Chapter 16. Dual System of Rapid Transit Adopted

AFTER subjecting the Interborough offer of December, 1910, to rigid scrutiny, the Commission came to the conclusion that, with some slight amendment, it would be a satisfactory one for the City to accept, and accordingly transmitted a copy of it to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, with a letter indicating the Commission's attitude. The law did not require its submission to the Board of Estimate in advance of the Commission's approval, but the Commission had decided to co-operate with the City government in all ways and desired the latter to be thoroughly informed of every step taken in planning for rapid transit extensions for which the City would have to pay. It went further and invited the Board of Estimate to confer with it and to participate in its conferences with the Interborough company. The invitation was accepted, that Board, as before mentioned, designating a special Committee -- Messrs. McAneny, Miller and Cromwell -- to represent it. Then began a series of conferences which were to culminate in the adoption of the Dual System of Rapid Transit. Results showed the wisdom of this conciliatory policy, for thereafter both boards worked with perfect, mutual understanding, and as representatives of the City presented a united front to the private companies seeking rapid transit franchises. These conferences started with only the offer of the Interborough company under consideration, but before they had progressed very far the field was widened by the receipt by the Commission of an offer from the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which operated the elevated railroads in Brooklyn and Queens, to equip and operate certain new subways if built by the City, both in Manhattan and Brooklyn, provided the City would give it the rights to build certain extensions of and additions to its elevated roads, and to operate all of them as one system.

This proposal was dated March 2, 1911. In it the Brooklyn company suggested that the City build, in addition to the Tri-Borough lines, a new subway running from the Battery up Church street to Broadway, up Broadway to 42d street and thence up Seventh Avenue to Fifty-ninth street, with an extension easterly to a connection with the Queensborough bridge; also that the City construct another tunnel under the East River from the vicinity of the Battery to connect with the proposed Broadway subway in Manhattan and with the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn; that the Fourth Avenue subway be connected with four rapid transit lines extending southward and eastward, of which one was to be an extension of the company's Third Avenue elevated line to Fort Hamilton, another a four track elevated railroad on New Utrecht Avenue from 39th street to 52d street with a two track extension from there over the old West End route to Coney Island; a third to be a three track elevated railroad over the Sea Beach railroad right of way from 62d street to Coney Island and the fourth a two track elevated road over the old Culver line down Gravesend Avenue from Tenth Avenue to Coney Island -- the work to include the elimination of all grade crossings on all these former steam railroads.

It was also proposed that the City build a tunnel under New York Bay to connect the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn with Staten Island; also that the Fourth Avenue subway be extended through Flatbush Avenue to Prospect Park Circle, there dividing into two branches, one continuing out Flatbush Avenue to a connection with the Brighton Beach railroad of the company's, and the other out Eastern Parkway to Pitkin Avenue, with an elevated extension from that point to a connection with the former Kings County Elevated line at Snediker Avenue.

The company also asked for the rights for a third track on its Fulton street, Broadway and Myrtle Avenue elevated railroads and to build the following extensions of elevated lines:

An extension of the Kings County line from the old City Line through Queens to Jamaica; a connection between the Myrtle Avenue and Broadway lines; the reconstruction of the Lutheran Cemetery surface line as an elevated road; and a new elevated line from the Williamsburg to the Queensborough bridge.

The company also asked for the use of the Centre Street loop subway in Manhattan and a connection between both Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges with the new Broadway subway in Manhattan.

The proposal suggested that the City should build the subways and that the company should equip and operate them, upon terms to be agreed upon, in connection with its elevated railroads, land that the reconstruction and extension of the latter should be paid for by the company. It offered to accept terms "not less favorable than those presented in any other offer now under consideration by your Commission and the Board of Estimate and Apportionment."

Probably nothing like the Dual System conferences ever had been held in New York City before, and certainly they will not be duplicated in the near future. A group of ten or a dozen men met around the big oak table in the committee room of the Public Service Commission on the fourteenth floor of the Tribune building at No. 154 Nassau Street -- or rather on the thirteenth floor, for the Tribune skyscraper is one of the few big office buildings in the city which was planned with deference to the "13" superstition. It has no floor numbered 13, but the thirteenth floor is numbered 14. On this floor the offices of the Commissioners and Secretary were located, and the room used for the conferences was a room fronting on Spruce street and devoted to the meetings of the Committee of the Whole. If its old oak table could speak, it would tell of many an interesting passage in the famous negotiations when expenditures of hundreds of millions of dollars were discussed as an ordinary business conference would discuss those of a few thousands.

