second to that of no
Power on earth. In our works we shall prove
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