length. The subway from Thirteenth street to a point east of Twenty-second street is 4,180 feet in length. The tunnel has a length of 2,711 feet, and the open subway to the westward is 2,150 feet long, terminating at Thirtieth street. The total length of the work is, therefore, about 10,000 feet, or nearly two miles. Throughout the subway and tunnel from Broad street there are four main tracks. In addition to these are the side tracks and tracks in the yards at Broad street and at Twentieth street.

The engineering difficulties were considerable, as the subway involved reconstruction of the sewer and water pipe system passing

through it, and it was necessary to continue the traffic of the railway without interruption. From the beginning of the tunnel the street has been boulevarded, with openings for ventilation at intervals surrounded by a rustic masonry wall, on which vines have been planted, and around this wall a grass plat six feet wide, in which appropriate shrubs are planted, making an ornament to the driveway while furnishing a convenience to the tunnel. The avenue is 120 feet in width, with sidewalks 20 feet wide, having six feet of sod. also planted with selected trees. As the avenue approaches Fair

mount Park it widens into a plaza opposite the Green street entrance, where the Washington monument is located. To old Philadelphians this is one of the most remarkable improvements of the city, because what was once an unsightly railway yard is now a spacious boulevard. For many years there was an intense opposition in Philadelphia to providing an appropriate roadway to Fairmount Park, this earliest of American large parks being without any adequate approach. The feeling that a boulevard was an aristocratic device has weakened in the face of the bicycle and other democratic means of conveyance, and there is no less appreciation shown today for the beauty than for the convenience of the new Pennsylvania

avenue.

RAILROAD CROSSING ELEVATED, ENGLEWOOD.

At the same time Broad street, which has thuse been preserved as a great unobstructed artery, remains the pride of the city. In view of the unenviable, and unfortunately justifiable, reputation which Philadelphia enjoys as the most corrupt city in the country, it seems especially desirable to recognize the efficient services of the Bureau of Surveys, which has carried to successful completion this great engineering project, under the leadership of Mr. George S. Webster, the chief engineer.

By way of summary, it may be noted that the improvements. of the last few years in American cities furnish the greatest possible

encouragement to those who wish to see a reduction of the frightful mortality at grade crossings and a multiplication of conveniences through adequate railway approaches and stations. Chicago furnishes the most striking example in the amount of work done and the millions of money expended by the railways themselves under the pressure of the public authorities and without laying any burdens on the people. It also happily illustrates the important fact that such an investment on the part of the railway is remunerative, thus leaving no excuse for railways elsewhere. The city of Philadelphia in its latest improvement, the Philadelphia and Reading sub way, illustrates the possibility of removing grade crossings without disfiguring streets. If it is not possible to secure such favorable terms from the railways as has Chicago, the city perhaps may well bear half the expense to secure such a mechanical and aesthetic improvement as Philadelphia has made. The city of Providence holds first position in the convenience and beauty of its union station. Boston presents the example of a city which has appointed a commission to make an investigation of all of the transportation methods and plan for a harmonious readjustment, which has been carried to an eminently successful conclusion. The sum of these several experiences here narrated is that in planning for the future of our cities, nothing less than a complete plan should be satisfactory. This will unquestionably prove of equal advantage to the railways and the public, and the experience of several cities indicates the futility of temporizing and the necessity of looking boldly to the future and exercising that imagination which brings success to business enterprises and communities.

THE SALOON PROBLEM IN NEW YORK.

BY JOHN G. Agar.

The Horns of the Dilemma.

The conditions attending Sunday liquor traffic in New York city are probably not paralleled in any country in the world. A law is on the statute books requiring saloons to be closed on Sundays, but it is not obeyed. The present reform administration, vested with power to cause it to be obeyed, believes that the best interests of the city demand that it should not be enforced, because a majority of the citizens deem it an unjust infringement on their liberties and productive of greater evils than the law seeks to avert. This large body has expressed its opinion at the polls that it would rather have the misgovernment of Tammany with the law not enforced than the good government of the reformers with the law enforced.

On the other hand, the majority of voters in the State, inspired by an ideal incapable of attainment, in New York city at least, refuses to listen to the appeals of the citizens of this city and allow their representatives in the state legislature to change the law to meet the demands of those most concerned or to permit those most concerned to change the law to suit themselves.

As far as the city and state governments are concerned, there is a deadlock. If the present reform administration enforces the law, the result will be the overthrow of reform government in this city at the fall election in 1903, and if the present Republican state government permits the law to be changed so as to allow Sunday saloon liquor traffic, the result will be the overthrow of the Republican state government in the fall elections of 1902. The majority voters of the city will not allow the law to be enforced; the majority voters of the state will not allow the law to be changed.

Early Legislation.

This is only an acute instance of the morbid conditions which arise when natural laws are interfered with, and in seeking its remedies it may not be amiss to trace some of the conditions which have preceded it.

Prior to 1896, the principle which lay at the root of all excise laws relating to this city was the application of the will of the majority of the state to the city, by means of a general or special law operated by local agencies. The principle was considered to be one of local self-government, but its application was so controlled by the general law that it became little more than the execution of the mandates of central authority by local instruments, and was so distorted by restrictive and prohibitive features as to be repulsive to the local centre upon which it was imposed.

Sunday closing of liquor saloons in one form or another was found in all excise laws, but the collection and distribution of liquor taxes and the grant of licenses were the subjects of most variation in detail.

The latter

There were two efforts in the nineteenth century to depart from the settled policy of the state: one in 1845, to allow local option in the state outside the city and county of New York, which was never successfully applied; and the other in 1855, "an act for the prevention of intemperance, pauperism and crime." was the law of the state for two years only, and attempted, with marked failure, to apply the prevailing New England doctrines of the necessity of state repression of all liquor traffic and consumption. The act of 1892, the predecessor of the present law, was the legitimate result of the previous century of folly, and is digested in a footnot.*

*Laws of 1892, Chapter 401.

Excise Commissioners.-In towns the members of boards of excise were elected by separate ballot for terms of one, two, and three years, respectively, no town official or person interested in the sale of liquor being eligible. In cities, the excise commissioners were appointed by the mayors, unless otherwise provided in the city charter.

Licenses.-A license for the term of one year might be granted only to a person over twenty-one years of age, a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State, of good moral character, who was approved by the board and beneficially interested in the business to be licensed. Six classes of licenses were in force, with fixed minimum and maximum fees:

I. Hotel license, granted to keepers of hotels or taverns having at least ten