The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-19
A Great Scandal Threatened.

.-Ff "A GFeay oChnuhh AhE0abCuCus
The Commissioners appointed by the APP
pellate Court having reported that the re-
Vlsed scheme Of underground rapid transit
can be carried out at reasonable cost to the
city, that tribunal is to be asked next week
TO approve the scheme, SO that u contract
may be made for the construction. The
effort to secure thisa approval will be siren
nous. on the theory that when the new city
ia started under the new charter on the
lat of January, the constitutional limita-
ton of the municipal debt will prevent
the execution Of the project.
The cost of the underground road Is esti-
mated Mt $35 600 1000, but the highest en-
cheering authority increases the probable
amount by an expense for contingencies
which cannot be calculated even approx.
mately in advance. A competent engineer
ing witness in the investigation by the
Commissioners appointed by the Appellate
Court estimated this uncertain and meal
culable element at 40 per cent, and was
assailed accordingly as an un~trustworthy
and purely imaginative expert. TIL truth
IL hat his m was conservative, and
his expert ability is unquestionable. Other
engineers, whose place in their profession
ia in the very foremost rank, estimate
these contingent expenses as high as 90
and even So per cent.
& The cost of construction incidental to
the displacement and Encouragement Of the
complicated system of sewer and other
pipes would be Some slight sug-
Rcstion is afforded by the long and vex-
atious work In the Fifth avenue, so dis
tressing to everybody using that thorough
fare. Itwould be a tremendous job, and no
engineer competent to measure its possi-
bilities of cost would hazard an opinion
as to the matter which did not allow for a
percentage for " contingencies as high as
30 per cent.
The Appellate Court, therefore, VIII
have before 1t an unsettled and insoluble
problem of cost, whatever may be the re-
port Of the Commissioners, and il it ap-
proves the report and thus authorizes the
construction of the underground road, it
will impose ON the city an incalculable
burden of debt; and experience indicates
that the bonds issued for the construction
will never be retired from the proceeds of
the road. nor even the interest on them
paid by the contractors for IT'S building and
operation.
If the contract is drawn in behalf Of the
city with careful and sufficient regard to
the public security, 1t is hardly possible
that it should be accepted, for its condi-
tions would be too onerous. The only
chance of letting the contract is in draw
ing it SO hastily and loosely that the con-
tractor will find in it's unguarded provis-
Ions as to contingencies the opportunity
for a profitable job in the mere construc-
tion. The law provides that the contractor
shall make a deposit Of 81 ,0OO, 900 as a
guarantee of good faith and to insure his
completion of the contract, but the much
greater amount of money he might make in
constructing no more than a section of the
underground road would recoup him for
the loss of the million, even If he threw up
the contract uncompleted and thus escaped
from the responsibility Of stocking and
running the road at a loss.
The haste with which it is attempted tc
push the scheme through the Appellate
Court before the new charter is put in op
Grafton indicates that there is to be lik,
haste in the drawing of the contract
though the mature precautions which w,
have pointed out are imperatively neces
sary for the security of the city. If tn,
scheme is approved by the Court withou
more thorough and intelligent considera
ton than it has received at the hands o
the Commissioners, the probable, nay, tn
almost inevitable result will be an enor
mously costly job, provocative of grea
scandal, with the result of leaving to tn
city an incomplete and comparatively use
less hole in the ground as q permanen
cause of extravaganza and corruption.
Tho establishment of the Greater New
York is likely to involve vast expenditures
which will appal the taxpayers, and tn
initiation ofthe experiment of consolidatio
will introduce many and intricate prot
lens which will test to the utmost tn
administrative ability of the Government
lately elected. Does Tammany want t
assume any sort of responsibility for thi
further burden of the construction of a
underground road likely to u out so dis
astrously for the city2