New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1913-08-23
THE UNDERGROUND LIFE OF
THE BIG CITIES.

spend at least a portion OF each
day underground, and many
thousands come to the surface So
RAJ el Y that the light of DAYS
blinds them whep they reach it,
! says Leo l.. Redding in a pro
lusely illustrated article in tn"
September Popular Mechanics
! Magazine. Discussing this phase
Of modern city life, Mr.. Reddlng
adds:
SO accustomed has New York
become to the idea Of living un-
: derground that only few DAYS
tago a public celebration was held
when u new underground passage
way was opened. This newest
tunnel. costing many thousands
of dollars was dug to give the
people who live near the Hudson
RIVER aud in the neighborhood Of
lSlst Street an opportunity to
pass beneath the hills from their
homes to the subway, by which
means they travel to the lower
end of Manhattan Island, to
Brooklyn, and, by means Of n
transfer, to New Jersey. Until
this underground cutoff was
opened the same citizen had to
walk about 1000 #. mp and
downhill breathing the good out
door air. Now they will make
the same trip underground
through damp, dingy passage
way and becaltse they save few
hundred feet and bit of exer-
ton consider themselves fort
unate.
I According to the best obtain
able statistics about 10000 per
sons in New York City spend
their entire working hours be
cath the surface Of the earth
These figures include $500 EN-
ployes on the two systems of sub
ways now in operation. They
include 1000 men who are EN-
ployed digging the new subwavs
This force will be more than
doubled in the near future Alsc
included are the 200 men, most
of whom are working several
hundred feet below the street
surface, driving that wonderful
aqueduct which is to carry
throughout the Island Of Man
haitian and over into Long Island
the waters that are being brought
down by siphon from the Catskill
Mountains. Then there are more
than 10000 men and women who
are employed in more private en-
terpriscs that take them constant
" below the street surface.
con quite ordinary days ] 800
600 persons are accommodated in
the New York subways, and the
crowds are multiplying week by
week.
"Men 90 below the surface to
reach the trains that are to take
them from that architectural
wonder, the new Pennsylvania
Station. east and west out OF the
lefty. After they have reached
the trains they are dropped still
further underground, in order
that they may pass beneath the
bottom of the Hudson and East
Rivers.
"To get out of New York City
by means of the New York Cen
tral Railroad or the New York
New Haven and Hartford Ra'l-
road it is necessary to make rs'
of that other architectural won
der. the Grand Central Station
and again travellers drop down
into the bowels of the earth be
fore they may start.
"In the great hotels Of New
! York the mechanical departments
are all far beneath the street sur
face. These departments are wei
, worth visiting, and in most eases
the hotel proprietors are only to'
glad to permit their kitchens
> bakeshops, furnace rooms, engine
rooms. and laundries to be IN
:. lspeeted. These places ordlnarl
! " are the cleanest in the entlr'
) hotel.
"Many of New York's great
est department stores are con
nected directly with the sun
ways. as are also some OF 1t
newer theaters. Last February
family of three from San Frar
eisco. visiting in New York, live
: for a fortnight in one Of the mos
fashionable and most expenslv
hotels in the city, spent most c
their time shopping, sight-seein
, and going, and only one
during the entire fourteen day
passed into the open air Of II
> outside world. From their room
. in the hotel they were droppe
i. by elevator to the level of the sr'
Z way. Through the subway wei
d TO department stores, theatre
q restaurants, museums and eve
'e to church. When they start'
! for home they went by subw'
= from their hotel to the drai
!. Central Station and did not 9
,, ont into sunlight unil their ira
tl hhd well started on its lol
q journey. And this was not on
y bet, either
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