The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-13
L0NDON'S DARK TUNNELS.
lrIsERIEs OF TRATELLING ON HER
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

n lacks Yresh AIR. LiEht. Cleanliness, speed.
ana sssetJ, and Only rhoso Patrontse ~
whe Haave To-whistIcr Furnishes Moro
Entertainment Tor the worie ut Large ana
wiss tire Legal Fight He HAS Had with sir
wniisu. Edcn-Didn't like Eis Valentine.
LONDON. Dec. 3.-The time OF year has arrived
when the Londoner has to brace up his courage
10 face one Of tho greatest evils Of modern Lon
don life. This 10 travelling on tho underground
railway. 1t 10 impossible to exagEeratc the
evils Of this method Of getting about London.
A for its advantages, they may be summed UP
IN the words OF the famous chapter on snakes
In ireland. There arc mono. Unless. indeed,
the proprietors of multitudinouS soups, pills
and cocoas reap 9, me satisfaction from tho
knowledge that In those Metropolitan tunnels
they have acres Of advertisements which none
can read In the Tartaroan darkness.
Fresh air. light, cleanliness. speed. conven-
ionco OF ingrcss and cgrcss, together with safety
and economy, are surely some OF the frat rcqui-
sites for q great city's system OF internal COM
nunication. And none Of these is to be found
In London's underground system. These dreary
esphyxiating tunnels Of London arc q warning
70 every city In tho world to keep above ground.
% disagrecable do Londoners find these subter-
- 80 tAeht no sS.e hac
weather 10 anything like decent, they stick to
tho great. numbering, dilatory bus. For n man
who merely wants to 90 from one spot to an
other, and 10 not travelling for tho snko
Of having an interesting panoramic view of
London street life. a bus drive has many draw.
backs. Tho full speed Of q bus is slow, time
after time It 10 stopped by the trafnc which con-
gests tho narrow streets, II stops anywhere to
pick up and put down q passenger, its seats are
--l L. 49,. --l-.
tagcs. but in spite Of them all it Is preferred to
the underground railway whenever 1t is avail-
able. II comfortable and we'll organized and
managed %nuto.motor' bus system were arranged
IN London the underground railway would have
fewer friends than ever. 1t would be moro
true to say fewer customers, for friends 1t has
none. No one uses 1t who Is not obliged to, and
every one who uses 1t curses it.
The reasons for this are as obvious as they are
numerous. You have only TO use the railway a
few times to find them out. To begin with. the
ventilation alone is enough to make any ono
Eight shy OF using the line. To-day's Financial
Ecrs has the following suggestive paragraph
on its editorial page:
1.-THE report OF the committee which inquired
into tho system Of ventilation on the under
ground railway told us nothing new. In these
days of tho utilization OF waste products We are
surprised that no one has foated q small COM
pany to buy the atmosphere OF the Metropoli-
tan's tunnels for use as chemical manure 1t
could DO delivered chcaply in chunks at any sta
ton required"
In fact, all that the committee of experts "
could recommendw was tho construction of sew
eral additional openings. These openings
merely mitigate slightly the condition of the
tunnel where it is Immediately beneath them.
and more than counterbalancc this by the blast
Of mephitic stencil with which they poison the
upper air wherever they occur. When you first
use the underground railway the thick. stoamy
atmosphere, surcharged with carbonic acid.
rocking with sulphur. and leaving q vile, cop
perry taste in tho mouth, makes you feel posi-.
tivelyjll. After a time you got to
this more or less and do not notice 1t SO much,
but its unhealthiness must always remain tho
same. The portion Of the circle between Edg-
ware road and Kings Cross Is always abomina.
BILE, and sometimes 1t literally seems to choke
you. Here there SEEMS to be absolutely no ven
tilation. But wherever you travel, on tho
whole circuit the atmosphere is, and must DO,
vile.
OF course this is, to a certain extent, due to
steam being the motive power used. You arc
travelling in an underground chimney. The
theory has been preached that as the trains nre
constantly travelling round in opposite direc-
tions on either track. thoy churn UP the air ana
prevent any through draugkt. On the new cleo
trio line each trark will be laid in a separate
unnel, in the hope that each train will draw
with 1t a current OF fresh air. not interfered
with by the train on the other track going in the
contrary direction.
The use Of electricity will certainly improve
the condition OF the tunnel. But it Is more than
doubtful whether 1t will ever be possible to
maintain n decently pure atmosphere over a
largo system. The difficulties OF effectively
cleansing miles OF underground passages which
are in constant use. seem to be insuperab!c.
And the amount of refuse and unclcan matter
which must necessarily be introduced from
without, and which cannot be effectively treated
within. will always help to >itiate an atmos.
phere which at the best can only be of an in
ferior quality and scanty quality. The open air.
the sun. and tho rain abolish such difficulties in
0boveHground railways. But underground rail-
ways will always suffer from them. 1t ia i'm
possible to make ~gratings through which we
might shoot our rubbish into space on the under
side of the world.
But apart from poisoning you. the under
ground railway has other serious faults. 1t is
abominably dark. The slightest extraordinary
traffic seems to upset its whole system. A
bank holiday throws it into Mysteries. Christ
mas trafio brings on a kind of fit, which stops
its circulation. The Oxford and Cambridge
boat race means utter chaos. Jubilee Day-but
Jubille Day is over, and will not come again, 30
there Is no need to call up bitter memories. In
London 1t 10 almost impossible to tell what sta.
ton you are in. No one protends to be able to
understand what a London porter says when he
cries ont the name OF the station. You have to
learn them all In their proper order. and then
you will know when you have arrived at your
destination. In any city there must necessarily
be fewer places at which you ca board the train
which runs underground. And to get to the train
you have to descend a kind OF collar stairway
and have to climb another when you leave IT.
And to be wedged in the centre of an impatient
crowd docs not improve ascent or descent. No
travelling underground is a failure in London
And when bitter experience has taught you
that many disadvantages are perhaps peculiar
TO London's own system, you have also fount
out that there arc quite as many which belont
not to this one underground line. but to under
ground lines in general. | have only heard on,
good worl spoken for 1t, and that was by 9