The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-09

lied the naval offices. He made the de-
partments do efficient bookkeeping. And
he built the navy. Everybody knows
what the great ships under America g
seamen accomplished In tho late war.
But It should not be forgotten that 1t
which brought about the construction OF
those ships.
After the navy 1t was the New York
street railway system that occupied the
attention Of this man Of genius. The
Metropolitan Street Railway company
was the result. But what is the Metro
politan company? Men who know the
stock exchange will answer: ''It Is a
company with $45, 100000 capital stock.
which would easily sell on the market
at 1856 share, and is consequently
worth $119. 0,000." Men who know the
streets Of the city will answer: s'It is
company operating 227 miles Of street
railway, fifty miles of which 1t owns and
the rest 1t leases" Daily passengers will
say: 1t is the company which has given
us transfers and made 1t possible for us
to have long rides for a nickel, which has
increased our convenience and introduce
ed the underground electric system Of
power" Mr.. Whitney might add: ut is
an institution which has given me a
certain amount of pleasure, enabled me
to do certain amount of good and In
cidentally given me 500, 900 or so Of
profit
Indeed. Mr.. Whitney said the other
day IN answer to question as to how
he came to take up the street railway
enterprise: you may be skeptical about
1t, but 1t Is an actual fact that the first
incentive In my mind In determining
upon the consolidation and improvement
OF the many lines making service at a
cheaper cost. The possible profits of that
accomplishment were not considered
and indeed 1t was eight or ten years after
work was begun that single cent of
profits was made"
For that delay, as has been said, Mr..
Whitney has richly made UP in the last
SIX years. This was the way the Metro
pontan company was formed: First the
little crosstown line on Avenue and
Houston street was secured. Then this
line leased many Others including the big
broadway and Seventh avenue lines BY
ana by the Metropolitan company was in
corporated to handle all these cases. Soon
the whole family of roads began to work
tremendously together. Each leased road
was paid good rental, and the Metro
politan~ company took the rest of the
profits.
Now comes the biggest scheme of all
'1A'N@ iiesNO SoAiO IlOlll wv ulIIGy ISE-
tile head. That Is for the tunnel which
is to run from one end of Manhattan
island to the other, and for which an ex-
penditure of $6O,000,0O0 is contemplated.
Through it fast trains, at thirty miles
an hour, are planned to run. That will
bring Washington Heighth as near to
the business part of the city as the dis
tricts across the river and probably lead
thousands of families to become Manhat-
tanites again.
Our proposition is final one" says
, Mr.. Whitney, because we have made
every calculation from all available data
For long time 1 was opposed to the
underground railway plan, but 1 have
finally come to regard it as the only So
luton of the transportation problem l
thought that with all our surface i'm
| provements the needs of the public would
be satisfied, but cars are as crowded now
as ever. We believe that our offer to the
city will be accepted. without our having
to go to any. judicial proceedings, and
that the tunnel will soon be under course
Of construction,
What plan to occupy his attention Mr..
Whitney will find when the street rail-
way system is complete nobody knows,
but it will probably be something as bene-
| fetal to the public as to the great organi-
| ger himself