The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-18
Rapid Transit in New York.

The American metropolis has solved
! its rapid transit problem in way almost
to startle people familiar with the meth
! DDS generally resorted to in connection
with public Improvements. New York has
awarded a contract to John B. Mcdonald
| TO construct an underground tramway via
! duct from Elm Street to the Bronx and
/ the terms OF the agreement will live in
American history as a shining illustration
/ of what brains. skill. experience, and cap
! itsl in the hands of a single self-made
I man can be made to do for the public
/ benefit.
Although this great work is to cost
thrty-ive million dollars. not cent is
TO be added to the tax list. 1t seems al
most a paradox in matters of municipal
improvement to state that the enterprise
will pay for itself. as far as the city is
concerned. and that at the end OF fifty
years its gigantic earning capacity will be
taken over by the community and become
one of its most valuable assets in action.
Yet this is true,
The contractor is a man already famous
for the public facilities he has been able
to construct with splendid success. Mr..
Mcdonald was the builder OF the Balti-
more railway tunnel of the storage res
eryoirs at Chicago. and is now construct
ing a seven-million- dollar reservoir at
Jerome Park. In the course of his bust
ness career he has amassed handsome
fortune. and it is said that he is amply
able TO undertake the rapid-transit project
without extraneous aid. The terms upon
which he VIII furnish New York with its
underground transit line. almost from end
TO end OF that long city, are simple and
appear to he highly advantageous to the
taxpayers. He is to deposit million dol
lars as an earnest that the work will be
begun promptly and prosecuted vigor-
ously. and give a bond in the sum of five
million dollars that he viii build and
equip a proper and adequate trsmway on
the completion OF the tunnel.
AS construction proceeds the city will
issue bonds for the cost, but the interest
on these securities will be paid by the
contractor who will pay in addition one
per cent per annum upon their face value.
and this, II Is assumcd, at compound in
terest, will pay the original cost in fifty
years. During that period Mr.. Mcdonald
and his assigns are TO hold and operate
the underground rapid-transit system con-
strncted by him, under lease. the pay
ments and undertakings above described
being the consideration TO the city; but at
the end of fifty years the whole property
and plant, which win be owned in fee by
the municipality from the start, will be
turned over to it free of encumbrance, and
thereafter the usufruct viii inure to the
public.
We must remark that this Mcdonald
contract is something in the way of an
innovation. AS an example, IL is likely to
exert very salutary effect upon the
methods for providing municipal facilities /
and works of public utility throughout the |
country. II is a transaction that taxpay-
ers in cities everywhere should hail as a /
harbinger Of better things than generally /
have been at the command of commune |
ties compelled to make heavy expendi |
lures for commercial purposes. 1t is an 1
example of sensible enterprise under sci |
entifc capitalization that we trust may |
be widely initiated