The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-08-19
TRANSIT PROBLEMS IN LONDON.
Additional Underground Railroads
the Only SnIntInn.


LONDON. Aug I9-The imperative ne
cessity for rapid transit in London has
led % a singular dilemma The fabulous
amount of millions and the years 81 dis
location Of traffc which street widening
as a cure for the tangled c0nEeSrfon OF we
hicles I'm the busy routes would require,
have turned an attention 10 the CoHStTuc-
tiou Of underground railways from the
business area 20 the residential districts
and 81 subways for foot passengers I'M
der busy crossings. Much capital guided
by American engineering enterprise. is
being applied 10 this work
The great stream Of paying tTaf1C is
from the city 90 the West End To carry
this by underground railways the line
must go somewhere not far distant from
81 PauIs, which stands on an elevation
exactly at the western end Of the city
But the ancient cathedral, il is said, Is al
ready breaking from insecure foundations,
ana the alarmists cry out that any extra
tunneing or Vibration would destroy IL
altogether The architect TO the Dean and
chapter Of St Paul's gives an account Of
how Christopher Wren regarded the fouu-
datious.
The architect says that Wren. exam
lining the site OF his new cathedral found
that passing through the debris u old
London. ne came. al a depth Of some df-
teen OF sixteen feet from the surface. TO
layer of clay, or pot earth as he terms
il This varied from six feet 10 four feet
i'm thickness. The pot earth rests on a
stratum Of sand mot at an solid mixed
with gravel stones, the lower part wet
Below this. and some thirty-dve 10 forty
feet from the surface lies the London
clay Wren thought 1t out Of the ques-
ton 20 carry all his foundations down 10
the London clay.
He rejected piles. foreseeing that wells
OF other things might more or less drain
of the water from over the clay. and
knowing that, unless piles remain always
under the same conditions. they must
certainly rot He thought best. BY spread
ing the foundations. 70 float the cathe-
draI on the bed OF pot earth. and thus ne
built, never dreaming OF the desperate at
tacks the sandy sUbstTatum under the pot
earth would have TO sustain"
The necessary increase Of sanitation
and OF road Improvement was the first
attack on the subsjratum. Then came
the Metropolitan Railway, cutting a
great cash along the southern slope Of
the hlH on which ST. Pauls stands 9th
Ct railway tunnels and sewers have fair
j. rIddltd the south % the hill The
farthest away is only so feet from the
cathedral foundations. and during the
past seventy years there have been in
consequence fresh settlements in the
walls OF the church. They have develop
Cd uUtiCeabIy IN the last three years. The
present architect saws
The results Of these big excavations
and disturbances would very pr0baJ,y lot
show themselves seriously in the fabric Of
the cathedral Tor "A good many years
but what IS, let us say fifty years IN the
life OF a great national monument one
OF the most magnificent buildings in the
world, and which. take7 due care OF.
may last for 900 years and more
The area from which the foundations
Of the cathedral can be damag- IS SO
Vastthat IL would seem almost q ques-
tiOn Of removing the city or removing st
PauIs If a direct underground railway
system is TO be constructed