New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-25
Subway APPLICATIONS.

An account of the conditions existing .on I'M
finished sections ofjthe subway is given tn this
snunber OF The Tribune 1t is intreducedlb by an
assurance from the head of the company which
holds the con tract for the work In Focty second
st that not later than q week from Saturday
night the agony will be over in that great thor
oughfare and the street restored TO public use.
UnhappilyAhis assurance does not assure, u,ut we
are clad he,is so t0picit for if he fails toskeep
his word he will have to confess judgment Be
yond doubt Forty-,second-st has been the'scene
of the worst abuses Incident to the construction
of the underground road. In parts Of Rourth-
ave- the conditions were perhaps as bad for
time but chaos did notslast so long there. nor,
in the nature of things, did the general public
suffer so severely, though many persons were,
grievously afflicted and some were ruined. More
over Forty-second-st. had passed through sew
eral periods OF mseryrin quick succession before'
the subway contractors got hold Of It. The pa
thence of New-Yorkess has never been so sorely
tested and so conspicupusy proved at any otherN
time or place. Indeed are not sure that
their forbearance is altogether TO their credit,
If they had adequately exhibited the indignation
which they have justly felt, they might ,haves
escaped q part of the bllpden they have beens
forced TO bear. But theresis one consolfng re-
flection-never again will any undertaking be
permitted TO involve such stupendous sacrifices.
Ample proof that subway construction does
not necessarily cause such hideous evils as haze
been endured in Forty second-st and In some
other parts of the city is found in the proces'
of the work below the Postufice. The conditions
there are not agreeable, but they are not in
tolerable. 1t is said that the Rapid Transit
Commission and the contractors have learneds
much by experience elsewhere Doubtless they
have. But considerable part of what they
have learned they ought to have known In ad-.
-Ian irr10r urlfR had IN
be enlightened is not the chief cause of COM
plant against them Their worst fault has
been that they have been careless Of public and
private rights. At this very moment the con-
tractors IN Forty-second-st. are doing, with the
permission of the authorities things which they
have no business TO do. They are keeping the
street full of their materials and refuse. for
their own convenience and pecuniary advantage
in utter disregard of the distress of shopkeepers
and the general discomfort Other contractors
pursued the same course IN Park Row for more
than year. and changed 1t for the better only
after the newspapers had given them a broad
side AS our news article shows this morning,
they are still using parts OF that street for the
storage Of stuff which they ought'to carry away.
AS for Elm-st, 1t has been for years a monu-
mental example Of inefflciency and official neg
lect More than two months ago the chief engi-
neer announced that the work Of paving it might
notice that nothing had been done, and resolved
TO demonstrate with the Consolidated Gas Com
pany for failing to lay its mains. That is
teaching illustration OF the way in which the
public welfare has too often been left to take
care OF itself.
We do not underrate the difficulties which
have been encountered In building the subway,
nor the diligence and intelligence which. on the
whole, have characterized the execution of a
certain fragrant exhibitions Of seeming iDdiffer-
ence to the paramount interests OF the COM
munity. We have always believed that it was
blunder, costly alike TO the contractors and the
public, TO excavate to a depth of thirty feet in
Forty second-st.. through a network Of tracks
and conduits, instead of boring far below them.
1t was certainly an abuse Of the public when
the former process had been determined on, TO
make it a needlessly great and prolonged Attic
ton.