The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-23
THE City Beautiful; Its
- Beginnings Underground.

s,a Beginnings Underground.
I II IN the handsomest, brightest, most COM
pletely equipped underground railway In
T. che world, into possession Of which New
asYork will come at midnight on Thursday,
atthere Is one distinctive feature which
.ttfnvelled visitors-who have applied all
. Athess electives to it-7singe out for especial
yioonnnnsndation. That feature Is the artistic
t!xfeattnent Of the stations, from one end OF
. iths line to the other.
:. Nowhere else In the world, In the many
underground railways Of various sorts
din existence, Ii there anything like these
stations In such places elsewhere oon-
anSenisnos alone rules; art has been side
3tfasaksd.
.rg-But In constructing It's stopping places
under the streets the designers OF our
sNjsbway have not forgotten that the useful
smAy also be made to some extent the beauti-
,sfal, o delight 10 tho eye. And the under
.SRyumd stations are all that.
a II. has been told over and over again
that no one station in the subway Is e1-
,haotsy lIie another, though all have char
ssaotArtstioc In common. 1t has also been
ssaad that thu name Of each station will be
I'm fun view from every window Of every
fsfAin, and, even II It were not, the passenger
.f,Ansthe' oar On his way to business or going
homo at tho end Of the day would know by
-s.Iofne distinctive touch In the decorations.
WHISTLER this were his station or not. But
tsthat doesn't toll IL all.
s9S: Upon underground London and under
Ttrfound Paris the blight Of tho advertiser
and the poster man has lain from the be-
s2Rinning with effects which puzzle tho
~cs&sanger and deaden all artistic sense.
q The corset lady, the man who has been
t$brought back from the grave by Use-Em g
t.Ant- Bilious Pills. and all the kinds of things
t-Shat Mother Used TO Make usurp the walls.
II really artistic picture like Sir John
Millais's Bubbles does get In, 1t Is In q
framework Of theatre announcements and
.,pstent medicine notices which kills any
artistic qualities 1t has
And the stranger-he wonders II this Ia
Sloane street OF Halnmersmith and he Ia
left. guessing. 1t Is necessary either to ask a
fellow traveller or poke your head through
The carriage window and shout. Hidden
somewhere among the advertisements Is
ga half obliterated sign, Its paint dim with
age and CRIME. telling what the station is
But in the half minute during which the
train stops, he can never find 1t. It Is but
10 ask questions and take a chance on re-
fsoslving the right answer-h you get any.
- There can never be any trouble OF this
kind in New York's subway. The station
s,have been 80 constructed that they leave nj
=. room for theintroduction Of advertisement
eiwithout marnng the effect Of the whole
and New Workers. when once their subway
sAas been handed over TO them are no
likely to tolerate that.
In the contract for this first subway ap
pears this interesting clause:
y:isThe contractor shall not permit adver
stlsements In the stations or cars which shal
rAnterfere With easy Identification OF stations
or otherwise with efficient operation.
Now, the decorations OF the stations hav
all been planned so adversely, with vieN
to easy Identification Of them, that 1t vii
be difficult to introduce any large amour
l,of advertising matter into them withou
coming In conflict with this clause. News
paper stands--they are now being designe
,y7and similar oonvenienoes there will be
y$nd about these there will be, no doubt