The sun., 1916-12-25
NEW YORK SCARED
LIKE BATTLEFIELD
Dirt Heaps Make City q Physi-
cal Wreck From Battery
to Jerome Avenue.
NEW SUBWAYS BLAMED
Virtually Every Thoroughfarc
Except Fifth and Park
Avenues Suffering.

Probably no words can describe New
York better than those an ambulance
surgeon uses for physical wrecks:
suffering from numerous decorations,
abrasions and contusions severe internal
injuries condition serious slight chance
for full recovery"
From the unsishtly mounds Of cast up
dirt In Battery Park to the bitches In
Jerome avenue. New York Is a physical
wreck One would have TO 60 to battle
torn Europe to md anything to dupli-
cate It's surface and sub-surface aspects.
IL Is streaked with trenches, blocked
with piles of earth that resemble breast
works. and shrapnel shells never cut
deeper craters than those We find In the
biggest city in the world. II IL the ugli-
est. too. IL one does not look above the
ground
New York always has been IN a state
OF uphcaval. Many years ago 1t was for
the sewers, later for the gas mains,
after that for the trolley cars. then for
the electric wires. after that for tho
subway. And In between times 1t was
found necessary to put down several
kinds OF new pavements.
Rippea wide Open.
Now II is the new subway that has
ripped the streets apart. As II this did
not scar Its surface enough. Broadway
10 preparing for . new pavement. new
electric cables are being laid under.
ground. gas mains are being constantly
repaired. trolley circuits arc In process
Of being mended. In fact. everything
subterranean Is happening to Manhat-
tan at the present time. IL ever II was
II Is now a wide open town.
Every thoroughtare except Fifth ave-
nue. and Park avenue Is suffering. and
even with these every now and again
some prying person finds II necessary to
cut into a part OF its surface.
To begin with the Battery, the pretty
park has been deformed. Half its area
Is covered over with dirt heaps and con-
struction shacks. Every few blocks M
Broadway to the Federal Building there
are bruises In its surface. Nassau street
is In little better plight.
The triangle at Spruce and NASSAU
streets and Park Row has been converted
into a huge hole. Paving blocks and
clay mounds cripple It completely. "
front OF the Brooklyn Bridge entrance
there is another deep cut In Park Row
The new Manhattan Bridge and the
Williamsburg Bridge have their indi'
vidual share OF rocks and disrepair.
Park beauty Destroyed.
To pass further on the major part o
Union Square Is ripped to pieces. The
beauty of the park Is utterly destroyed
From this point up Broadway to Twenty
| third street. broadway Is \ series OF In
| termittent gulches. The car tracks arr
the only s,retches open and these arr
! covered over with wooden paving
Twenty third street. NJ tho intersec
: tion OF Fifth avenue and broadway, Il
another eye hurting sight Vehicles hav'
| to pick their way over a road as rock.
az that TO Dublin ever was
Seventh avenue for all practical puf
| poses has been abandoned because o
the subway work that has left its pile
OF pipe. cement mixing machines. col,
struction shacks and dirt on Its surface
| Whore II crosses broadway betweei
/ Forty-,hlrd end Forty-sisth streets Their
q. are more construction shacks that mar
! row what once was an expanse that ac
! commodated comfortably tho crossinI
/ traffic.
! In worse condition than Seventh ave
. nue.. is Lexington avenue, also the pail
way II new subway. u Is doomc,, I,
nun-us, frlncss for many months. Seventh
Hvruu" WI not be In NJ shape unit
spring, and broadway will not come on
Of It's trenches until the last snow ha
fallen Madison avenue also has its por
| tion Of injury.
business Houses suffer.
Every few blocks above Forty-nlntl
street all the avenues except Fifth an'
Madison are torn in spots, There In n,
such thing as a straight drive over wei
paved. perfectly conditioned thorough
fares. Where the asphalt Is not nmpy
the granite blocks are bumpy. In place
wHc-c neither condition obtains. tn
wooden pavement Is swollen and splint
| cry
An this work. OF course. Is aimed Ia
ward giving New York better transit IA
cn!tios. but 1t is hcaplng a tremendou
loss ou The business enterprises adjacen
to the points Of Improvement. There /
not - store or office building near thes
'iinpi ovemeris" that IL not paying
h.gvy toll through loss OF business an,
tauanIs
The general public is concerned no
only through the street car delays. but Il
the enhanced danger that has followe
through the concentration OF most OF IN
Nchiru'ar trnric In Fifth avenue Tn
congestion necessarily has slowed dow
the norma! pace Of vehicles OF all kinds
The traffic Hoods. even at the reduce
sucsd. are a menace that can be meas
Ircd ny the minute AZ the importai
crossings on Fifth avenue.
The Public Service commission is hur
rying the contractors. the Mayor and III
Borough President are lacking up IN
Public Scrvic" Commission because of tn
/ ,,oasuro excr,ed on them through OF