New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-20
SIGNS OF PROGRESS.

1t is pleasant and encouraging 10 TURN HOhi
the contemplation of municipal Encouragement
to numerous and unmistakablc evidences that
popular intelligence and appreciation OF what Is
intrinsically valuable are rapidly developing
They have not yet reached the point OF tn
umpbant expression at the polls; but that will
surely come in time. and meanwhile signs Of
progress multiply. Perhaps the most conspc-
uous proof of advancing civilization which this
period supplies is the Investigation and improve
mont of domestic architecture. Good taste, in
the common acceptation of the term, certainly
does not imply good government; but that is
because we give it a narrower meaning than 1t
is capable Of containing. And yet there is even
now an analogy between the two, since beauty
is both child and parent of enlightenment. 1t
seems only yesterday that every house in New
York was TIE counterpart of every other house,
and all were inferior without and within. Since
the generation Just emerging into citizenship
came on the scene the new architecture has be-
come a beneHcent infection which is fast re-
generating the city.
But there are other evidences of developing
knowledge and desire still more significant and
hcpefnl. Consider, for example, the people s
y
act of the Legislature, in direct obedience to
public will, the City Hall Park was saved from
sp3liation. This year dsingenuous project
for abandoning the Battery to the elevated reads
has produced popular connection which 1t Is
not safe to triie with. The proposal to estab-
Iish the Columbus Exposition in Central Park
had the effect of showing that the people vastly
preferred the Park to the Fair. And there is
no doubt that this sturdy conviction Of what
these lovely cases in desert Of brick and NOR
tar really mean to all the people has deepened
in recent years, and is constantly growing more
pervasve and determined. generation ago,
under similar circumstances. there would hare
been grave danger of n surrender Moreover,
the spirit which thus manifests itself is not
merely conservative. Plans of acquisition and
improvement are constantly coming into exist
ence and finding hearty and intelligent well
come. The project for New-Iorli
NAtanicaI Garden, proposed by few
individuals, has not only aroused no
opposition anywhere, but has enlisted sur
prising amount of general sympathy and in
| terest. TO compare small things with great, the
morning flower market at Union Square is an
experiment which, within a week, has served
to suggest the prevalence of healthy tastes and
impulses.
A similar and still more striking exempifica-
ton Of the education of popular sentiment is
seen in the new development of personal inter
est in the condition of the public thoronghfareS
Thousands Of citizens have come within veal
or two, for the first time in their lives, to re-
alize that their streets are foul and shabby
and to growing consciousness of their OWL
individual responsibility for the discomfort and
discredit which they now perceive and deplore
At the present rate of progress the transfOrma
ton for which so many have already learned tC
look with eagemess cannot be long deferred
And, since reform is progressive, it may happen
that the lcaven of clean streets will ultimately
leaven the whole lump of local disagreement