and it is now expected that the Commission will be ready to invite bidders toward the close of January. The completion of the subway, at least as far as Fortieth street, Brooklyn, may be expected by the time the Manhattan bridge is finished. In other words, the subway will be ready for operation as soon as the bridge by which the passengers are brought into Manhattan is completed.

In calling attention to this subway route, it should be noted that the Commission is proceeding under the "Elsberg amendments" to the Rapid Transit Act, i. e., contracts for construction only, and in small sections, will be let, whereas the contract for the present subway was for construction, equipment and operation

in one.

Brooklyn Loop Lines. The Commission has given a great deal of study to the plans for the subway loop which is to connect the three bridges on the Manhattan side, and for which contracts were let in June, 1907, just before this Commission came into office.

As planned, this subway contained a number of grades ranging from 4 to 5.5 per cent. In some instances they were so related as to increase the risk of collision unless the trains shall be run at considerable distances apart. The headroom was not sufficient to permit cars in the suburban service upon electrified steam roads to be operated through the loop. This would seriously interfere with its future usefulness and might prevent its being utilized to the greatest possible extent as a connection for future subways in Brooklyn and Queens.

A revised scheme had nearly been perfected at the close of the year whereby the steep grades would be eliminated in all but one instance, the headroom increased so as to allow for every possible use of the subway in the future, and a rearrangement of the tracks which would increase the facility of operation. The advantages of these changes are several. Not only will the safety of operation be increased, but also the carrying capacity of the loop, for it is estimated that 25 per cent. more trains can be run through it in a given time. The cost of operation will be reduced materially, and less expensive equipment can be used. The benefits of being able to use larger cars have been mentioned.

Canal Street Extension. In addition to the changes indicated above, the Commission has directed that plans be prepared at once for a subway from the Manhattan bridge through Canal street to West street, there connecting with the ferries. According to the former plans for the Center street loop, no means had been provided for connecting any of the bridges with the present subway, the elevated roads, the new subway up Broadway or any future subways west of Broadway. Even the Fourth avenue subway from Brooklyn has been planned to run down Centre street without any connection with any subway or elevated road. Such a condition would have been most inconvenient and inadvisable, particularly in view of the fact that by building a line across town under Canal street, any person coming to Manhattan via the Manhattan bridge may change to the present subway, the proposed Broadway-Lexington avenue subway, each of the four subways to be built west of Broadway, and also to the elevated roads whose stations are immediately above. It will also be possible to make a physical connection with the BroadwayLexington avenue route and other subways, so that cars could be run through from the Bronx to Fort Hamilton or Coney Island via Manhattan bridge and the Fourth avenue subway. This plan does not interfere with the connection with the Centre street loop, but merely provides for the running of certain trains from Brooklyn through to the North river and certain others. down Centre street to City Hall. The estimated cost of this Canal street line complete is $7,000,000.

Broadway-Lexington Avenue System.-After careful study and investigation, this Commission has determined upon a new rapid transit route in Manhattan and the Bronx, running from the Battery up Greenwich and Vesey streets to the postoffice, thence up Broadway to Tenth street or thereabouts, thence under private property and public streets to Irving place, thence up Irving place and Lexington avenue to the Harlem river, thence under the Harlem river to One Hundred and Thirty-eighth street or thereabouts. Dividing here into two branches, one line will go up Mott avenue, Gerard avenue and Jerome avenue. The other line will pass east through One Hundred and Thirty

eighth street to the Southern Boulevard and up the Southern Boulevard and Westchester avenue to Eastern Boulevard.

Although the details are not completed, the general plan pro wides that the subway will contain four tracks most of the way until it reaches One Hundred and Thirty-eighth street. The easterly fork will contain at least three tracks and likewise the westerly fork as far as Jerome avenue, where there will be four tracks again. This is considered wise because at some future time a subway will probably be built in Eighth avenue to connect with the line up Jerome avenue, and then four tracks will be needed to afford facilities to both lines. The whole line will be underground, except possibly the Southern Boulevard and Westchester avenue section. Some money would be saved by building an elevated road on Jerome avenue instead of a subway, but in view of the many obvious objections to an elevated road, in view of the important character of this thoroughfare, and of the small saving in cost when the expense of constructing the whole line is considered, a subway is planned through Jerome avenue.

