The New York herald., 1879-02-04
The Future OF New York city.


its history bearing some resemblance to
that upon which it entered in 1S25-the
memorable year from which is dated the
rise of New York to it's great position Of
supremacy as the commercial emporium OF
the United States and of the Western Hem
isphere. Previous to 1925 Philadelphia
had been larger and more impor-
tant city than New York in spite
of our magnificent and unequalled harbor
our nearness to the sea and the
comparative shortness ofthe voyage to. Eu-
rope. The year 1926 put us in advance, but
not at first so much in fact as in the hope,
energy and confidence inspired by the
great event of that truly memorable year.
1t was the year when the Erie Canal, that
great achievement of the genius of Dewitt
Clinton, was completed and its completion
was celebrated. In that year those vast in
land seas, the great lakes, were dn the
poetical and exultant Language of the time)
"wcdded to the Atlantic Ocean,"
In order to estimate the exultant hopes of
that remarkable period we must remember
that railroads had not yet been invented.
All the greater movements of commerce
were then made by water, and the opening
of the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Albany
seemed to give New York monopoly of the
carrying trade between the great fertile
time being it insured to this city
a practical monopoly of the COM
merce of the North American conti-
nent The great chain of mountains
whict run parallel to the Atlantic coast is
interrupted in the Highlands of New York
for the passage of the Hudson, opening an
almost perfect level between the Atlantic
Ocean and the great inland seas, which are
the most remarkable feature in the physi-
cal geography of the continent The genius
Of Clinton saw the great possibilities of the
situation, and his energy and ability opened
the waterway whose completion in 1925
assured to New York the commercial su-
premacy which the city has securely held
from that day to this.
The wonderful impulse then given to the
growth of New York city was, for the first
few years, the result of sanguine hope and
well grounded expectation, rather than Of
immediate additions to the actual trade Of
the city. The West was then wilderness,
and until its soil was brought under culti-
vation it could contribute nothing to the
commerce of the seaboard. But everybody
foresaw the great rush of settlers into
Michigan and Northern Ohio, and the
early upturning of the Illinois prairies
I,x &Io &c <ho
foresaw with equal clearness that the
products of the fertile regions bordering
on the great lakes would necessarily be
sent through the Erie Canal and find their
market in New York. This city at once
began to grow by anticipating the splendid
future which was so near at hand. The i'm
mediate rise in city property, the influx of
population and the large construction of
buildings to accommodate the swarm of
new corners were justified by the result,
and Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore
were distanced and, in few years, left far
in the rear. In this manner New York city
acquired supremacy which could never
afterward be shaken.
Some ten or fifteen years later began the
era Of railroads, which, in its progress, again
revolutionized the business of the country
and seemed to threaten the primacy of New
York among the commercial cities Of the
United States. The great through lines to
the W est seemed to restore the lost equality
between the cities of the seaboard which
had been destroyed by the Erie Canal.
But it was found by experience that
the practical effect of railroad CON-
vantages which New York had acquired
by the Erie Canal. Before the construc-
tion of railroads land carriage by teams
was so expensive that every petty port, from
Maine to Florida, was the seat of an import
trade. There was economy in landing goods
at many points along the coast and saving
the great cost of transportation by wagons.
But cheap railroad intercourse with the in
terror made it of little consequence where
goods were imported, and the natural result
was concentration of the import trade
in small number Of Atlantic cities, and
chiefly in the city of New York, which has
long had the lions share of our foreign
commerce. Inc mercnautS OF the interior
prefer to select their goods from large
stocks, whose multitude and variety enable
them to cater more successfully to the
wants and tastes of their customers The
consequence has been that the railroads,
instead of undermining the superiority
which this city had acquired by means Of
the Erie Canal, have concentrated the vast
import and export trade Of the country at
this advantageous point.
But of late years the onward and trium-
phant march Of New York city has met an
impediment in the singular geographical
figure OF Manhattan Island. 1t is long
strip of land between two rivers, with its
great business establishments situated at
the lower and narrower end, toward the sea,
with possibility OF expansion only in one