July 9, 1910





RECX)RD   AND   GUIDE





55













iSTABUSHEp-^ ttjWTH aisj> 1868.
"iO RpA^. EsTMt.BmLDlKG'^RfirflTECTJRE .HoUSOfoil) DEaHflBt^^

Bifsotes Alto Themes OF GEHER^l.ItrtERfii.j

PRICE   PER   YEAR   IN   ADVANCE   EtOHT   DOLLARS

Communications shouliS be addressed tO

C. W. SWEET

Tttblisfied Everg Satardag

By THE RECORD AND GTJIDE CO.

Prealdent, CLINTON W.  SWEET                        Treasurer, P. W. DODQB

VIce-Pres, & Genl. Mgr., H. W, DESMOND         Secretary, F. T. MILLER

Nos. It to 15 EJast 24tli Street, New York Cltr

(Telephone,  Madison Square, 4430 to 4433.)               ''







"Entered




at the Post Office at Neio




Tork, N.   Y.,




(IS




sicond-class matter,"















Copyrighted.




1910,   by




The




Record




&




Guide




Co.










Vol.




LXXXVl.




JULY




0,




1910.



















No.  220s.





THE Record and Guide is vi?ry much afraid that only a
small chance exists of the approval by the local author¬
ities of the latest proposal submitted by President Shonts of
the Interborougb Co. If the company had made a similar
proposition two or three years ago, it would in all probability
have been accepted; but at the present time it involves the
abandonment of the Broadway-Lexington avenue route, and
it has been proved again and again that the Public Service
Commission will not consider either any alteration or any
postponement of its pet project. The Tri-borough route has
reached the stage of being almost ready for the submission
of bids. The commission is absolutely committed to it, and
it is not to be turned aside. The directors of the Inter¬
borougb Company would have done very much better to
iiave recognized this fact, and to have proposed an upper
East Side extension along Madison avenue. As it is the
commissioQ will not be deterred from proceeding with the
Tri-borough route; and the new proposals of the Interbor¬
ougb Company will not be seriously considered, unless
the commission fails entirely to receive satisfactory bids
for the Broadway-Lexington avenue subway. The claim
made on behalf of his new proposals by Mr. Shonts—that
the city will obtain in this way a greater improvement of
service for less money than by any other means^tbis claim
is undoubtedly well founded. The fatal objections to the
Broadway-Lexington avenue route have always been its ex¬
pense, the wasteful duplication it involved of existing means
of communication, and the fact that it was planned for in¬
dependent operation; aud the Record and Guide has always
believed that the commission should have tried first of all
to reach some agreement with the Interborougb Company
for a lower West Side and an upper East Side extension.
But all efforts in that direction have failed, chiefly because
the directors of the Interborougb Company have been blind,
and the Public Service Commission could only see one thing.
The comparatively reasonable proposals of the company
have come too late as a substitute for the Broadway-Lexing¬
ton avenue route—although possibly at a later date they
may be considered as a supplement thereto.





THE new proposals of the Interborougb Company, have
been described as "comparatively reasonable" and so
they are, but in all probability, they will never be accepted
unless modified in some details. The company is prepared
to accept a practically indeterminate franchise and the
principle of a division of profits, but in otlier respects the
terms proposed are less acceptable. The city is to find all
the money necessitated by the new construction; it is to as¬
sume all the risks of the enterprise and will be liable for
any deficit in operating expenses, interest and sinking fund
charges, and it is to get only one-half of the profits. The
company generously offers the city all the profits during the
flrst five years, when in all probability there would not be
any profits at all. The company takes no risk, because the
city guarantees the interest on any money it spends for
equipment; it takes all the increased income, which the pres¬
ent subway will obtain by reason of the extensions; and yet
if there are any profits the company is to receive half of
them. In order to make the proposition a fair one, the com¬
pany should share with the city the responsibility for any
deficit, and it is improbable that the local authorities would
accept the proposal of the Interborougb Company on any
other basis.     Another cause   of  difiiculty  will  be the   con¬





