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sions of the rich, such happiness as in the homes of hard-working missionaries, in their joy of serving at the altar of human need. But their sorest trial was when their harvest, already in sight, was blighted because the word came from home, "Retrench." The Hon. S. B. Capen, of Boston, President of the American Board of Missions, said it was already settled that missions pay. To show how much they pay he touched with incisive eloquence on various visible results, among them those of commerce and of heroic characters. As a business man he had found that trade does not always "follow the flag," but never fails to follow the missionary. The century of slow but effective preparation now ended is to be followed by a century of swift progress. The Saxon and the Slav are to contend for the world, and "it is our duty to put a missionary wherever he can block the way of Russia."

This is a saying to be remembered. It is well known to those who have interior knowledge of Eastern affairs that the reactionary and vexatious policy of Turkey toward American missions during the last eighteen years has been inspired by Russia, who regards American ideas as hostile to her policy of slowly absorbing lands adjacent to her. The influence of Robert College, founded by Dr. Hamlin, lost Bulgaria to Russia. Hence her jealousy, in view of which Dr. Hamlin, so long resident in Turkey, declared last Monday, "Russia is our enemy in the East." With this Dr. Angell's remark in closing the meeting also deserves remembrance by those who are disposed to atone to conscience with what Mr. Capen called "the ecclesiastical nickel." A church which is not a missionary church is on its way to death.

The principal discussions of Friday concerned the application of the principle of self-support to the churches gathered in the missionary field. The fact that varying circumstances require varying treatment occasioned some seeming conflict of views, but there was substantial concurrence in the position that the aim must be to evangelize people, but not to pauperize them by relieving them of the responsibility of maintaining their own institutions to the extent of their ability.

The chief theme of Saturday was the work of students and other young people. Representatives of the Student Volunteer Movement-the missionary recruiting agency-were at the front in the midst of general enthusiasm. Five thousand volunteers are already enrolled, and nearly one-third of them have gone to the field. If the United States can easily keep fifty thousand soldiers in the Philippines, asked Mr. J. R. Mott, of the World's Student Christian Federation, why cannot the Protestant churches of the world maintain as many missionaries? In a noble address President Hall described "The Young Men of the Future Ministry" as men of vision, taking the world-wide point of view, and inspired with the passion of a Christlike love for human lives.

Days so crowded would seem to leave time for nothing else. Yet a number of social receptions found place, in which there was much international fraternizing. The reception given by the Chinese Christians of New York to missionaries from China is worthy of special mention, for it was really a unique event.

Sunday the pulpits in and near New York were again filled by members of the Conference. Two mass-meetings were held at the Hall, one of which, with one other at the Fifth Avenue Collegiate Reformed Church, was in the interest of the victims of the Indian famine, for whose relief a considerable sum was contributed. The deadliness of the liquor and opium traffic to the missionary's pupils, and the duty of Christian governments to restrict it, formed the subject of another meeting at Calvary Baptist Church. The facts related painfully exposed an iniquity of which our country is not clear. days remain which we have yet to report. We have already seen forcibly illustrated Mr. Kidd's remark that religion is the most potent force in social evolution. The great sessions of Parliaments and Congresses, when far-reaching national policies are determined, are seldom so influential on human destinies as are the plans and purposes developed in such a Conference for the transformation of ignorant, debased, and superstitious peoples into civilized, intelligent, Christian communities.

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F all the engineering works now in progress in this country, the construction of the Rapid Transit Underground Railway for Greater New York is undoubtedly the enterprise of chief popular interest. This interest is due not alone to the magnitude of the task involved (it is said that the $35,000,000 award for building the road is the largest ever made in a single contract), but also to the fact that it marks the first departure on any elaborate scale in this country in favor of underground traction in preference to surface or overhead systems. The building of this new road, therefore, is being watched with keen interest by other municipalities, and its success or failure is likely to be accepted as a precedent for the future of traffic management in the crowded cities of the country.

In the minds of the New York authorities there is apparently no doubt as to the favorable outcome of the new undertaking. Already the preliminary movements have been made toward the building of a second tunnel to connect the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn beneath the East River, and plans have been drawn for a system of underground roads which shall bring all the various sections of the greater city into a close union. There has been something of a controversy between Mayor Van Wyck and some of the other city officials as to the relative merits of bridges and tunnels for crossing the East River, but it is now agreed that the latter method has the advantage of being far less expensive than the former.

Mr. Bird S. Coler, the City Comptroller, who has given careful study to the question, is authority for the statement that it will be a more simple and less expensive matter to construct tunnels under the rivers that surround New York than to build the one that is at present under way. In the course of a conversation touching upon this subject, Mr. Coler said to me recently that the successful inception of the Manhattan underground road had so stimulated confidence in the enterprise that it would be possible to build a tunnel between New York and Brooklyn on terms much more favorable to the city than those under which the present road is being constructed. He expressed the opinion that before this first road could be completed a second would be under way.

Undue haste sometimes has characterized the manner in which American cities have embarked on new municipal enterprises. This charge certainly cannot be brought against New York for its course in the matter of providing rapid transit for its citizens. The first shovelful of earth in the excavation for the new road was removed less than two months ago, but the first Commission to pass upon the question and recommend a solution of the problem was appointed in 1891-nine years before. In fact, the first steps looking to the adoption of a system of rapid transit were taken by the New York Chamber of Commerce fully fifteen years before the actual commencement of the work.