Men of brains and financial might met around that conference table. At the head sat William R. Willcox, chairman of the Commission, usually flanked by George McAneny, chairman of the Board of Estimate's Committee. Scattered around the sides were the other Commissioners, namely William McCarroll, Edward M. Bassett, Milo R. Maltbie and John E. Eustis; the other members of the Board of Estimate committee, Cyrus C. Miller and George Cromwell; the representative of the Interborough company, usually Theodore P. Shonts, its president, infrequently August Belmont, the chairman of its Executive Committee and often Richard Reid Rogers, of its legal staff. After the Brooklyn Rapid Transit company submitted its offer its president, Col. Timothy S. Williams and its counsel, A. M. Williams and George D. Yeomans took their seats at the conference table. A few joint conferences were held, but usually Interborough matters and Brooklyn Rapid Transit matters were discussed at different times. And many a battle royal was fought. The companies were bent on getting the best terms they could out of the City, and the City's representatives were demanding more than they could get from the companies. So keen was this competition that at the close, while each side felt that it had made a good bargain it also felt keen regret that it had been compelled to yield so much to the other. This was well illustrated by Mr. Shonts after one of the final conferences. He was asked if his company had conceded certain points to the City's representatives and replied:

"I was fairly well dressed when I went into that room, but they've taken away everything but my shirt, and they would have had that if we hadn't adjourned."

The entrance of the Brooklyn company into the field was welcomed by the City. For some time the Commission had been trying to get it interested in rapid transit extension, but the old management of the company was averse to it. When Timothy S. Williams became president, however, its policy changed and he welcomed the opportunity which the plans of the Public Service Commission afforded to expand his system. His participation not only introduced competition into the situation, but it gave the City the desired opportunity to make the new system really comprehensive by fully developing the rapid transit field in Brooklyn and Queens as well as in Manhattan and the Bronx. One of the reasons for the rejection of the first Interborough proposition was that it did not do enough for Brooklyn, and the appearance of the Brooklyn company provided for a vast expansion of the Brooklyn lines.

Within six months after the conferences began all parties had agreed to the fundamentals of a scheme for rapid transit construction and operation. Considering the vastness of the project and the conflicting interests which were reconciled and joined in it, it was little short of wonderful that any agreement at all was reached and truly remarkable that it had been reached in such a short time. The result was mainly attributable to William R. Willcox and George McAneny, who were the leaders of the City's forces.

On June 5, 1911, the City's conferees sent to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment a report-now known as the Joint Report. This report recommended that, under contracts which should contain terms satisfactory to the City, certain new rapid transit lines should be built and owned by the City, with contributions toward construction cost by the Interborough and Brooklyn companies, and that some of them should be leased for operation to the former and some to the latter. The fact that two companies were to be concerned caused the project to become known as the Dual Plan, and in a short time it was appropriately named the Dual System of Rapid Transit.

In substance this Joint Report provided that the Brooklyn company should operate the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn, then under construction by the City, the Centre street loop subway in Manhattan already built by the City, and a new subway running from lower Manhattan up Broadway to about Fifty-ninth street, with proper connections with the Brooklyn lines, and should make certain extensions of its elevated roads in Brooklyn and Queens, the whole system to be linked together and operated under contract with the City for a five cent fare.

It also provided that the Interborough company should operate the various extensions of the first subway, to be built jointly by the City and the company -- each contributing half the cost, but the ownership to remain in the City. These extensions included practically all of the Tri-Borough system north of Forty-second street, Manhattan, a line down Seventh Avenue from Times Square, a new tunnel under the East River and the extension of the first subway through Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, to Buffalo Avenue, thence by elevated extension through East 98th street and Livonia Avenue to New Lots Road, with a branch down Nostrand Avenue; all of these extensions to be operated under contract with the City as a part of the first subway and for a five cent fare. In addition it was provided that the Interborough with its own money should add a third track to the Second, Third and Ninth Avenue elevated lines and build certain extensions of those lines; also that the company should turn over to the City the Steinway tunnel and operate it as part of the subway.

