White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-06-02


Tunnels lead from it in many direc
lions. Through them thousands of its
tenants arrive each morning after
many miles of underground travel, and
through them one may wander, as in
the streets of subterranean city. In
this human prairie-dog town are more
than so places to eat, and stores sell
ing everything from Office supplies and
lingerie to thermos bottles, sunray
lamps, cigars, books and haberdashery
From these commercial catacombs one
may ride all the way out to Long Is
land without ever coming into the
open air.
Speed in New Construction.
But New York's greatness is not In
structure alone. 1t lies also in the
speed at which life moves and new
buildings displace the old. This swift
transition stuns even the blase New
Yorker.
Troy was wrecked and rebuilt nine
times. Here history repeats. Com
pare the skyline now with pictures OF
the same region made only ten years
ago. You will see that palatial homes
have been demolished and whole res
idence districts swept away to clear
sites for higher buildings. You seq
buildings like the famous Waldorf-As
toria turn to junk, and hard on the
heels Of it's wreck come giants like
the amazing Empire State building.
To widen streets, houses are sliced
off in front as with giant shears -Four
hundred buildings wrecked to extend
subway spur; trainloads of dir,
hauled to the river front and dumped
to make park below Riverside drive
In cyclonic devastation, whole neigh
borhoods are RACED for new bridge ap
proaches.
Swiftly the old landmarks fade
Only Grants tomb and similar objects
Of sentiment seem safe. If even tn.
Sphinx stood on Fifth avenue, some
body would probably want to wreck Il
to build skyscraper! Here is nc
space for static things. BY many cuts
and running it fast, imagine this pic
lure shown in, say, two or three hours
You would see old buildings crumblina
down and new skyscrapers Fastening
heavenward, pushing up like giant
mushrooms. 1t would be uncomfortable
Compared with medieval cities
think how fast New York grows. To
day, in New York, bricklayers ma,
run walls up two stories in day. A
building of so floors is begun and fin
ished in about the same time it used
to take Sioux to kill buffalo ant
tan it's hide for his wigwam.
Between crowds and skyscrapers is
reciprocal affinity. Each is the cause
Of the other. Into that part of Man
haitian below Fifty-ninth. street theirs
comes to work every morning an army
Of people equal to the population OF
Paris or Chicago. No other spot or
earth is so crowded with men anG
houses.
1t reminds you of one certain rock
near coast where cormorants gulls
and pelicans all come to roost. Other
slets are near. but the fussing birds
crowd and defile only their favorite
rock. They pack it so tight that II
one bird raises wing to stretch, an
other is pushed into the sea.
On, Under and Over Manhattan.
Thus men crowd Manhattan rock
Not only that They bore holes in 1t
dig tunnels under rivers, and push
t. INT c+f
men may reach it hastily. The pas
sengers on its transport lines each
year outnumber all the people in the
world. Those passing through Times
Square subway station alone last year
euualed in number half the inhabi
tants Of the western hemisphere
So jammed is Fifth avenue now
that in busy hours man walking goes
faster than bus. In many streets
motors average less than four miles
an hour.
New York's fight to keep men an6
things in motion knows no lul. 1t has
built great elevated express high
way. novel thoroughfare many feet
above the street. 1t runs along the
Hudson river water front from CANA
,,treet north to Seventysecond, with
ramps for access and egress at few
important cross-town streets AT Sew
.,nty second It's outlet is Riverside
drive.
Think what this means t. crowded
New York broad free path Of two
3O-foot roadways. with no grade cross
ings, able to carry from 5000 to a,NN
motor cars an hour at speed Of 81
niles-right over all congestion.
Then there's the new tunnel. to run
.nder tidewater from Brooklyn out tt
Staten island II will take two to foui
years to bore this bold submarine high