struction of the road witti the city's money. This provision
would not cause any trouble, provided either the Broadway-
Lexington avenue route is not built, or provided that in case
it is built, the money is furnished by tbe lessee. But if the
money for the construction of the Broadway-Lexington ave¬
nue route is to be furnished by the city, no other subway
construction involving the use of municipal credit can be
undertaken until after the Tri-borough route is completed
aud is being profitably operated. That route is estimated
to cost about ?loO,(IOO,000. The city has $00,000,000 avail¬
able for construction. Possibly it could raise the whole
$130,000,000 during the next five years. But certainly it
could not raise any more than $130,000,000. It stands
to reason consequently either that some of the new subways
must be built by private capital, or that tbe city must be
content to build one subway at a time. We are curious to
see how soon the inexorability of this alternative will pene¬
trate the minds of the local authorities.





PRACTICALLY ever since the publication of the Record
and Guide was begun, over forty-two years ago, an
agitation has been carried ou in its columns for the extension
of Seventh avenue to Varick street and the widening of
Varick street to its junction with West Broadway. Now
after all these years, a Board of Estimate has finally been
elected -^ith enough common sense to understand the
necessity for this change in the street plan of Greenwich
village, and enough initiative to adopt the plan. It is one of
the few desirable street improvements in Manhattan, whose
cost is not prohibitory and the benefit of which will far ex¬
ceed the expense involved. In the opinion of the Record and
Guide the benefit to the whole Borough of Manhattan will
far exceed any increase in value which will accrue to the
local property-owners; and for that reason we believe that
a larger proportion of the whole expense should have been
borne by the City Treasury, When the assessment comes to
be distributed over the property benefitted or supposed to
be benefitted, the owners of local real estate will find that
their gains wiU be pretty well counterbalanced by their
losses. The Elm street improvement was ruinous in its re¬
sults to some of the property-owners supposed to be bene¬
fitted. But, however, local property-owners will fare the
advantages to the whole borough are indubitable. New York
will obtain what it has long needed very badly—a thorough¬
fare in a comparatively central situation on the West Side
leading from the heart of the up-town business district to the
heart of the down-town business district. At present Third
avenue and the Bowery are too far east, and Hudson street
and Eighth avenue too far west. But the new Seventh avenue-
Varick street combination is central; it is convenient and it
will accommodate an enormous amount of vehicular trafiic.
It will probably become the favorite route of people, who
travel up aud down town in motor-cars. Of even greater
importance is the opportunity which the new avenue will
offer for a quickly and economically operated subway. Ex¬
press trains can run from 33d street to Canal street with¬
out a single stop in only a few minutes, and this fact will
unquestionably consolidate the position of Greeley Square
as the up-town business centre. While the financial district
will, of course, never be shifted, it may be confidently antici¬
pated that little by little a subordinate financial district will
be established up-town with its center in and about 34th street
and Broadway. Certain firms which can do business uptown
will find it to their interest and convenience to move,
and it will gradually be discovered that other firms can
follow their example with advantage to their business and
to the comfort of their patrons and employees. The
full effect of this migration will not be felt in less than
fifteen or twenty years, but something of the kind is plainly
foreshadowed. Finally, it is to be hoped that some arrange¬
ment can be made with the Metropolitan Street Railway
Company to run a line of surface cars all the way down
Seventh avenue. Street cars will be essential for the busi¬
ness development of the new avenue, because the nearest
trolley routes on the east and west are too far away.





IT is a significant fact that the Bush Terminal Co, has
found it necessary to establish local distributing stations
in Manhattan for the benefit of its tenants in South Brook¬
lyn. Those tenants have a large number of customers in Man¬
hattan. The existing means of expressing freight to these
customers is costly and slow, and this fact makes it diffi¬
cult for the Bush Company to rent its space to firms which
do any considerable business in Manhattan. The conse¬
quence is that a series of fire-proof buildings are to be erec-