The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-06
New York Awakened.

New York Awakened.
The remarkable patience with which
the PEOPLE of New York have endured,
during the last three years, the loss and
discomfort caused by the digging of the
subway surprises the Boston Erening
transcript. The sacrifice of their inter-
ests for the benefit of contractors which
they have borne so uncomplainingly
it rises 10 say, would never have been
tolerated by the people of the Puritan
capital,
The explanation of this self-control by
New York is that there was universal
recognition of the necessity for more
facilities for rapid transit on Manhattan
Island. The people here, thinking only
Of the imperative need of the end to be
attained, paid littls attention to the
means which the Rapid Transit Commits
sion, it's engineer and contractor, adopted
in order 10 reach it. The undertaking
was started without the public knowing
more than in very general way anything
construction. They were in ignorance
of the plans as worked out by the en-
gineers, and outside of purely profess
sional circles there was no criticism OF
them. They were taken by the COM
munity on faith, and faith founded on
the assurance of the builders that the
subway would be cut through with great
rapidly and with very inconsiderable
annoyance TO the people. At any rate,
New York felt that ii was in for it and
there was no escape.
This public ignorance and fatalism
enabled the builders to proceed with the
construction in their own way without
fear of criticism; and it has been remark
able, in view of the consequences of de
struCtion in some of the streets, that so
little public complaint was made. People
seemed 10 look on the long continued
damage done to their business rs an in
evitabIc and unpreyenabe incident of
the undertaking of which it was useless
10 complain They kept still though
the promise Of the builders that the work
would 90 on without annoyance to them
was not only unfulflled, but was also
broken even wantonly As the Boston
rarer truly describes the result, in
stead of carrying out this promise, some
portions of the work have made sections
of New York look like view Of the Grand
Canon efthe Colorado.
If The Sun had not spoken up when
the plan to extend the subway through
Broadway 10y the same method was
made evident, the experiences endured
elsewhere would have been repeated
! there and in a worse measure, be-
cause of the relative narrowness Of
the street II was going through as a
matter of course The commission its
engineers and contractors, had not
thought of public interference with their
scheme Engineering plans, similar 10
those for the original subway, had been
made ready, and, with perfunctory APP
| prevail by the commission, the destruc-
| ton of Broadway from Forty-second
| street to Union Square was about to
begin. The public had not made any
cutlery before, the builders had had
their own way for three years and they
expected to have it to the end without any
troublesome protest.
| No wonder they are dumfounded now
For the first time the public interest
has had voice For the first time
since they started in they encounter an
obstacle to their scheme. New York
! has finally called a halt and they are
obliged 10 obey. They have found that,
after all, they do not own this town,
In Chicago, as the American Architect
points out in an extract which we also
print in an adjoining column, o tunnel
fourteen miles long has been excavated
under the business district of the town
without the knowledge Of the public.
Even the newspaper reporters, 1t says,
have not known of it. This tunnel is at
depth of froIN n to 85 feet below the
surface and is for the transportation Of
freight to the railway stations and for
the accommodation of telephone and
other electric wires The character of the
soil of Chicago, soft clay, has made the
excavation easier than tunnelling on
Monhattan Island would be- but the
greater difficulty here offers no problem
which engineering skill could not readily
solve.
The Boston Transcript thinks the ex-
perience of Boston ought to have taught
New Workers lesson in the matter of
such underground construction, and it
is justified in the thought. But, az we
have said, our subway was undertaken
in default of criticism, and the unexam-
pied patience of the public under its
grieyous infections encouraged the
builders to aggravate tho evils. They
found that they could do AS they pleased,
and the public would think there was no
other way of doing the job, Yet in Bos-
ton there was furnished an example of n
subway built without any such hardships