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

should have been maintained and en-
laFged, 50 that might have
found u water ray through the rear OF
the city. On the banks of these canals
like on the BANKS of the Chicago river
factories and Ioundries. besides other en-
terprises, would stIrt up and naturally
increase the wealth of the city. Besides
there could have been established n
maintained u system of sewerage, based
on the retention OF the wuter in tue canals
at high tile, with husning gates to
be opened at low tide, tnat would have
been almost a perfect sewerage system"
But all this was not to be. These
streams were filled in and the city was
cut off in front and rear-doubly or
phaned.
The riparian owners had been deprived
of their right to the shore front. The
State had transferred such right to whom
it would; and corporations became the
assignees of the Associates of the Jersey
Company. In time the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company leased the ferry
I'M docking privileges of the PauIus
Hook portion of the river front, and like
wise became the assignees of the Associ-
ates of the Jersey City Company. Well
might the city have OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
well. a long farewell, to all my great
ness!'
off we had those canals through the
| eli y" said Prosecutor Winfield. who had
been interrupted in his narrative. you
can see what an important feature they
would be. One of the boasts of the old
| Associates when they advertised the sale
| Of lots at Paulus Hoe was the enlarge
ment of this canal; that the Hook would
! be navigable on all sides, and that YES
sells would get fifty feet depth of water
anywhere" Any of these canals, he
said, would nave been more advantageous
to this city than the Chicago river is to
Chicago, and that river is of prime impor-
lance.
All these facts and others equally i'm
portant Prosecutor Winfield had already
urged in au address before the New York
Historical Society.
cutor would not discuss. He took a
purely antiquarian view of the situation
and stopped short at the discussion of
Jersey City's waterway, a subject that
has been as dead as Julius Caesar for
| over bali q century. But it was interest
ing as far as 1t went.
But the learned Prosecutor adorned the
role of old Mortality. IT he would but
let himself loose what a tale indeed he
could unfold. What an interesting chap
ter might he not dictate ii he would but
',Rumina ate in sober thought
on all he's seen, and heard, and wrought"
Properly speaking Jersey city's history
does not date back more thar fifty years.
In 1S40 the population was only 3,072; a
state of affairs that demonstrates that it
| WAS but a city in name, and in reality
was nothing more than a township. In
forty years the clty's inhabitants num-
| bered 100. 722. In the last ten years there
has been an increase of population Of
so, 600.
REMARKABLE GROWTH OF OTHER CITIES.
Brooklyn, the corresponding suburb on
the other side of New York harbor, has
eclipsed every city oe except Chicago. Its
500, 900 in 1880. and to $4,000 i'll 1890.
The city of Milwaukee, with a popula-
ton similar to that of Jersey city, in 1884
consisted Of two Lighthouses.
The city of Cleveland, fifty years ago,
was a mere hamlet. 1t now has a popula-
ton of zoe, 600 souls. Andrew Carnegie
is authority for this statement:-'After
seeing all that the rest of the world has
to offer in that respect, l pronounce Euc-
lid and Prospect avenues in this lake city
of Cleveland the grandsst and most beau
tiful."
St. Paul and Minneapolis are other ex-
; amples of the rapid growth of great cit
| les. A quarter of a century ago they
were but beginning that wonderful career
which has placed them in the front rank.
| In a few more decades these cities will
have carved their way to a proud emf
nence; or rather they will have amalga-
mated and become one great city that
| will likely rival Chicago; a city that is
without parallel for its phenomenal
growth. Forty years ago it was little
better than a mud hole, out of which the
city has been literally lifted, only to be
RACED by the devouring element.
Jersey City is lacking III the exuberant
vigor of these young giant cities of
the West. AS a municipality, she caunot
assimilate her wealth. 1t all flies over to
that metropolitan magnet across the
river. 1t requires more than ordinary
historical acumen to account for this
phenomenon. Not possessing the neces-
sary prescience, l canno formulate a
theory that will satisfactorily solve the
problem. There are no strong contrasts by
which an inquiring mind can be guided.
Everything is vapid and inert. There are
no monuments of any kind; no mile
stones or sign posts to advise the traveller
as to the route he is to take. The moon,.
being without an atmosphere. is an eX-
tinct world. The city hat is without
local patriotism or public spirit may
boast. of a population, but can never
achieve greatness. There may be expert
sociologiSts who are competent to uu-
ravel this tangle, like the connoisseur in
Notre Dame, who possessed this rare gift,
as tersely stated by Victor Hugo in the
manner following:-"When a man un-
derstands' the art of seeing, he can trace
the spirit of an age and the eatures of a
King even in the knocker of a door,"
The present Jersey City has no phYsi-
ognomy. 1t is a collection of tenements.
IaCLOFleS anu SLores.
Society, as founded by successive gem
| erations. seems to have left NO footprints
| in the sands Of time" Evaporation, not
concentration. Is the title deed of Jersey
City's history. Each wave of time"
says q Sage, '.leaves it's alluvium-each
race deposits its stratum upon the monu-
ment-each individual deposits his stone"
We find no trace of this process in Jersey
City. There are no monuments, no
mounds, no mausoleums. Time, We are
taught to believe. Is the architect-the
nation, or city, is the builder. Here we
lave neither architect nor builder. There
are plenty of houses, but few homes;
many inhabitants, but you might search
with Diogenes' lamp and tire yourself
out before you would discover a wealthy
citizen who has given proof of public
spirit; or you might look In vain for
aughJ that appeals to the imagination or
thai elevates the sensibilities. There
are few indications of the accumulation
of wealth and none of the existence of
that aesthetic and. moral elevation of soul
which are to be found in every well regu-
latel city.
SPLENDOR OF ANCIENT CITIES.
How we must hide our diminished
heads when we regard the splendors of
ancient cities: the prodigal profusion of
statesmen and warriors. who built cities
and bequeathed to them magnificent
baths. libraries, picture galleries. statu-
airy and other works of art. This ancient
civilization. in many progressive particu-