The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-10
NO DITCH! NO DUST SPOUHERS!
UPPER BROADWAY WON'T TOLE-
RATE TUNNEL SHAFTS.
What Place the Theatre District Would
BE to Ruin women's Finery IL Such
Scheme Were AdOptedl-WhO's the
windmill? The Committees Plans.

BE TO Ruin WOmen's Flnery II Such
q Scheme Were Adopted who's the
Windmill? The Committees Plans.
The description by Chief Engineer Fisher
OF the Degnon- Mclean Contracting Com
pany Of the methods which his firm intends
to use in building the subway in lower
Broadway did not soothe the business men
OF Broadway between Forty second and
Fourteenth streets. As Chief Engineer
Parsons Of the Rapid Transit Commission
had told them that they were fitting at
windmills, and as the marlborough conf
pany had recommended that they study
and pattern after the conduct of the lower
Broadway business men, they were dis
posed to believe that Engineer Parsons
means to apply the same method to upper
Broadway
1t will not be with the consent of the Com
mittee Of Fifty that a contract will DO
made for the subway branch in the Same
broad language that is read in Contract III.
Members OF the committee said last night
that they would ask something more from
the Rapid Transit Commission than
provision that the street be kept in shape
for ordinary travel, except in such manner
and at such times as the engineer in writ
ing might permit.
The board cover for Broadway may
satisfy the lower end of the street, and the
brokers may be satisfied to walk around
the 10 by 10 shafts in the sidewalk from
which the dirt is to be removed, but the
shopping and theatre and hotel life further
uptown intends to ask for larger measure
Of protection.
member Of the Committee OF Fifty
reverted to Engineer Parsons's interview
of last week, in which he said
"The entire roadway and sidewalks will
be free Of obstruction to vehicles and
pedestrians. will not say that the scheme
of boarding over the roadway will or will
not be put in operation"
IF En- gineer Parsons intends to give us
the same sort Of job that lower Broad
way is to Lave, we ought to know it," said
this property owner. "If he inagine1
that 10 by 10 shaft rising from the side
walk and topped by dirt dump is going
to leave the Rialto free from obstruction,
then either his opinion or ours will have
to be revised.
We arc lOlNt JIldU llc heartily approves
OF the way the Degnon Mclean company
built the subway in Park row and was
satisfied 10 let them proceed in the same
manner down Broadway from Ann street
to the Battery until the organization OF
business men there demanded the adoption
of another plan.
Lower Broadway endures great
many things, and it may be willing in its
rush and hurry TO submit to a boarded-over
street and the sidewalk volcanoes OF dust
and dirt. Between Union Square and
Forty second street is quite another part
OF the town.
AT night when lower Broadway is de-
serted and the contractors can uncover
the street with Inconvenience to only a
few, that section where our business is
done is as alive with people as il is in the
afternoon. The carriage traffic is then
heavier than in the daytime and the street
is filed with men and women in their best
clothes, witch are the most destructibe
clothes.
1t is true that there are business places
along Broadway that close at . o'clock
and do not open until O'Clock the next
morning, but in between are the theGtres,
the hotels and cafes. and their patrons are
passing back and forth on foot and in We
hicLes up to or , o'clock in the morning
The town has been unsightly long
enough. II the show part of Broadway at
night is to be pierced by dust-exhaling
chimneys and opened at nightfall to gangs
of ditch diggers for three years to come
We'll have a pretty mess Of it.
"All tho tunnels now building in London
are forty to fifty feet underground and are
driven without interference with street
travel. Only the first London tunnels
We're shallow ones, and none of the transit
propositions there now suggests anything
but deep tunnels.
AS The SUN pointed out yesterday,
the Chicago telephone tunnels, almost as
large as this one and twentyfour feet
below the surface of the street, are being
driven without showing sign Of the work
to the people Of the city or disturbing a
stone in the pavements.
New York can afford to take more time
for the tunnel, pay more money, If need be,
and save the heart OF the city the long
period OF unpleasantness that the sup
posed plan of the Rapid Transit Commission
is bound to bring"
AL Hayman and Alexander Shaw Of the
Committee of Fifty will meet this morning
to pass on the replies to the letters Of noti-
fication and to fix the time for a meeting
to organize for the presentation Of the
city's protest to the Mayor and the Rapid
Transit Commission.
I'D as soon have a bonfire in the box
Office as one of those dust distributors in
front of my theatre door, said a we'll
known manager. "If we don't switch this
bill to some other circuit I'm going to join
the fireworks spectacle man and put on
The Destruction Of Broadway 1t may
be great thing for the roof gardens. They
can advertise fine view Of the tunnel
diggers. Take the man who has a cafe
that gets breeze from Broadway Wouldn't
it be great to have a 10 by 10 shaft right
where it can send its dust particles in the
windows2
I'VE may be fitting at windmils, but if
this plan is put through there will be more
business on Broadway. BY the way, did
Engineer Parsons have any individual