The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-01-02

Is less doubt There Is a better basis for an
estimate. It being evident that the discom-
forts Of travelling through such a tunnel
would confne IT'S passenger traffic to long
distance travel, the chances Of getting any
profit from the undertaking, or even obtain
ing a shadow Of interest on it's cost to the
city, are not discoverable. OF course, people
would not go down TO travel through
a tunnel except under the compulsion
of sheer necessity. The preference for
the free and open air and light Is
universal, unless, perhaps, among troy
lodytes. Only those who could not
get to and from their homes in a reason
able time without sacrificing themselves by
taking the journey through the bowels Of
tho earth, would submit to the hardship
which the Rapid Transit Commission would
impose on them. The sole travel an under
ground railroad could expect to get would
be that to the m ore remote districts to the
north Of the Harlem River. II any I'M
fortunates could not squeeze themselves into
the elevated cars, the cable cars, and the
electric cars, they might DO driven by dire
necessity to 20 down into the tunnel as
being preferable to immediate suicide in
order to escape from the misery OF their lot.
But everybody who could keep out of
1t, would be sure to avoid the punishment
this futile Rapid Transit Commission would
inflict on the public OF New York at q cost
to them estimated at S35, DOC, 900, but
which probably would be very much
more, and 80 much more as to consti-
tute a menace to the s~olvency Of the city.
Thu short-distance travel that pays a profit
would all go elsewhere, and only the long
distance travel, on which there is no profit,
would be securable by the underground
road; and only SO much Of that as was abb
s~olutely forced to bear the wrong.
That is simple common sense. Who Is
there that Is going to travel daily to and
from his home through a hole in the ground
II there Is any way of making the journey
above ground?
This new proposition OF the Rapid TRANSIT
Commission IL only n new evidence of the
uselessness of that body Of very respectable
gentlemen, and the utter impossibility Of
their ever devising a practicable system OF
rapid transit within the limitations to
which they have 80 %stubbornly confined
themselves. II their plan were practicable,
and IL the money Of the people could be
safely invested in it, private capital would
rush into competition to get the nance of
carrying it OUT; but, in fact, this commits
sion is only in existence because private
capital would not touch an undertaking
manifestly so proftless.
The time has come to stop the nonsense.
TIL Rapid Transit Commission has demon
strated its i~ncapacity to deal with the prob
lem, and the futility of all its propositions
to solve it by constructing an underground
railroad. When it has been dissolved finally,
there will be an opportunity to settle the
question satisfactorily in the only way in
which, obviously, it can be settled and hat
is by improving, extending, and increasing
the rapid transit facilities and methods
which We already have, and which have
proved to be the most agreeable and desir-
able offered in any Of the great capitals Of
the world.
Get rid of the Rapid Transit Commission
Save the credit OF the city and the American
reputation for common sense!