The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-30
From the Sunday MoaRfng Neacs of
yesterd0y.
1890 1940
A NEW YEARS EVE
ID REAM
Mr.. Charles H. Winfield
~SpeCulates on the
Future of Jersey
City.
Arguing from Past and
Present He Reaches
Some Strange
Results.
ACITYO OF THIRTEEN MILLIONS
Curious Possibilities of Population,
Building, Commerce, Finance.
Religion and Crime.
ACITY OF THIRTEEN MILLIONS
Curious Possibilities of Population,
Building, Commerce, Finance.
Religion and Crime.
GRAND PROSPECTS ANYWAY

1890 upon usi
The death of an old year prompts a
glance backward and a long steady look
into the future.
The dawn of a new year lifts the veil of
the future, and the view it opens is al
ways one of hope.
How much further have I advanced,
and what will You be when 1890 folds its
December mantle about it for the slum-
Der of the ages?
But there is scarcely scope enough in
this short space for the kindling i'm
agination. 1t is only a year ahead.
Where then will l be five years, ten
y~ears-ffty years from now?
Where will we all be?
Where will Jersey City be?
Yes, and what will she be fifty years
from now?
"Who can tell?'' What brilliantly
equipped imagination can picture the
scene here in 1940-the growths?-the
changesi was dreamily asking myself
he question when Prosecutor Charles Fl
Winfield crossed my path.
Here, indeed, was the prophet l sought,
brought by the fairies of good fortune to
my hand, as it were, and | put the ques-
ton to him.
His eyes wrinkled with a merry humor
when he heard it. He turned his head
pensively aside, and then he answered.
LONG LOOK AHEAD.
"You ask me what Jersey City will be
fifty years hence. 1t is a very difficult
question to answer, especially By one
who is not a prophet, nor, so far a he
knows, related in the slightest degree to
a prophet. My imagination is not suffi-
cient for the purpose. ] have feet and
must walk upon the ground, and if [
paint the city as it will be fifty years
hence l must mix with the gorgeous hues
of my imagination the dull leaden facts
of the past fifty years. By considering
how Jersey City has grown in the last
fifty years, and what it now is. we may
form some sort of estimate-not perhaps
absolutely correct-of what it will be at
the end of another semi-centennial. 1t
is only by what has been that we can
approximate to what will be. The con-
clusion comes within the beautiful ex-
preston applied to the everlasting
overt, art and ever shalt be-" the SHALT
be'' seeming to be a %corrolary of the
''wert" and TART"
"This city las not only grown inter
nally, but it has expanded by absorbing
adjoining municipalities. In both re-
spects it is moving on as irresistibly as
fate. and the outlying cities and towns
which to-day are hanging on its skirts,
like q fringe on 8 p%etticoat, only waiting
the inevitable hour. So then we cannot
consider Jersey City within it's present
limits; but we must look to the whole
county, especially that part lying east of
the Hackensack River as the Jersey City
of the future.
ARGUING FROM THE PAST.
"Under its original incorporation this
city was part of the old township OF Ber-
gen, the parent of municipalities, and
was bounded on the west by a ditch nearly
on the line with Warren street. On March
s, 1889, its boundaries were extended
northerly to First street and westerly to
Grove street. 1t had separated from the
township OF bergen one year perore that.
The remaining part Of old Jersey City, all
east of the Mill Greek, al included in
the township OF var worst NOW let us
mix the past with the present ana see II
we canuot paint from tnese ingredients
Jersey City rs II VIII be hfty years hence,
Fifty years ago the population oil this
oirx. woe Q noo Nv tho oauSuc of 1QS iQto