New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-09-19
MR.. wDONALD'S MISTAKE.

| The LITTLE massage at arms between Mr. Par
sons and Mr.. Mcdonald at Thursdays meeting
of the Rapid Transit Commission is comforting
| 10 the public for it seems TO show that the
| chief engineer has no idea of letting the con-
tractor do as he pleases on lower Broadway
| The work on the section below the POstoI1ce
| has thus far been managed in such way as to
cause comparatively little disturbance Of tratic.
and we think il is fair TO say that property own
| ers and all who use the street have been agree
| ably disappointed--with the exception OF Mr..
| Mcdonald, who declares his annoyance and dis
| coura cement. 1t won't be possible, he says, TO
| finish the job from Ann-st to Bowling Green in
ten years if the present regulations are en-
forced and therefore he appeals 10 the board
for permission to rip things up.
Mr.. Mcdonald points TO Park Row as model
of the way in which the work ought TO be done
elsewhere. If by Park Row, where nobody
was ANNOYED" he means all that the designa-
ton properly covers, his assertion is paralyZing
for the conditions maintained In Park Row for
year or two. all the way from the POstOtiice
TO Chambers-st., were simply hideOus, and at
the northerly end OF that stretch the state OF
things is still abominable. If he refers TO the
short section below Mail-st. he is justified in
SAYING that while leaving much TO be desired,
il does. nevertheless, forcibly illustrate by con-
trast the cruel sacrifices which the public was
forced TO endure in many parts of the city. We
should assume that he had that end OF Park
Row in mind except for the fact that In the
same breath be produced what appears to have
been intended as a panegyric on the manner in
which PROFESSIONALS. has been treated. Look
at PROFESSIONALISM exclaimed Mr.. Mcdonald.
After more than a years work there we are
within ten days of completing the excava-
''tion." And what years work The mere
thought Of it is dangerous to persons with in
herited tendencies to insanity. Primeval chaos
was a japanese garden TO the Forty-second-st.
situation The period since that great thor
oughfare was opened for the subway has been
a period Of torment Incessant peril, intoler-
able discomfort repeated fatalities and irrepar-
able loss have marked the progress of the work
on that section. There is not the slightest risk
in saying that If the public had known what
the contract meant it would never have been
carried out.
Mr. Mcdonald will do well to reconcile him
self 10 the conviction that future underground
railroads will be built in this city only by meth
DDS radically different from those employed
hitherto. We are glad TO that the chief
engineer is aware of that fact-a fact which
public sentiment renders incontroveruble. Il
think Mr.. Parsons and Mr.. Mcdonald can get
together" said Mr.. Orr Oh Thursday If Mr..
Orr meant that he looked for concessions on
both sides his remark did him no credit. The
true conception of what the public requires and
the Rapid Transit Commission will have to
guarantee was expressed by Mr.. Parsons when
he said, in speaking of lower Broadway: IF
Mr. Mcdonald wants to open the street and
block traffic be viii never do it with my ap-
"proval."