The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-11-15

I'll .lffSNy XIV S lH0St H&Etul tHkt G7blAl-
abla citizens was the latest victim. While
driving to fire the chief of the fire de-
partinent WIS run over and crushed TO
DEATH Ihen there was a brief cry OF in
A{guation. A pronunciamento was issued
bv the Mayer threatening the railroad
company that il all proper and req uisite
precautions were not taken at once to
prevent the recurrence of similar TRACE
dies drastic measures would be taken.
II was however, a meaningless aud.
enpEy threat, Bat luckily, the elevated
road was approaching COMPLETION and
that tarcy act rendered such catastro-
plies Impossible in the future.
Tnis WAS such an ACT OF municipal folly
rs to amount almost TO treason TO the
state. 1t lis an incubus around the neck
ef the city: q weight that has borne 1t
down: it is like the clutch of q garOtter;
il sfrangles while It chokes- What
would be said of Mr. Vanderbilt It he let
the yestibule of his Fifth avenue mansion
to a peanut vender and paid toll himself
for the privilege of entering or leaving
his own houses His exit and his entrance
would be attended with very unpleasant
sensations: his friends would ''cut him
dead. = aud the peanut vender would find
{ himself a bigger man than the million
a{re Vanderbilt But what can be said of
Jersey eity's octopus. whose tentacles bar
the water front, and whose beak-like
head sucks the very life blood of the city7
Il IS another case of Prometheus bound
: TO d rock aud the ravens pecking at his
WHAT'S. Today, In an hour, Jersey city, at
the behest of It's masters. could be left
without means OF transit to the New
York shore. The immense traffic of two.
nay half dozen, cities might be cut of
from it and remonstrance would be in
vain No ships line its docks; no conf
MERGE crowds It's shores; no great public
or private enterprise marks its history
The city, like Coleridges Ancient Mari
ner. reposes TRANQUILITY as "a painted ship
upon Il painted ocean," The west shore
Of the lordly Hudson is stricken with
paralysis. The city generally seems to
shiver beneath the folds ofa wet blanket.
II is only i dumping ground for the
freight aud passenger patronage of a
bluated corporation.
A CORPORATION RIDDEN CITY.
It must be borne in mind that Jersey
City has taken time to attain its growth.
It Is one OF the most ancient cities of the
Republic. Its 10000 inhabitants have
not come to it In generation. like most
far Western cities. 10 me the Thought
has often reverted that Jersey City, like
City of the Plain. has had some serious
sin laid at its doors and has been, in sack
cloth and ashes. suffering the penalty
thereof. Wave after wave of humanity
has swept over and landed its rich
cargo at the doors of the more favored
city across the way.
Ii is not as il the Destroying Angel had
brooded over the city, but as il NUM-
cipal miasmn had withered ana rusted
the edge Of progress and enterprise. There
are no spacious and imposing hotels, no
grand and massive public buildings, no
architectural triumphs OF any kind.
Nothing natures; everything is below
the dead level of mediocrity. Private
dwellings, as a rule, are neither palatial
nor gorge Us. No public spirited citizen of
wealth has endowed colleges or founded
libraries. There are no museums. no
picture galleries, no academy of fiHe arts.
Here we miss
The clord-eapp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples.
Evidences OF refinement, cultivation
and local pride are missing. Ii is city
with upas tree before every mans
door. The weeping willow (metaphori-
sealiy) hourishes in every mans back
yard Its hotels LOOK about the same
now as they did half a century ago. The
city has multiplied its houses without
improving them enthusiastically. Sim
ilarly. tine growth OF the city has ex-
<Qanded, but there is nc corresponding
>proyement in the methods of living.
lis Inhabitants are as primitive In many
respects as were their foretathers. How
eau so many people be content with such
diiapidated surroundings is question.
-Thaye often asked ikiysssf. Surely. it is
not poverty and it cannot be ignorance.
The people are refined, well dressed and
seif-respecting. They labor and they
spin, and they are model citizens in every
respect, but there seems to DE no local
patriotism at ALL A Jerseyman, we all
know. possesses some characteristics
peculiar TO the phlegmatic tempera-
inent Of his early ancestors, the
Dutch. Bat this would not account
tor the lack of enterprise and public
spirit manifested by the pres
ent degenerate generation. We must
look for that in another direction.
A man accustomed to the energy and
friction constantly displayed in New
YORK city must look upon the state of So
eiety west of the Hudson with feelings of
pity and amazement. This aqueous liga-
tnre. connecting the great metropolis
with the belaIe city of the ruetul coun-
tenance. brings no healing balm ON its
bosom TO brighten and restore this cor
poratien ridden municipality.
PURCHASE OF PAULUs HOOK.
Where. then, are We to look for solu-
tion OF the decadence we have noted
Who eau trace the cause to the effect?
Assuredly there is something rotten in
Denmark The writer sought the views
or some enlightened citizens on this sub
ject. The first seen was Chief Benjamin
Murphy. While knowing the city like
book. and making some sage reflections,
to my mind he hardly struck the Keynote
OF the situation He attributed Jersey
City's stagnAtion to various causes. but
These causes exist in any other city, if not
IN the extreme, at least in a degree.
lie named corporations, politics, lack
Off rapid transit, the proximity of New
York city, besides other reasons, all of
which, doubtless, have mad something to
10 with the case; but the diagnosis hard
iy explained the symptoms. Then saw
Prosecutor Winfield Truly, | said, Pill
strike something solid, If not spectacular,
here. The Prosecutor, as every one
Knows, is the best informed man in all
Jersey on local history AS a historian
and a man Of thorough attachments APP
peaied to him. Who will believe 1t, the
learned Prosecutor fought shy of the
question:-ssTo what do you attribute
Jersey City's backward condition in con-
trast with the prosperity and commercial
Importance OF sister citiesi''
The man who has only studied the
Prosecutors physiognofny while profess
sicnnliy illnmined can have but super
fetal knowledge OF the profounder work
lngs OF his inner consciousness when he
has set his face against the Vaccinations
of the newspaper interviewer The Pros
ecutor cannot be called sphinx--silence
IS not his forte. But his loquacity is as
impeDefrable and often as battling a. an
other man's taciturnity. He talked elo-
eueatly, to be sure; he said lot Of thugs
about the loss the city sustained, first,
in the deprivation ofits water front; and,
second, in the short-si GIFTED policy of
the City Fathers in not opening
up certain waterways that lay at the
back door OF che city. These WATERWAYS