New-York tribune., 1899-11-14
BIDS FOR THE TUNNEL.
RAPID TRANSIT COMMISSION WILL BE
GIN TO ADVERTISE TOMORROW.
THE THIRD AVENUE COMPANY NAY BE
BIDDER. BUT THE METRoPoLlTAN

THE THIRD AVENUE COMPANY MAY BE A
BIDDER, BUT THE METRoPoLlTAN
WILL NOT BE. 1T is SAID
Dec,s,ve action for advertising for bids for the
.on.ract 10 build the underground ROAD was
taken nv the Rapid Transit Commission yester-
dow A new office for the Commission was
oner.d Yesterday on the fourth floor OF the
building No. 800 Broadway. ana the Oolii'''
s,on held a meeting there at O'CLOCK AieA
ander E. Orr presided. and all the other mem
hers of the Commission were present e~ceo'
Morris X. Jesup, who is ILL., and Mayor va"
wvck who never attends the meetings Coh-
troller Coer was on hand early
Edward NJ Shepard and A. b. Boardman' tne
counsel for the Commission, reported that Noi
poration Counsel Whalen had approved 'he
amended form of contract. 1t had oeeh i1e'e'
sary to amend the form OF contract IN vie" VI
the decision of the Appellate DIVISION VI '".
s,nren,e Court that the bond to be required OF
the contractor might be reduced from slf'o'o'V00
IN $1,000 OOO Mr. Whalen's approval had oeeh
exnected. because he had Joined in the request
TO have the bond reduced. The couhsei ea'N
that the formal order of the Appellate DlVlsioi'
would be obtained before the end OF the oas'
The Rapid Transit Commission voted 10 ap-
prove the amended form Of the contract io' INC
last time, and passed an order TO aoVeruse ~,
bids for the contract The advertisement "'''
contain q svnopsis of the contract and will take
I'D about a column OF newspaper ~ WI" W
,rb1isbed first tomorrow, and 1t will. be pup
lished twice a week for three weeks bius ioi
IN, contract will be opened on January 10 at
the office of the Rapid Transit Commission NO
ooo proadwav unless the time Is EXTENDED at
so,ne future meeting Of the Commission. fhe
r2oard has power provided any contractor ue-
s,res e. 10 extend the time for the opening OF
the bids It is not thought likely. however, that
the time will be extended.
II was announced yesterday that the Commis-
sion had the power to conclude arrangements Tor
the building of the second section OF the tunnei
n Il desired this arrangement to be conciudeo
as soon after January II. 1900. as the Commis-
sion may deem fit. AS the contract Is mace no"
the contractor must bid for the entire four sec
tions Of the tunnel only the first OF wmch Is
TO be finished at once. He must further Operate
the road for fifty years and has the opuon ..
twenty five more years II he deems the his'
fifty successful ..,,o ,bot
ne hoped and expected that there would De
satisfactory bids for the contract, now thdt the
prohibitive bond Of S14.OO0,Ooo had peeh ~ re-
duced 10 S5 600 600 and that the work OF Dulid-
ing the tunnel road would be begun in IoUo ~
has been expected that the Metropolitan street
Railroad Company and the Ihird avenue iIai' M
road Company would be bidders for the con
tract There was a report yesterday tnat the
Third Avenue Railroad Company would pe sure
TO bid and President Vreeland OF the Metro
politan Street Railway Company declared that
his company would not bid for the contract.
Mr. Vreeland said the company had meant what
II said in its letter to the Rapid Transit Com
mission some time ago. Withdrawing the bld IL
made. He quoted as follows:
I'VE meant exactly what we said. we nave
never given the question Of building an under
ground railroad a moments thought since the
day we withdrew our bid. We have no interest
in IL and we do not care who bids for II or 10
whom the contract is awarded"
"Is ii possible that some Of the principal stock
holders in the Metropolitan Company may form
a new company or may combine with other
capitalists and bid for the company? was asked.
mo. II is not. The stockholders of our
company interested in the former bid, and
they settled the question absolutely when they
determined to withdraw that bid"
Several of the Rapid Transit Commissioners
said they thought there would be no lack Of bid
ders for the contract when the amended con-
tract had been made known TO the capitalists.