NEW YORK CITY. 



561 



amendment should be adopted by the Legislature. 

 The motive power proposed was electricity, and 

 one of the important features asked for was a 

 perpetual franchise. At the meeting held on 

 March 29 the proposed memorial and amendments 

 were considered, and ordered sent to the Legisla- 

 ture. At this meeting a resolution was adopted, 

 which said: "It is the sense of this board that 

 it is in the public interest that, in addition to the 

 powers already possessed by the board, the Leg- 

 islature should grant to the board the power to 

 contract for the construction and operation of 

 the rapid transit railroad by private capital." 

 On April 3 another proposition was received by 

 the commission for the building of an under- 

 ground road, the essential features of which were 

 that it should have a fifty-years' franchise and 

 the city issue $33,000,000 of bonds, which the 

 builders agreed to pay and surrender the road 

 free of incumbrance at the termination of the 

 franchise. This proposition was not favorably 

 considered, as it would be impossible for the city 

 to issue the desired bonds. The bill passed the 

 Legislature, and was submitted to the Mayor for 

 his approval. It received a public hearing on 

 May 3, at which much opposition came from the 

 representatives of the laboring men, in conse- 

 quence of which it was " not accepted by the city 

 of New York." This veto by the Mayor put an 

 end to the discussion of any appeal to private 

 capital in behalf of rapid transit. Soon afterward 

 the Mayor, by his public utterances, committed 

 the present administration to begin the construc- 

 tion of an underground rapid transit railroad be- 

 fore it left office. In the autumn the plan of 

 building the tunnel by the city began to take 

 definite shape, and the form of a contract for the 

 construction of the proposed underground rail- 

 road was prepared by the counsel of the commis- 

 sion and submitted to the Corporation Counsel 

 for his opinion. On Nov. 10 the Supreme Court 

 granted the commissioners power to reduce the 

 bond to be given by the contractor for the con- 

 struction of the underground tunnel from $14,- 

 000,000 to $5,000,000. At a meeting on Nov. 12 

 the commissioners took the final steps necessary 

 to authorize the advertising of bids from con- 

 tractors to build the road. Sealed bids were to 

 be submitted on Jan. 15, 1900. 



Street Railways. In consequence of a report 

 by the Board of Health that the droppings of 

 water and oil from the elevated railroad were a 

 nuisance and an annoyance to pedestrians, and 

 that the pools beneath the tracks were a menace 

 to the public health, the Park Department, on 

 Feb. 17, served an order on the Manhattan Rail- 

 way Company to remove the structure of the 

 elevated railroad from Battery Park. A public 

 hearing was held by the Board of Health on Feb. 

 23, at which time the Manhattan Company gave 

 positive assurances that it would do its utmost 

 to comply with the requirements of the Health 

 authorities. The purchase by the Manhattan 

 Railway Company of a large tract in the vicin- 

 ity of 177th Street for the purpose of establish- 

 ing a terminal indicates that it will extend its 

 line to Yonkers. A traffic agreement between the 

 Manhattan Railway Company and the Third 

 Avenue and Union Railway Companies was en- 



ttered into on May 1 by means of which a gen- 

 eral city transfer system was established at the 

 rate of three cents between the elevated and sur- 

 face service. In consequence of this, for eight 

 cents, a continuous ride may be had over the al- 

 lied systems from any downtown point to Yonk- 

 ers on the Hudson river, or to New Rochelle on 

 Long Island Sound. The consolidation of the 

 VOL. xxxix. 36 A 



Brooklyn street railway systems into the Brook- 

 lyn Rapid Transit Company resulted in the im- 

 provement of the transportation, and the estab- 

 lishment of a continuous service from Manhat- 

 tan, over the bridge;, to Coney Island for the 

 single fare of five cents. 



Bridges and Tunnels. The report for the 

 New York and Brooklyn Bridge, submitted to 

 the Comptroller in March, shows that the receipts 

 in 1898 were $704,478.17, and the expenditures 

 $512,250.10. The tolls from the roadway 

 amounted to $70,261; from the bridge; railroad, 

 $389,772.52; from electric cars, $50.720.70; and 

 from elevated railroads, $45,528.25. It was found 

 necessary to increase the toll paid by the. trolley 

 companies and the elevated companies, as an an- 

 nual loss was suffered at the old rate. Much 

 progress was made in the work on the East River 

 Bridge, arid the towers at the foot of Delancey 

 Slip in Manhattan are well advanced. On Dec. 

 31 the Board of Aldermen voted in favor of the 

 proposition to build a bridge between the foot 

 of East 60th Street in Manhattan and Long Island 

 City. Also a resolution was adopted at the same 

 time for the construction of a bridge between 

 Pike Slip, Manhattan, and Washington Street, 

 Brooklyn. 



On June 17 the Hudson River Tunnel, on which 

 much work has been done, was sold for $100,000 

 to attorneys representing the American bond- 

 holders. The Manhattan and Jersey City Rail- 

 way Company announced their intention of build- 

 ing a tunnel under the Hudson river, the sta- 

 tion in New York to be within 1,000 feet of Cort- 

 landt Street, and that in Jersey City not far from 

 Montgomery Street. The Metropolis Tunnel Rail- 

 road Company was incorporated in July for the 

 purpose of building tunnels to start from points 

 near Willoughby and Fulton Streets, in Brooklyn, 

 passing thence down Adams Street to the East 

 river, then under the river bed to Manhattan 

 Island, crossing the city under New Chambers 

 and Chambers Streets to the Hudson River, and 

 thence to some point in Jersey City. The New 

 York and Long Island Terminal Railroad Com- 

 pany has for its purpose the connection of the 

 boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by tunnels, 

 with the intention to run fast electric trains be- 

 tween downtown underground stations in Man- 

 hattan borough and the farthest limits of Brook- 

 lyn. 



Monuments. The Lorelei monument was 

 erected on a knoll that rises above East 161st 

 Street and Mott Avenue. It was unveiled with 

 simple ceremonies on July 8, and was accepted 

 for the city. 



On July 14 a bronze statue of Chester A. Ar- 

 thur, modeled by George E. Bissell, was un- 

 veiled. It is in the northeast corner of Madison 

 Square, and was presented to the city in behalf 

 of the committee by Elihu Root, who made the 

 oration. Randolph Guggenheimer, president of 

 the City Council, accepted the statue in behalf 

 of the city. 



On May 2 the Mary Washington Colonial Chap- 

 ter of the Daughters of the American Revolution 

 marked the first official residence of President 

 Washington, at No. 1 Cherry Street, by the un- 

 veiling of a bronze tablet on one of the arches of 

 the Brooklyn Bridge. 



On Aug. 10 a bronze tablet, stating the fact 

 that the "Tower Building at 50 Broadway was 

 the earliest example of the steel skeleton con- 

 struction, was unveiled. Its erection was due to 

 the Society of Architectural Iron Manufacturers. 



Dewey Reception. On May 16 the Municipal 

 Assembly of the city of New York adopted a 



