New-York tribune., 1900-12-23

ment of the richest city in the world behind it,
better results would have been secured. A great
opportunity for municipal underground cleo
trio system under the control of the London
County Council has been lost Possibly that
would have been regarded as a vagary of what
Lord Salisbury has described megalomana.
The transformation which will be wrought by
the construction of this complex system of un-
derground transit will be the most costly Of the
constantly recurring changes which have
marked the history of London since Saxon and
Norman times. The estimate for the Great
Northern and City Electric Line is about
S3OOOO0O a mile for construction and equip
ment The figures of the Waterloo and City are
lower, and those of the Central London higher,
the former having had the Southwestern Rail-
way behind it in financing the undertaking.
The cost of construction and equipment may be
reduced by the direct application of American
methods on the Charipg Cross Euston and
Hampstead Line. but with the average estimate
given above the expense of the various under
takings previously referred to will be S32l.-
100000. AS the Metropolitan and District rail-
ways not included in this rough estimate
and various supplementary lines and extern
sions will certainly be required, 1t will be safe
to assume that the expense OF providing the
metropolis with complete facilities for rapid
POOo,oop'OOO'
and may equal the cost of the war in South
Africa. 1t is not strange that American capt.
talists. even with their own engineers and equip
ment contractors behind them, are welcomed
with open hands. If the trunk railway lines
had combined for working out this problem, or
If the London County Council had been as ener-
getic and venturesome as the Corporation OF
Manchester. the money would have been raised
at lower rates and the expense of the rapid
transit system would have been greatly reduced
p While rapid transit Will 6e costly, it will in
volve enormous increases of valuation, espe-
cially in suburban property. Rentals have gone
up all along the line of the Central London, and
there has been a speculative movement in the
outer suburbs. which have been brought into
close touch with oxford Street and the Mansion
House. The same results will follow the compile
ton OF the railways now under construction.
The Baker-st. district will revive, and Hamp-
stead and other suburbs will have their little
''booms." So generally these results antici-
pated that Chelsea, Kensngton Hammersmith
ard scores of other centres of population are in
terestng themselves in rapid transit projects
as indispensable to the maintenanoe%of their
position in the metropolis and to an upward
movement in the values of property. When
every metropolitan borough, except possibly the
East End. with its forlorn and dismal areas, is
adequately served with transit facilities, the
relative values of property will remain much as
they are. except in remote suburbs. In this way
the history Of London from the earliest times
will repeat itself. The City has always been
emptying itself outward from the centre and
the suburbs have grown from the constant re-
swarming of hives of population The metropo-
lis as a whole gains enormously in wealth by
the filing up OF the circle within fifteen or
twenty miles of Charing Cross. There are no
nerves in the British pocketbook. The vibra-
tions underground will not jar the sovereigns
and the sixpences in the till Even the mad
rush of American hustng at the stations will
be endured with phosophic composure when
the suburbs are fiinging their tribute into the
lap Of Imperial London L N. n.