The report laid down certain terms to which each of the companies must agree if the City were to undertake the building of the lines proposed. Among them were: that the rate of fare on each company's system, including transfers, must be five cents; that the term of lease for the City-owned subway lines should be forty-nine years; that the City have the right of recapture at any time after ten years; that the City should share equally with the companies in the surplus profits of all lines owned by the City; that the City should retain the right of supervision over all contracts and over the accounting systems. It was also proposed that the existing leases of the Interborough company for the first subway should be "leveled" so as to expire at the same time as the new leases. The City was also to share equally with the Interborough company in the net profits of the elevated lines in excess of the average net profits on existing lines for the two years from July 1, 1909, to June 30, 1911.

It was also provided that a "preferential" payment out of the earnings should be made to the Brooklyn company to represent "its net profits from operation of the existing lines included in the agreement" as of the year ending June 30, 1911.

Under the proposed agreements the Joint Report estimated the division of cost as follows:

For construction -- By the City $123,200,000; by the Interborough $54,800,000; by the Brooklyn company $26,400,000 -- a total of $204,400,000.

For equipment -- By the Interborough $21,000,000; by the Brooklyn company $24,000,000 -- a total of $45,000,000. This made the cost of the entire system $249,400,000.

The Joint Report which was approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, provided that, if either company refused to accept the terms offered by the City, the lines allotted to it should be offered to the other company upon the same terms. This provision unexpectedly came into use, for the Interborough company refused to accept the terms laid down in the Joint Report and on July 21, 1911, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment formally notified the Public Service Commission that it would approve contracts for the construction of the new subways provided for in the Joint Report, all for operation by the Brooklyn company, which had signified its willingness to take the lines offered to the Interborough company in addition to its own allotment.

This led to the immediate beginning of construction. It will be remembered that the Commission had received bids on October 27, 1910, for the construction of certain sections of the Lexington Avenue subway in Manhattan. Now the Commission communicated with some of the lowest bidders on such sections and found them still willing to accept the contracts on the figures then submitted. Accordingly the Commission proceeded to execute four contracts with the Bradley Contracting Company, the lowest bidder for as many sections of the Lexington Avenue line. The awards were made on July 5, 1911, just one month after the Joint Report had been submitted to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. They were for the construction of a four track subway on Sections 6, 8, 10 and 11 of Route No. 5, the Broadway-Lexington Avenue line, covering the following parts:

Section 6, from 26th street to 40th street; Section 8, from 53d street to 67th street; Section 10, from 79th street to 93d street; Section 11, from 93d street to 106th street. The total contract prices for these four sections were $13,388,965.55.

The four contracts were approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment on July 21, 1911, and on July 31 ground was broken at Sixty-second street and Lexington Avenue with appropriate ceremonies and in the presence of thousands of citizens. The first shovelful of earth was turned by William R. Willcox, chairman of the Commission, and addresses were made by him, George McAneny and others.

As fast as the Public Service engineers turned out the plans the Commission awarded construction contracts for other sections of the work, on the understanding that the Brooklyn company was to be the operator. On August 1 the contract for Section 12 of the Lexington Avenue subway was awarded to the Oscar Daniels Company for $2,825,740.74; on October 10 the contract for Section 15 of the same line to the Hagerty-Drummond Company for $3,820,129.75; on October 31 the contract for Section 13 to the Bradley Contracting Company for $4,071,416.50; on December 8 the contract for Section 9 to the Patrick McGovern Company for $1,961,997. This placed under contract all of the Lexington Avenue line from 53d street to 157th street, except the tunnels under the Harlem River (Section 14) which were let in May 1912 to Arthur McMullen and Olaf Hoff for $3,889,775.05.

Three of the Broadway sections of the same line were placed under contract early in 1912. In January the Commission awarded the contract for Section 3, in Broadway between Howard and Bleecker streets to the Underpinning and Foundation Company for $2,295,086.50; the contract for Section 2, between Murray street and Canal street to the Degnon Contracting Company for $2,355,828.50, and in March the contract for Section 2A, between Canal and Howard streets, to the O'Rourke Engineering Construction Company for $912,351.60. Thus in nine months after the Interborough had withdrawn from the field the Commission had let contracts aggregating more than $35,000,000. The withdrawal of the Interborough company, however, was not permanent. During the winter of 1911 and 1912 overtures were made to the Commission by Samuel Rea, then Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, for a resumption of negotiations with the Interborough company, for the reason that the Seventh Avenue subway if built would tap the Pennsylvania station at 33d street and for the benefit of his patrons Mr. Rea wanted that line to connect with the first subway, instead of with the Brooklyn lines. Accordingly conferences with the Interborough company were resumed, and on February 27, 1912 it submitted a new offer, which was approved by the Public Service Commission and the special committee of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. As the Brooklyn company was willing to forego its assumption of the Interborough lines of the Dual System, the committee on May 22, 1912 submitted to the Board of Estimate a report approving the last Interborough offer. This report gave to the Interborough for operation the lines alloted to it in the Joint Report of 1911 upon similar but somewhat modified terms. The supplemental report was adopted by the Board of Estimate, which notified the Commission that it would approve contracts with the two companies drawn in accordance with the terms of the report.

