New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-08-22
THE CENTURY,

In Lily of Strath-Farrar, L. w. farsons siaS0'
fully strikes q Tyre that is heard too seldom.
THE CENTURY.
Mr. w. C. Conant, considering the question, Will
New-York he the final World Metropolis" ends by
predicting that city is to become before another
century passes the unrvallcd centre OF finance
and commerce. of lux ury and fashion. ofart and III
erature-the heart and brain in word-of the CIVIL
lied world" The conditions revealed by the map are
assuredly favorable; but the readers OF Mt W. Il.
t;racss paper in Harper and of tho articles by Sir.
Grace and Mr. Kasson in The North american, will
be apt to sigh the political difficulties 10 be
surmounted. Mr. Cvnant believes that New-York
and Brooklyn and adjacent Long Island, and the
Westminster peninsula as united by bridges and
steam transit, g form one city site rs much as the
two baIks of tho Sens at Paris or of the Thames at
London, and are certain to become municipality
united"
The pivot Of tho whole development is on the
eastern side at the lower end of Manhattan Island.
Here Is the permanent financial centre III Will not
move, for all the world seeks II where IL Is. wan
Street will preserve character as long AZ the cos
metropolis endures. Banking, exchange, stocks,
insurance. capital and merchandise brokerage. spec
ulation and financial and commercial agencies from
all parts of the world will circle around Trinity
Church until it's walls crumbe. Offices OF railroad
and mining anes, of steam and other shipping.
of teegraphs OF staple imports and exports lstores
and warehouses GRO wded into the distance and Tor
the greater part on the SJersey hats) next centre
closest around the financial hub, attended by
manufacturing and miscellaneous corporations,
law yers without number. brokers' courss, news-
papers and further up the importers OF foreign and
agents of domestic manufactures. Inc physlog-
nomy of this part of the city il fixed. and will only
become more pronounced III time by the crOwding
out of small manufacturing concerns ana ware
bouses for the storage OF heavy products The
iobbing trade will continue ITS march mp town.
and perhaps halt around the Hudson River Tunnel
Depot to be opened near Washington square ne
IL one fol
ionable lile will go northward until stopped oi
turned by the corner Of Central Park.
After finance and foreign commerce, fashionable
trade and society will eventually he the chief
features of the central city The Capitalization OF
true metropolitan commerce, when is to make
lover New York Ihes London of the future. will
make upper New York It's Paris. Exclusive society
in New-York scarcely be said TO have any liked
and distinct habitat at present IT IS IN transition
ary lodgings looking about, as IT were; ready
poised to take wing for some choice new quarter,
| we'll walled FROM vulgar intrusion. Where that
quarter is TO be- however. can hardly be question:
One suitable spot remains. and that is at once so
| beautiful so isolated, ana so admirably adapted,
that in almost constrained TO believe that the
susceDtiblities OF subimated snobbcry not be-
| meath the Providence that cares Tor the sparrow.
| Four or five square miles have been laid out by
Nature on the peninsular upper extremity of the
| island bstween the Hudson and the Harlen ut an
elevation of from fifty TO one hundred feet above
pebeian street grades, expressly for the court
quarter of New York's futnre aristocracy. 1t IS
| ridge about a mile wide with abrupt sides and a
| broad top; overlooking at once, ON eli Their hand,
| Tn. magnifcence of the Hudson beneath the Pail
| sades and the romantic nooAs of the Harlem and
Spnyten Duyvil, with the gtterlng reaches Of
| Long Island Sound; swept by the purest AIR from
| land and sea; almost solf-dralned, and drained
again Of drainage at ITS base inaccessible In short
whess Of commerce. and TO the enterprise OF specu-
| lative builders
on every hand all OF the SORT and wait TO
be united ia Dy suspension bridges frOu height
| to height, anchored in tho ready butt rocks. In
IL offu .lr du of mil Ii
| cent bridges IN the world spanning the Harlem
! from bluff to bluf-the famous High Bridge" of
| upper story can be built at small expense on this
| massive structure, and rooted with fine, level
roadway from Washington Heights to the villa
| crowned hills of the Twenty fourth Ward. The
| earliest wholly new bridge to 10 called for in this
! quarter will perhaps be the already. chartered
| suspension bridge across the Hudson from Wash
| ington Heights to the Palisades. This will-not
| soon, but surely-conncct the magnificent bOule-
| vardsi building on each of ithe opposite
heights in a continuous drive oil fifteen miles,
| which, for eminenco of prospect, luxurious con-
venienco and picturesque variety, never be
| Matched Ia the neighborhood of any other great
city on the globe. The elevated railways through
| the northwestern quarter of the island bring this
region at once into practcabllity, and some comm
wave of prosperity will sweep an overlooking
wealth into splendid piles and rows along the
| slightly heights.
The plainly marked locality of fashionable lite
as plainly determines that of fashionable trade.
Retailing will retain its present. base the central
avenues leading M TO the Park. prominently the
| Fifth and will eliminate either about the lower
| end of Ffty-ninth-st. or possiblycn the western
(Eigbth-avc side OF agreeable drive as that by
way of st. Nicholas-ave. and the Park from the
upper ten thousand homes to the shopping quarter
For the great middle class, OF reasonable tastes
| and aspiration. whom choice or convenience will
retain in tho close city, broad provision is made ON
all SIDES Of the Central Park but II Is derogatory
the prospects Of the city 10 suppose that ally OF
| the nsular space will long remain cheap. As n
\ brake the progressive expensiyeacss OF the
centre, however, the continued distribution Of
population ON both of the East River through
| out its whole length Is plainly secured by the adj
| mirablc counterpoise of the new steam trauslts
north and east respectively. Brooklyn has long
nearest to business and cheapest for residence. The
| New-York elevated railways, which would have
thrown that quarter into the distance. are oppor-
| tunely balanced by prospective Brooklyn steam
transit over the great suspension bridge, recently
completed ut James-slip and the prospective
Blackwers Island Bridge. This will put progress
lively cheaper city homes and lighter taxation
| within five, ten fifteen and twenty minutes from
business, aud secure the continued preference of
lyn already has moro than half million nhablt-
| ants. IL has ample room for unlimited growth
over the level fields of Long Island stretching on,
eastward, aud can spread southwark ten miles to
| the sea if need be.
Certainly these are glittering visons-yet as GER
tainly they are not unreasonable ones There are
some admirable illustrations ia the new CenfRrI
though nothing especially notable. 4. MITCHELL.
pleasant article on Cape Cod is frightened by
divers characteristic sketches. Tho anonymou,
] story, @Ths Bread Winners" grows III power and