New-York tribune., 1900-08-08
FORTY-SECOND-ST.

The abominable condition Of FOrty-secondst.,
due TO the installation Of underground troll
leys on the old hOrsecar line has been re-
peatedly urged upon the attention of the public
authorities by The Tribune and other papers
and personally brought to their notice by many
sufferers Complaints have heretofore appeared
to produce no effect, but at last Mr.. Guggan-
heimer, exercising his authority as Acting
Mayor in the absence Of Van Wyck has taken
the matter up. We are glad to give him credit
for being in earnest, and we hope that he will
not permit his ncisive letter to Commissioner
Keating to remain long unanswered He in
forms the Commissioner that the condition of
Forty -second-st. is a menace to the public
health, that its use as thorOughfare is de-
stroyed and has been for nearly two years past
and that the force of men at present at work
for the cOmpany's contractor is not sufficient to
complete the job within a reasonable time; and
he admonishes Mr.. Heating that It is his duty
to fix suitable date for the restoration of the
street to public use and compel whoever is re-
sponsible to get the work done without delay
Mr.. Keatng has taken the letter under advise
ment and will not improbably need additional
proddng, which we sincerely hope he will not
fail TO receive If he permits the audacious
dawdling of the last two years to continue
1t may be admitted that the delay has been
partly caused by financial and legal embar-
rassments but this is no consolation to those
whose health has been endangered and whose
pecuniary losses have been heavy; nor does 1t
soften public condemnation of the company.
whose misfOrtunes have been the fault Of its
managers. Moreover the Court weeks ago au-
thorized all the steps necessary to a swift pros
ecution Of the work, and yet, as Mr. Guggen-
Eeimer pointedly says. the force is insufficient
for its completion within reasonable time In
word. the exhibition of contempt for the
rights OF the public continues, and will doubt
less continue indefinitely if those in control are
not compelled to take a different course The
citizens living and attempting to do business in
Forty-seCOnd-st. have the strongest reasons for
Indignation. but all who have occasion TO mass
through the street may justly complain of its
condition. and not the least unfortunate Of the
company's victims are the passengers who are
lured into its cars and ultimately deposited at
their destinations perhaps after they have
walked considerable part of the distance
The memory of gross abuses soon becomes in
distinct but we are inclined to think that the
operations in Forty -second-st. have already
beaten the record. This community has had to
endure a great deal from transportation com
panies during the last ten years, and there has
repeatedly been reason to declare that no other
large city in the world would tolerate sucb
treatment; yet even with Broadway and Third
ave. in mind are constrained to believe that
the Outrages which Mr.. Guggenheimer has com
mended to Mr.. Keating's official notice are the
worst of their kind in the history of NewYorly
His letter ought to have the desired effect but
it occurs to us that If the Commissioner Of
Highways remains Indifferent there is another
department of the city government which NAV
be properly invoked. The Board Of Health has
large and autocratic powers and the time was
when offenders did not venture to DEFY its
orders The Metropolitan Traction Company.
Tor example. did not waste much time in discov-
ering that it could its cars at moderate
speed around the Union Square curves after the
Health Board had taken a hand in that contro-
versy. There is no doubt that the condition Of
Forty-second-st. is unsantary, and we hone
that the Health Board has not fallen into sucb
contempt that n corporation or a contractor
would consider its admonitions OF no Imnor-