The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-02

HSuman 10 lauu ION Ol iron OF Ouiuaman
box of tea without taxing him as heavily as
though we were conquering nation receiving
tribute from our vassals.
The Underground Railroad Job Of the
Ninety Railroad Jobbers.
A share in reform committee appears to
be almost as profitable as share in the
''ring" direction of the Erie Railroad. The
Committee of Seventy have already supplied
us with goodly portion of our new office
pected to provide for others Of that patriotic
body. A Committee of Ninety now propose
to build our city railroads for us and to pro-
tect us against fraud by securing the
valuable franchises, worth many millions
of dollars, for themselves. These latter
dslnterested reformers are bent upon carrying
out the scheme Of an underground railroad
along the line of Broadway, and they affirm
that all the Broadway property owners, except
Mr.. A. T. Stewart, have withdrawn their
opposition to the undertaking. There is
something refreshing in the cool impudence
reform q privilege for which thousands of
responsible men would gladly pay to
the city million dollars or more
but when they endeavor to advance
the prospects of their nice little job
by tricks, receptions and misrepresentation,
1t Is difficult to understand how the people
have been benefited by the change from their
late to their present rulers. The real prop
erty owners on Broadway are almost unani-
mously opposed 10 the committees job-Grst,
because they know it to be impracticable, and
next, because they do not believe it to be I'M
dertaken in good faith, but as money making
speculation. The cost of an underground
railroad, supposing it could be constructed at
all, would be so enormous as to deprive the
people of the main benefit Of rapid transit
through the high rate Of fare that would be
needed in order to pay anything like reason
able interest on the investment. In London,
with its enormous population and with no
engineering difficulties to encounter in the
construction of the road, the underground
line is not paying concern. In New York,
where nearly every foot of the road would
have to be made at an extraordinary outlay,
in consequence of the nature of the ground,
and where the travel would not be more than
one-fourth of the London travel, every dollar
invested in it would be hVpelessly lost. If the
work should ever be seriously undertaken,
which is not probable, the great <hoyoughfare
of the city would be torn up for years and its
business destroyed, while in the end the
undertaking would assuredly result in failure.
The only practicable rapid transit scheme
for New York is that of viaduct rail-
way running on each side of the city to
Harlem bridge and Kingsbridge. The OBJ
ject of a railroad run by steam is more
to accommodate persons living at COM
paratively long distances from their places of
business than for way travel. If we had an
underground or viaduct road in operation TO-
day very few persons would use it for short
distances, even if the stations were more fire.
quent than would be likely. A viaduct
road could be built at small expense
as compared with an underground
and in one-tenth of the time. 1t would inn
prove property on the two wings of the city,
east and west, which has fallen thirty per
cent in few years, and bring it into demand
for business purposes. For viaduct road
all the capital eeded could be speedily
secured, for the reason that it Is no expert
ment but mere calculation of cost and profit
There are no engineering difficulties in the
way of its construction and nothing is needed
but the law to authorize it and the energy to
carry out the work.
So far as the HERALD property is con-
cerned it would not be injured by an under
ground road, our excavations being thirty feet
under ground. But, in common with other pro-
perty owners on Broadway, we protest against
an utterly impracticable scheme, which, in
stead of giving our citizens what they so much
need-rapid transit from one end of the
island to the other--would not only end in
failure, but place an obstruction in the way of
really practicable undertakings. AS the
property owners on Broadway have been mis-
represented by the Committee of Ninety we
call upon them to express their views in re-
lation to the proposed scheme through the
columns of the HERALD.
ORLEANS RoYALIsM IN FRANCE. The CON-
mttee of the French Legislative Assembly
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