The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1885-04-11
our LETTER FROM eRoADBRlM

New Yorlk's Growing Rival-Brooklyn the
CITY of the Fnture-A Complicated DE-
v.rca Snit-Herr SOnnenthal's Depart
rorte Boxing Craze-8eney's Pic
~" NEW YORK, April 1, 1885.
EDITOR CHIEF:
An Interesting problem is being rapidly
solved which will settle the question for
some years, at least, as to what is really the
metropolis of the nation. New York has
the age, the wealth, the social position, the
mercantile prestige, the national recosnl-
ton, On the other side of narrow river,
connected by that magnificent bridge which
may we'll be regarded as the eighth won-
der Of the world, is Brooklyn, which twen-
ty wears ago was regarded as sort of rural
OUTPOST for its proud and opulent neigh
Dor. Rockaway was the only spot which
the widest dream of the poets of those
days thought of as watering place near
the city. Coney Island the beautiful, was
merely marked as a sandbank on the map
of the nation; and Manhattan Beach, with
Levy, Pat Gilmore and the Chinese fire.
works. was vet unknown to the children of
men; but change has come over the spirit
of our dreams. Twenty five years ago New
York was nearly five times as large as
Brooklyn, to-day it is only one-half larger.
One dirty little theatre and one minstrel
hall, indifferently patronized, then fur
nished the great bulk of its amusements,
and few seH-respecting actors even lmper-
illed their reputation by venturing over the
other side of the river. Now eight or nine
theatres are nightly crowded with eager
patrons, and the best actors and singers
in the land consider themselves fortunate
in securing engagements in the baillwlck
of our enterprising neighbor. In the mat
ter of preaching, it goes without saying
that Brooklyn has for many years held a
foremost place in the country-Beecher in
Plymouth Church, DR.. Storrs in the Church
of the Pilgrims, De Witt Talmage at his
Tabernacle, DR.. Hall of Holy Trinity, and
the Rev. John Chadwick, the champion o1
Unitarianism of America, an accomplished
scholar and gentleman. who combines the
genius of Emerson with the sweet persua
siveness and eloquence of Channing. An
Iconoclast when Iconoclastic sacrifice would
advance the cause of truth, yet a rare ant
pious builder of the good, the beautiful
and the true.
With all these advantages it is not sur
prisiug that Brooklyn has become the cit.
of homes More people own their homes
am ong the zoo, 900 inhabitants of Brooklyn
than among the ], ,400, 600 of the city of New
York. Brooklyn, though the fourth city il
the land in point of population, has non
of the rookeries, slums or gambling hell
that we have on this side of the river
Though one of the most accomplished pick
pockets in the world, Wesley Allen, live
there, he never attempts to ply his vocation
inside the Brooklyn city limits. Ifhe get
short Of money or wants to make a deposi
for missionary purposes, he comes over t
New York, and generally succeeds in get
| ting what he wants. No bad characters pa
rade its streets: shoplifters and rascals gen
orally give it wide berth, and while
may occasionally furnish sensationf
| elopement, first-class murder, or sampl
rascals like Ferdinand Ward, Presider
! Fish. and other of like ilk-it is when CON
pared with other places of its size yer
| respectable and moral city. Rapid trans
| in few weeks will be an accomplishe
| fact, and with rapid transit will come tn
great increase of Brooklyn's population
New York has no outlet for its laborin
Door. Manhattan Island is 30 small tn;
the tenement house with all of its abon
nations is their only resource, but Brool
lyn stretches away for miles into tt
sweet and wholesome country, the sea is c
eyery side, there is no such city for con
Portable homes for the poor on the cont
nent of America, if in the world. Here the
is the solution of great social probler
Vice in its worst and most repulsive form
is indissolubly engrafted on the teneme
house system-there never can be such
thing as home in tenement house, and
Brooklyn the poor laborer can get a COL
Portable little house for the same rent til
he pays for filthy tenement in the city
New York. In FIVE years it Is altogeth
probable that Brooklyu's population W
exceed million. There are not ma
cities in the land that touch that fgul
, Brooklyn has none of the colossal forum
that we have on this side of the riv'
| There is no man there worth fifty or hu
l dred millions, but there are thousan
3 worth anywhere from $50, 600 to $1,000
In twenty five or thirty years it is pessil
, that the population of Brooklyn will exec
the population of New York, and beco'
: the great city of the continent. New Yc
has no such storehouses for the storing
e commercial goods as Brooklyn. Nowh'
: in New York can a vessel go into &c
u right alongside OF the storehouse and d
y charge her cargo. Wharves line Brook
ON every side with abundance of deep '
n ter for the mightiest steamships, and
s NAV be in the future, unless the two cit
h are united, that Brooklyn will enter
Y race for commercial supremacy.
IS years ago a man from Brooklyn trayei
abroad Invariably signed himself &c
It Smith, New York-that is, if his name v
,r John Smith. No Brooklynite does
is now; in fact, he makes it a point to let Q
,r siders understand that he comes from
Ii Long Island end of the big bridge, and
signs himself, J. Columbus Smith, Bro
ID lyn, L. l., and when he is in foreign ps
t. he sooras to put on N. Y. and substitu
IS US.
ut 4 complicated ease of divorce gave
l. courts food for reflection, and the law,
Of one of the hardest legal nuts to crack