The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-27
The OPENING of the Subway

Inc opening OF tnc subway
The opening of the subway this even
ing will be an event of the most signal
Importance in the development of New
York This underground road is only
the beginning of system Of subways
which eventually will honeycomb Man
haitian Island and connect it with the
whole of the great area in New Jersey
and on Long Island which already con-
tains vast and homogeneous metro
politan community and in the COM
paratively near future is destined to be
the home of ten millions OF people.
This metropolitan area, now or soon
to be brought within rapid communica-
ton with the City Hall, includes, besides
the territory within the actual bounda-
RIGS Of New York, practically the whole
Of West chester county; the western end
of Fairfield county of Connecticut, a
great part of Long Island beyond the
official limits Of Brooklyn, and the coun-
ties Of Essex, Hudson and Bergen in
New Jersey. The population of this
whole area must be now something like
100000, and at its ratio o! increase dur
ing the last twenty years it will be at
least ;7.eoe GOO ten years hence; but with
the new facilities of transportation
afforded by the subway system, with its
great extensions sure to be made, the
Pennsylvania tunnels under the North
River Manhattan Island and the East
River and new bridges to Long Island,
that rate is likely to be much increased.
It, ia not eXtravagant to estimate that
in this area there will be n population
of toward lO,0CO, GOO by 1920 or 1925.
The present tendency of population
to aggregate in cities, throughout the
civilized world. will be checked eventu-
ally, in the opinion of some social philos-
ophers; but as yet no signs OF any such
retroGrnde movement appear lnclud-
ing in the urban area all the adjacent
territory which the new development of
rapid electrical transportation is bring
ing into close association with it, there is
reason to assume that this tendency to
the aggregation of population about a
metropolitan centre will rather increase
in strength during the next generation.
The time table for express trains in the
subway to be opened to-day brings
14sth street in The Bronx within rs
minutes of the City Hail. When the
whole system of underground transit is
completed, with its extensions by tun-
nels and bridges to Long Island and New
Jersey. all of the area within fifty miles
of the City Hall will eventually become
substantially urban. or at least suburban.
As Mayor MCCLELLAN says in his procla-
nation announcing the event, this SUBJ
way opening is a mark OF the ultimate
release of New York from all its insular
limitations Vast new territories are
to be brought as close to us as If the
surrounding waters had been set aside. y
This underground road may also be
described without cHaggeration as by
far the best of all urban subways which
have yet been built. Its ventilation is
REGULARLY perfect and it's equipment
superior to every other. AS the presi-
dent of the American Street Railway
Association said in an address before
the convention of that body at st. Louis
a few weeks ago "the points of superb
ority in this newest work are many and
so self-eyidfnt that they will at once
bedetee tei, not only By. the skilled rail-
way nanager or engineer. but also by the
EVERYDAY traveller" These advantages
arc due directly TO the development of
e!ectrir fractions itphe perfect ventila-
item, the food of light, the cleanliness
and the high degree Of comfort generally
which the traveller will enjoy are made
possible by the use of electricity as q
meter. They would have been unattain-
able under the necessary conditions of the
cid steam railway.
The time OF the run from the City Hall
to l4sth street allowed by the time table
for express trains in the subway is
24ia minutes Actually the distance, 8
miles, has been run in experimental trains
with inspecting parties in less than II
minutes, and over certain parts of the
route the speed was mile a minute
without the slightest disturbance to the
passengers This demonstrates that in
the construction of the track, in the
grades and the alignment, the subway
has reached a high degree of perfection.
1t also suggests the future extension Of
the practical metropolitan area to the
radius OF fifty miles from the City Hall
of which we have spoken as reasonably
possible.
The Mayor, therefore, has good reason
for calling on~the citizens of New York
and all its industrial and commercial
life TO celebrate the opening of this great
construction to-day with every mani
festation of pride and exultaton.
The Furnaccville Fertilizer.