The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-27
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49, .RNNS@
market was the sustained rise In Manhattan
Elevated, Third Avenue, and Metropolitan
Street Railway. resulting from the decision Of
the Supreme Court not to approve the scheme
submitted to It for an underground rapid transit
railroad. except upon conditions practically Inn
possible OF fulnlment. Tho court requires q
stipulation from the Rapid Transit Commission
that the bond to DO given by the contractors for
the building and operation Of the proposed road
ahall be In the penalty Of not less than Sl5. oo0.-
900. Such q bond. the Commissioner say, and
II is generally conceded. cannot be obtained.
Moreover. the court intimated that tho build.
ing Of the road would cause an increase OF tho
city's debt beyond the constitutional limit Of 10
Der cent. of the assessed value OF its taxable real
estate, although It left that point to BE- deter
mined by the Court Of Appeals in another suit or
suits, there being no right Of appeal to that
court In the pending proceedings. An effort
will be made to persuade the Supreme Court TO
Eccedo from its requirement OF q $4,000, 900
bond, hut its success is doubtful, and, In any
event. the question Of the debt limit is likely to
prove an insuperable bar to the execution of the
scheme. Then, too. the incoming Mayor and
Comptroller are unfriendly TO Il, and 40 they
will become, on Jan. l, official members OF the
Board Of Rapid Transit Commissioners. they
may be expected to delay Its progress, even
n all other obstacles to IL shall DO removed.
Hence. the prospect is, that the existing elevated
and street surface railroads will have no COM
petition to contend with for many years.
The history OF rapid transit in this city IL one
Of successive efforts and dcfents. The project
had its inception In the fertile brain Of the Hon.
Abram 8. Hewitt, who. In January, 1885, when
he was Mayor Of the city. sent o message to the
Board OF Aldermen, outlining q plan for a rail-
road from the CITY Hall northward. partly UNI
derground, partly in an open cutting and partly
on the surface OF the street or above 1t, to be
built by the city and leased by 1t for a term Of
years at q rental which would eventually reim-
burse Its cost and leave It the property OF the
city. very much In tho same way as 10 now
proposed. Mr.. Hewitt's road was to begin
under the Harlem Railroad at Fifty.fourth
street. and run thence under the Harlem
Railroad, the New York Central Railroad sta
tiph, the present Murray Hill tunnel. and
Fourth avenue, to the head of Lafayette place.
Thence It was to pass, In an open cutting,
3 lough Lafayette place and Elm street. "a
widened. to the City Hall. His plan also con-
templated several branch and extension tun.
nels and surface or elevated roads. to pccommo-
date the portions Of tho city of the main line.
The cost OF constructing the line from Forty
second street to the City Hall Mr.. Hewitt esti-
mated at $40, 200. 900. which. he proposed. should
be raised by the city by selling 3 per cent. honda,
and his idea was that the New York Central
Railroad Company should take q thirty years
lease of that line at an annual rental Of 8 per
cent. on the bonds issued to pay for It. This
would meet the 8 per cent. interest on the
bonds and leave Q per cent. for a sinking fund
to extinguish the principal, the city thus owning
the road ut tho end of the lease free Of debt.
Mayor Hewitt's plan was not favorably re-
ceived. principally. 1t would seem. because It
was thought to be intended to benefit the Van
6erhilt family who then nwDed larpe1y of
the stock Of the New York Central Railroad
Company. Still, his suggestion was so valuable.
and the clamor for Improvement In the means
of transportation between the upper and the
lower parts of the city was so loud. that in 1891.
or three years later. the Legislature passed a
Rapid Transit act. under which. with amend
ments. all the subsequent proceedings for secur-
ing rapid transit in this city have been had.
The first scheme concocted by the Commission
ers appointed under the act was comprehensive
and ambitious. 1t embraced a system Of costly
underground roads to be constructed BY private
capital under q franchise for 900 years. This
franchise, after a great deal of preliminary dis
cussion and advertising was offered for sale at
public auction in December, 1892. but the only
bid for 1t WIS one of 81, 900. which the Commits
sioners refused to accept.
Negotiations were then begun with the Man
haitian Elevated Railway Comps y for exten-
blOnS ana aQultlOns 10 ltS lines INTENDED TO IN
crease their carrying capacity, and for a little
while they promised to be successful. The polit-
zeal party in control of the city Government
favored the Manhattan Company, and in view
of the increased profits II was going to make,
they invested largely in its stock. The public
followed their lead, and during the first four
months of 1893 put the price Of the stock up
very much as they are putting II up now. Then,
came the panic Of 1893. and the Manhattan d.
rectors thinking 1t was not a propitious time to
make the necessary expenditures, abandoned
the scheme for charging their system.
Recourse was. therefore, again had to the
Legislature. and in 1894 the Rapid Transit act
was amended by the addition of provisions for
submitting to q vote of the citizens OF New York
the question whether or not the city should not
construct the required road itself, and lease It,
on a plan similar to that suggested by Mr..
Hewitt. =. The vote was taken in November,
1894. and the proposed municipal construction
OF the road was approved by a substantial
majority. The Commissioners under the act
thereupon set to work and laid out an under
ground railroad which was to cost. by their own
estimate. $50. 0O0. 900. and by that of expert en-
gineers 1913. 900. 000. Failing to obtain the
needful consents. of a majority of the abutting
property owners to the construction Of the road.
they applied to the Supreme Court for the APP
proval which. under the act would have been a
substitute for the consent of the property
owners, but this the court In May. 1896. re-
fused. basing their refusal upon the ground
that the estimated cost of the work was beyond
the city's ability to pay without exceeding its
constitutional debt limit.
The Commissioner then revised their plans.
and. by changing the route of the proposed road
from Broadway to Elm street and simplifying
fits construction, they reduced its estimated cost
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