Meanwhile the Legislature was asked to amend the Rapid Transit Act so as to permit the City to enter into the proposed contracts, or rather to clear up certain provisions which left doubt as to the powers of the City. These amendments were incorporated in the Wagner Bill, which was passed by the 1912 session and approved by the Governor.

There was also an appeal to the courts. The Interborough and Brooklyn Rapid Transit companies had sought the aid of bankers to raise the large amounts of money which would be needed to finance the new undertakings should agreements be reached with the City, and the bankers, at least J. P. Morgan and Company to whom the Interborough had applied, insisted that there should be a judicial approval of the proposed contracts before they would agree to finance them. Accordingly in February, 1912, an action for injunction was brought by the Admiral Realty Company to restrain the Public Service Commission, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and the two transportation companies from entering into the proposed contracts. Similar actions were brought by John R. Ryon and John J. Hopper, taxpayers. The three actions were heard together and progressed as one case through the courts.

The defendants demurred to the complaints and the first argument, made before Supreme Court Justice Abel E. Blackmar was upon the demurrer. The chief arguments were made by Daniel P. Hays, of Hays, Hershfield and Wolff for the Admiral Realty Company; by Clarence J. Shear for John J. Hopper; by Willard N. Baylis for John R. Ryon; by George S. Coleman for the Public Service Commission; by Louis H. Hahlo, Assistant Corporation Counsel, for the City; by Richard Reid Rogers for the Interborough company and by Charles A. Collin for the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company.

All the complaints alleged that the proposed contracts would violate the constitution of the State of New York for two main reasons:

First, that the proposed provisions for preferential payments to the companies out of the earnings of a rapid transit railroad owned by the City would constitute a loan of the City's credit in violation of that part of Section 10 of Article VIII of the constitution reading:

"No county, city, town or village shall hereafter give any money or property, or loan its money or credit to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation, or become directly or indirectly the owner of stock in, or bonds of, any association or corporation; nor shall any county, city, town or village be allowed to incur any indebtedness except for county, city, town or village purposes."

Second, that the Rapid Transit Act, by virtue of which the proposed contracts would be made, is a local act and therefore in conflict with that part of Section 18 of Article III of the constitution which says:

"The Legislature shall not pass a private or local bill... granting to any corporation or individual the right to lay down railroad tracks..."

In the arguments and briefs counsel for the defendants relied largely on the decision of Judge Height in the famous case of the Sun Publishing Company against the Mayor of New York, before alluded to, brought to restrain the building of the first subway. In that case the court held that the constitutional provision invoked "should be construed with reference to the evils it was intended to correct", and that the provision "was not intended to nor does it prohibit municipalities from constructing their own roads and paying therefor when necessary and authorized by the Legislature." Other cases also were cited. The Supreme Court sustained this view in the Admiral Realty and allied cases, for on April 3, 1912, Judge Blackmar upheld the demurrer and held the proposed contracts constitutional. The cases were appealed, but the decision was affirmed both by the Appellate Division and by the Court of Appeals, the decision of the latter being handed down on June 29, 1912.

Within the next seven months the Public Service Commission did a monumental piece of work in preparing and getting the assent of the two companies to the Dual System contracts. This work was done mainly by the law department of the Commission, and the formulating and actual drafting of the important agreements was the work of Assistant Counsel LeRoy T. Harkness.

While the drafting of the contracts was under way a political change in the State government occurred, which later had a bearing on the Dual System contracts. In the election of that year (1912) William Sulzer, Democrat, was elected Governor, succeeding John A. Dix. Dix, who was elected in 1910, was also a Democrat, and during his term of office the terms of two of the Public Service Commissioners expired, Edward M. Bassett and William McCarroll, the former a Democrat, the latter a Republican. Dix appointed Democrats to succeed both, J. Sergeant Cram in Bassett's place and George V. S. Williams to succeed McCarroll. Shortly after Sulzer was inaugurated the term of William R. Willcox, Republican and chairman of the Commission from the beginning, expired, and the Governor named Edward E. McCall, a Democrat, and a Supreme Court judge, to succeed him.