The line thus planned can be connected with the New York Central Railroad at the Mott Haven station, at One Hundred and Thirty-eighth street and at Forty-second street, and suburban trains can be run through to the Battery via Broadway-a more direct route to downtown Manhattan than by the present subway.

The proposed line will also run close to the Steinway tunnel at Forty-second street and the Blackwell's Island bridge at Fiftyninth street, so that by either route the residents of Queens will be able to reach the lower portion of Manhattan much more expeditiously than at present.

The value of the Broadway-Lexington avenue route both from the transit and from the financial standpoint is apparent. Below Fourteenth street it will run through the very heart of the commercial and office centres of the city. It will also tap the populous district between Forty-second street and the Harlem river, the residents of which at present can reach the lower Broadway district only by a circuitous route. The two branches in the Bronx will tap the sections which are most in need of transit facilites, for the Jerome avenue line has been urged for years, the Southern

Boulevard section will run through a district already well populated and the Westchester avenue section will open up an area which has not developed owing to the lack of transit facilities. Further, the directness of the line and the few curves (Lexington avenue is almost upon an exact line with Broadway) will safely allow cars to be run at high speed and will lower operating costs. The estimated cost of the Broadway-Lexington avenue line, including the two branches in the Bronx, will be about $60,000,000. A communication will be sent early in January to the Board of Estimate asking its approval to this route.

The Rapid Transit Law. At the present time, bonds issued for subway construction are reckoned as a part of the debt of the city in determining its debt limit, although the bonds so far issued are entirely for a self-supporting undertaking; that is, the contractor has undertaken and given security to pay the interest and a per cent. each year toward a sinking fund to retire the bonds. It will thus be seen that the taxpayers of the city are not and will not be called upon to pay a dollar, either as interest upon these bonds, or to secure their retirement upon their maturity.

Because of the financial condition of the city, and because of the present limitation upon the power of the Commission to secure the use of private capital in the construction of rapid transit routes, within the city of New York, the Commission makes the four following recommendations as to legislation, which are discussed more at length in a later portion of the report.

(1) A constitutional amendment exempting from the ten per cent. debt limit bonds for the construction of rapid transit lines, when, so far, and so long as such rapid transit lines shall be self-supporting.

(2) An amendment to the Rapid Transit Law providing that leases of extensions of rapid transit lines may be made to terminate at the same time as the original lease, this Commission having the power, in conjunction with the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, to fix the terms, conditions and compensation and to readjust the same each twenty or twentyfive years thereafter

(3) An amendment to the Rapid Transit Law which shall give the local authorities and this Commission the power to allow the construction and operation of rapid transit lines by

private companies upon the payment of part of the earnings to the city or other proper terms, and with a reservation to the city of the privilege to purchase at any time after a certain period of not more than twenty or twenty-five years and without any payment for the franchise itself; and

(4) An amendment to the Rapid Transit Law making it possible for the local authorities and this Commission to let contracts for operation for a longer period than twenty years, or else to make the lease terminable at any time after a certain period of not more than twenty years, with a provision that the equipment shall be purchased at a fair price by the city on the termination of the lease.

Eleventh Avenue.- Under the terms of the Saxe law as to the removal of steam railroads from streets in Manhattan, applying especially to the tracks of the New York Central, it devolved upon this Commission to cause condemnation proceedings to be instituted. The Rapid Transit Commission had failed, within the year fixed by the act, to reach an agreement with the company for the depression of the tracks, and condemnation of the rights of the company in the streets thereupon became mandatory. This Commission has caused to be prepared lists of permits granted by the local authorities for switches and connections, and has requested the Board of Estimate and Apportionment to revoke such permits. Subsequently maps were completed and the Corporation Counsel of the city formally directed to commence condemnation proceedings. This ends the duties of this Commission under the act. It has been conscious, however, of the fact that the public expects a practical solution to this perplexing problem, and it has therefore made a careful study of the entire problem, but is not ready as yet to make definite recommendations.

Corporations Supervised.- Passing now to the second broad division of powers, some idea of the length and breadth of this field. may be gathered from the following facts, as reported by the companies themselves:

Within the first district there are sixteen gas companies, nine electric companies and three companies furnishing both gas and electricity, with 1,011,831 gas consumers and 87,745 consumers of electricity.