Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1869-04-23
8lis"bsts Daily aonitor,
PUBLISHED AT 155 BROAD STREET, BY
J. MADISON DRAKE.
LET US MEND OUR WAYS.

We are not to about to commence
dissquisition on morals, but we have
something to say on the general sub
iect of streets and walks. One of the
things most essential to the public con-
venience and the pleasure of life in the
town is found in the condition of the
public highways. Narrow and unpaved
streets and walks are sure to retard the
progress of city no matter what may
be the peculiar advantages of its natural
position and the promises of it's future
commercial Importance. a vigorous
growth and rapid development are sac
rifced by the early settlers o: many
cities and towns. In laying out and
grading streets too little regard is hal
to the future interest and prospective
demands OF the place. 1t seems to sbe
the intention to use very little land for
public purposes, and to expend the
least possible amount of money and
labor in the regulation and improve
ment Of the same. If this poor policy
results in great damage to the public,
it is no less ruinous to the individual
interests and prospects of property
holders. In opening new avenues we
may besure that their width will chiefly
determine the class of persons who
will select building sites and establish
their homes and occupations Of such
streets. A selfish policy thus often de-
feats its own objects and Furnishes those
who practice it, by diminishing the
present and prospective value of their
property.
1t is to be observed that a real public
improvement is sure to promote the
individual interests of all the owners of
property in the neighborhood where it
located. If you open street thirty or
forty feet wide through your property,
you invite settlers of small means, and
must regulate your scale Of prices for
lots accordingly, On the other hand,
open an avenue eighty feet wide, and
although it requires double the quanti-
ty of land to be set apart for public use,
you at once quadruple the value OF
what remains. The spacious avenue
invites class of settlers who have
abundant means and, perhaps, cult
waited taste. They erect fine houses
they ornament their grounds; they
keep away all nuisances, and are Ger
tainly not less likely to establish good
society. Every such settler renders
the place more attractive, and his i'm
provements raise the common standard
OF value of all similar property i'll the
immediate vicinity.
But this does not necessarily result
from the erection OF new buildings with
out due regard to their materials,
dimensions and workmanship. The
fact is too obvious to be disputed, that
the value of the city lots is often di-
unfinished by the erection OF many frail
and perishable structures in the same
locality. 1t has often occurred when a
great fire has swept away large see
ton of some old town, that the ground
only covered with the ashes of con-
hagration-has been rendered more val
uable than it was before the destroying
element had performed its work. This
end is not, however, likely to be ac-
complished by the destruction of one
or at most few buildings, and the con
sequent publication OF II small district,
for the obvious reason that the sur
roundings, continue to be of the same
general character as before. While
there is something terrible in the scene
when the devouripg element RACES in
the great city, and poor families are
driven naked and homeless into the
streets, we get find some compensation
for all this in the fact, that great fire
IS often the agent of vast public in
provements.
Second only to the general scale upon
which our streets, public walks and
parks, are laid out-in respect to the
visible effects on the recognized value
of property-we are to consider the pro-
per grading, paving, lighting and other
wise ornamenting the same. 1t Is IL
false economy that refuses to appro-
pirate the requisite means for these i'm
portant purposes. Every dollar that is
thus iudiciously expended, with view
to the public welfare, comes back with
a most liberal rate of interest to the
holders of private property. The fear
of increased taxation blinds the, multi
tude to these facts and yet they aye
confirmed by almost universal expe-
rience. Who does not know that the
difference in the market value of prop
erty on Park and Commerce streets,
mainly depends on precisely such exist
ing circumstances as we now have under
consideration To be fully satisfied of
the general correctness Of these obser-
l,r, l. b., 10