Willcox, who had done so much to bring about the Dual System agreement, desired to complete the contracts and execute them before retiring from office. In this wholly natural ambition he had the cordial support of the Commission staff, which worked night and day to whip the contracts into final shape and get them approved by the two traction companies. Conferences were held morning, noon and night, sometimes at the Commission offices, sometimes at the Chairman's house and finally at rooms hired for the purpose in the Manhattan Hotel at 42d street and Madison Avenue. At this hotel the final touches were given, the proofs from the printer read and passed by the Commission and representatives of the companies.

Meanwhile a storm of attack and public criticism raged about the heads of the Commissioners. Certain newspapers denounced the contracts as vicious, declared the terms unduly favorable to the companies and correspondingly bad for the City and urged on the Governor the appointment in Willcox's place of a man who would upset the proposed agreements. And they received a measure of support, although there is little question that popular opinion was largely in favor of the contracts. In official life Milo R. Maltbie, a member of the Commission, and John Purroy Mitchel, President of the Board of Aldermen and a member of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, opposed certain of the terms and finally the whole contracts.

City Officials Who Approved Dual System Contracts (1) William J. Gaynor, Mayor in 1913; (2) William A. Prendergast, Comptroller in 1913.

It was in such an atmosphere that Willcox worked during the month of January, 1913, to get the contracts approved. In spite of the strong opposition he felt certain of a favorable vote both in the Commission and in the Board of Estimate and Apportionment if he could once get the contracts printed in a form that would be acceptable to all parties to them. And after all it was a mechanical obstacle which turned the scale. The final proofs were approved at the Manhattan Hotel at two o'clock one morning in January, 1913, and orders were given the printer to go ahead. It was then found that the press capacity of the printer who had set all the type was so limited that it would take a week or more for him to turn out the completed copies. A printer with the largest press rooms in the City was communicated with by telephone, in the small hours of the morning, and it was arranged that he should get the type of most of the contracts from the first printer and do the press work. The type was transferred the next day, and the presses began humming, but it was too late. The opposition, fearing Willcox's success, got out an injunction to prevent the approval of the contracts by the Commission. John J. Hopper brought a tax-payer's action to restrain the Commission from approving the contracts, on the ground, among others, that they involved a waste of public funds. This proceeding effectually tied the hands of the Commission and prevented approval of the contracts before Willcox's term expired on February 1, 1913.

On February 3 following Governor Sulzer appointed Edward E. McCall, then serving as a Justice of the Supreme Court in the First District, to succeed Willcox. Judge McCall did not wish to leave the bench, but yielded to urging and accepted the new appointment, which was immediately confirmed by the Senate. While the Hoppet case was pending he entered upon a study of the subway contracts, and in a few weeks after his appointment the Court dismissed the application for an injunction, leaving the Commission free to act. Upon the request of Clarence J. Shearn, attorney for Hopper, the Commission, which under Willcox had held the public hearings required by the statute in January, called additional public hearings, which were held at the City Hall during the month of February, and at which all opponents of the Dual System contracts had another chance to be heard. At these hearings John Purroy Mitchel, afterwards Mayor, opposed the contracts and George McAneny defended them.

A hitch occurred in February over one of the contracts -- the certificate to the Manhattan Railway Company granting the rights to build and operate additional tracks on the elevated railroads in Manhattan and the Bronx owned by that company but under lease for 999 years to the Interborough company. The Manhattan company was controlled by George J. Gould, the son of Jay Gould, and he and his board of directors objected to the terms of the certificate. In this emergency the Commission drafted a new certificate made out to the Interborough company, the lessee, conveying the identical rights in the same terms to which the Manhattan company objected. A public hearing on this certificate was called for March 15, but before that date the Manhattan Company and the Interborough Company came to an agreement, by which the former agreed to accept the certificate and the latter to increase the amount allowed the Manhattan Company under the 999 year lease for office expenses etc. When the hearing was held this inter-company settlement was announced, and the Commission took no further action on the certificate drafted for the Interborough Company. While this certificate rests today among the forgotten documents of the Commission, it probably was a potent factor in changing the Manhattan Company's attitude.

