The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1886-07-24
BrOadbrimS New York Letter
Special to the CARBON ADVOCATE.

Special to the CARBON ADVOCATE.
For months we have beer grumbling
about cold-cold storms, cold winds and
cold everything. Now it is all the 9TH
er way:-Hot! hotterl hottest!-9S in
the shade and the prospect of a respite
indefinite. 1t is true that Long Branch
lies to the south and Coney Island to the
east; but Long Branch is too aristocrat-
ic for the million and Coney Island is
getting too democratic for the other ten
millions. 1t is not pleasant to conton-
plate. but the finest watering place on
the continent of America lin one por-
tion of it at least) is becoming place
where no decent man would dare trust
his money or his life. Within the last
three years the disreputable elements
seem to have got the upper hand, and
respectable people have given the lower
end of the island wide berth. AT
Manhattan Beach the company having
control of the property do their own po-
licing, and the consequence is the best
of order. Gilmore's Band, one of the
finest in the world, plays there during
the summer, and the burning of Mos
COW, with realistic effects, is an exhbi-
ton only equalled by the best efforts of
the Crystal Palace Company of London.
| know not who is responsible for the
condition of affairs at Brighton Beach,
but whoever it is, it is disgrace to our
civilization that any such community
should be allowed to pollute such a
beautiful and popular watering place.
Not stones throw from the principal
steamboat landing are dens frequented
by thugs, thieves and disreputable wo-
men, all seemingly under the protection
of the regular police-for the regular
police never appear to. disturb them.
Robberies occur every night, and fights,
assaults and trays are constantly taking
place. Numbers of young girls have
been dragged out of these wretched
places. Some have been restored to
their parents and others have been
passed to the care of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children. 1t
is New York and Brooklyn's great
breathing place. In the two cities are
considerably more than two millions of
people, and the outlying territory around
New York whose inhabitants make
Coney Island a resort, will make up an
other million. United by the great
bridge, New York and Brooklyn are
| virtually one city, as much so as Paris
on the opposite sides of the Seine or
London separated by the Thames. With
all of our talk about the summer hegra,
not more than hundred thousand or a
hundred and fifty thousand go sum-
mering, and they make very little i'm
preston on the two millions forced to
remain. To those two or three millions
then, Coney Island is the shortest cut
to the sea. The New Yorker takes the
Elevated road to the Brooklyn Bridge,
over which he is whisked in six min
utes; then another Elevated road re-
ceiyes him, and in an hour he is stand
ing on the beach listening to the oceans
roar, or at an expense of twenty-five
cents, taking n genuine saltwater bath,
and after a moderate amount of mild
dissipation in the way of lemonade, sar.
saparilla and other innocuous drinks,
not to mention peanuts and pretzels, he
can hear the music, see the fireworks
and be in his bed at half-past eleven, at
an expense of one dollar all told. Tie
eight hundred thousand Inhabitants of
Brooklyn are even more fortunate than
this. Thirty-five cents will carry a
Brooklyn man TO Coney Island and
back, and with respectable margin of
fifteen cents for refreshments, he can
see all the fun, hear the music, and if he
gets in a crowd, lose his watch and
pocket-book, and be home in bed bv a
quarter after ten. am now speaking
of the wage-workers, the men who are
now wasting away their miserable lives
working eight hours a day.
1t is because this is the great popular
resort of the people that it should be so
well cared for, that a child, or woman
alone at night, would be just as safe as
they would be in their own houses. 1t
is a beautiful resort and worthy of the
best care of our legislators and law
makers. 1t will not be many years till
the beautiful Boulevard that leads from
Brooklyn to the sea will be lined with
magnificent residences, and Brooklyn
itself will be the most populous city in
the Union.
In wealth, the two cities of New York
Brooklyn have increased in the past
year seventy-iive millions of dollars, and
this has been in the face of strikes and
labor disturbances such as the country
has never seen before. 1t Is safe to say
that in a period of average prosperity,
the increase of wealth in the two cities
in the next ten years will not be far
from a thousand millions Of dollars, and
the census of 1890 will show population
of considerable over three millions of
people. Every outlet for heallhful en-
joyment becomes an important factor
In our daily life, and this is the reason
why we look with such jealous eyes on
the city by the sea.
A very noticeable revolution has taken
place in the caterers TO orr public
AmusemenGs which bodes n for the