The members of the Committee of 1891 were all citizens of prominence and posi

tion in the community, and they, as well as those who succeeded them, gave careful attention to all the various plans that were advanced for providing means of rapid conveyance from one end to the other of the city. Among these were suggestions for the extension of the elevated road system, the project of building a surface road over which fast trains could be run by extending it through the middle of blocks, and, finally, the underground system. After the Committee had come to a decision, the whole matter was submitted to the people, and was fully debated before any definite action was taken. The wise plan was followed of delaying the enterprise until the residents of the city had had time to make up their minds, and until they were substantially in favor of the plan recommended by the Committee. Therefore, the delay, although annoying to the citizens who have been compelled to submit to the inadequate provisions of the street and elevated roads, probably has been a wise thing, for it has made it possible for the whole matter to be studied out in the most careful detail.

There have been numerous examples of extensive underground work in other cities, as in London and Paris, but the New York road is particularly interesting, for the reason that it will embody within

one portion or another of its length almost every form of subterranean construction. Although popularly known as a tunnel, it will be constructed as a tunnel proper through only a small portion of its extent. For another small distance it will be a viaduct or elevated structure. Throughout the greater part of its course, however, the new road will be built in an open trench, which afterward will be covered over and will form a subway. Between City Hall Park and Kingsbridge and Bronx Park-the three termini of the line-almost every form of soil will be encountered. Sand and silt, mud and water, coarse gravel and solid rock, must be removed.

There has been a general impression that the road was to be built without disturbing the street surface. This will be the fact through only a few sections of it, where it will penetrate far below the street level to avoid grades. Through most of its way it will be built as near as possible to the surface, and will follow street grades where they are not above two per cent. in the mile. While the road is building, the surface of the street will be torn up, one side at a time, and the pavement will be replaced after the tracks have been laid.

Sewers, gas and electric mains, and street car-tracks must be moved into new

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positions, and the work must go on with as little interruption to street traffic as possible. Thus, it will be seen, the problem before the contractor is a complex one, and the various portions of it must be met with various solutions. The route of the underground road, as will be seen from a glance at the accompanying map, carries it nearly the whole length of the island of Manhattan, while a branch line is to pass beneath the Harlem River and to continue thence, above ground, to Bronx Park. An interesting fact, and one that will do much to simplify the arrangement of schedules and the operation of trains, is that the three sections of the road-the trunk and two branches-are practically equal in length. If trains started from its three terminal points at the same moment were to run at an equal rate of speed, all three would reach the point of junction together. This junction is at Broadway and Ninety-sixth Street, nearly opposite the upper end of Central

Park, and is, therefore, the pivotal point of the line. Below here the road contains four tracks; above, it is run in two branches with two tracks each.

Both from the point of view of the engineer and from that of the ordinary citizen one of the most interesting portions of the construction work will occur at the lower terminus of the line, at City Hall Park and the General Post-Office. The restriction of space in underground work makes the terminal arrangements of a road below the surface somewhat different from those that prevail above ground. In this case, instead of the system of switches, which makes the handling of trains slow and liability of blockade great, the tracks will form a loop about City Hall Park. There will be no backing of trains, and they will be able to follow one another as rapidly as the space will allow. Moreover, as this is one of the busiest spots in the city, the park itself being abutted by sky-scrapers, the road is made a double

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decked or two-story structure, instead of having all four of the tracks on the same level, as is the case throughout most of its

course.

At the point where the loop begins, the two outer tracks will drop below the level of the others, and as soon as a sufficient dip has been reached they will be carried underneath the two inner lines. In this form the line will continue around the Post-Office building, where the down-town express station is to be located, and along Park Row until near the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge, where the two lower tracks will return to the ordinary level and the line will proceed northward as a single-level, four-track road.

BIRD S. COLER

Comptroller of New York City; a consistent advocate of municipal ownership of the road.

The double-deck arrangement of the tracks in this loop is adopted not merely for space reasons, but with an eye to the future continuation of the line to Battery Park, at the extreme southern point of the island. By having the tracks on different levels it will be possible to continue the two lower ones down Broadway without the necessity of crossing the others. In all the length of the road there is no point where one track crosses another at grade, and thus the danger of collisions or switching accidents is done away with.

On the portion of the line comprised within the loop the lower level of the tunnel will be forty-five feet below the surface. Elevators will be required to carry passengers from the sidewalk to the station platforms, which will be placed one above the other, as will be the tracks. It is an interesting fact that here, at one of the deepest points on the lower portion of the underground line, it passes close to the foundation of the thirty-story Park Row building, the tallest in the world.

The excavation will be carried on by sinking a number of shafts from which the men will work, and through which the earth will be hoisted to the surface, whence it will be removed in carts. There will be no obstruction of the street by dirtheaps along any portion of the line, and traffic will be interrupted only directly above the places where work is going on. As fast as the excavation is completed, the tunnel floor and walls will be lined with cement and waterproofing, the rails and structural work will be put in, and when finally covered over the road will be completed. The portion of the road. comprised within the loop will form one section of the construction work, and will be in charge of one of the sub-contractors.

From the Brooklyn Bridge north the next portion of the work will be comparatively easy, for the reason that the road

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