Meanwhile the Commission went ahead with the other contracts. On March 4, 1913, the day President Wilson was inaugurated, it formally adopted the two operating contracts and the several certificates and transmitted them to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for approval. These contracts were:

Operating contract with Interborough company, providing for construction by the City, with a contribution from the company, and operation by the company of the Lexington Avenue, Seventh Avenue, Eastern Parkway and other subway lines.

Railroad Presidents Who Signed Dual System Contracts. (1) Timothy S. Williams, New York Municipal Railway Corporation; (2) Theodore P. Shonts, Interborough Rapid Transit Company.

Operating contract with the New York Municipal Railway Corporation a new company formed by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit interests to enter into the Dual System agreements, for the construction by the City, with a contribution by the Company, and for operation by the company of the Broadway, the Fourth Avenue, the Canal Street, the Fourteenth Street and the Centre Street Loop subway lines.

Certificate to the Interborough company granting rights to build and operate extensions of the Second, Third and Ninth Avenue elevated lines.

Certificate to the New York Municipal Railway Corporation granting rights to build and operate elevated extensions of the Jamaica Avenue, Liberty Avenue and Lutheran Cemetery lines.

Certificate to the New York Municipal Railway Corporation granting rights to build and operate additional tracks on the Fulton Street, Broadway and Myrtle Avenue elevated lines.

Trackage agreement between Interborough and New York Municipal companies for operation of trains of latter over the new rapid transit lines in Queens to be leased to the Interborough company by the City.

Trackage agreement between the City and the two companies for joint use of such lines by the two companies.

The Commission was divided in the adoption of these instruments. The vote on the two operating contracts and on the trackage agreements was three to two, those in the affirmative being Chairman Edward E. McCall, Commissioners John E. Eustis and George V. S. Williams; the negative, Commissioners Milo R. Maltbie and J. Sergeant Cram. On the certificates for extensions and third tracking the vote was four to one, Commissioner Milo R. Maltbie alone voting in the negative.

After the hearing on March 15 the Commission formally adopted the certificate to the Manhattan Railway Company for the third tracking privileges by a vote of three to one, Commissioner Milo R. Maltbie casting the negative vote and Commissioner J. Sergeant Cram being absent. On the same day it was transmitted for approval to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. On March 18 the Commission sent to the Board of Estimate requisitions for the appropriations needed to carry out the contracts, namely: For the Interborough contract $28,200,000 in addition to $35,135,637.84 previously registered on account of contracts already let; and for the New York Municipal contract $60,000,000 in addition to $40,501,991 previously registered on account of contracts already awarded. On the same day the Board of Estimate approved the contracts and granted the requisitions.

Transit Committee of Board of Estimate and Apportionment. (1) George McAneny, President, Board Of Aldermen; (2) George Cromwell, Borough President of Richmond; 3. Cyrus C. Miller, Borough President of The Bronx.

On the next day, March 19, 1913, the Commission met in public session in its large hearing room on the third floor of the Tribune building, and in the presence of many citizens, including members of the Board of Estimate and other City officials, executed the contracts. Theodore P. Shonts, president, Frank Hedley, vice-president and H. M. Fisher, Secretary of the Interborough company signed for that company; D. W. McWilliams, Secretary, and E. T. Jeffery, director, for the Manhattan Railway Company; Timothy S. Williams, president and H. A. Bullock, Secretary, for the New York Municipal Railway Corporation.

For the City the contracts were signed by Edward E. McCall, Chairman and Travis H. Whitney, Secretary of the Public Service Commission for the First District. Chairman McCall performed a graceful act by requesting William R. Willcox, his predecessor in the chairmanship, to attest his signature, which he did, so that, though Mr. Willcox could not sign as chairman, his name nevertheless appeared on the contracts he did so much to bring about. The same compliment was paid George McAneny, who also attested the Chairman's signature on the same documents. Each company then submitted to the Commission for approval a mortgage upon all its property and an application to issue bonds under it. The Interborough mortgage was for $300,000,000 and its proposed bond issue $160,957,000; that of the New York Municipal company $100,000,000 and its proposed bond issue $40,000,000. The Commission approved both mortgages and both bond issues.

Dual System Contracts; Last Page of Operating Contract and Certificate Showing Signatures

Chapter 16. Dual System of Rapid Transit Adopted

Chapter XVI