The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-03-20
CHAOTIC GOTHAM.
SOME OF THE THINGS A JOUR
NALIST SEES.

Copyright, 1899. By the United Press)
NEW YORK, March 19.-Some thirty odd
years ago long-headed men conceived the
idea Of q grand park. At that time the ex-
tremest residences up town were at Thir-
tieth street. and the great bulk Of New
York's people lived below Twenty third
street. There were but few lines Of surface
cars, rapid transit was not even dreamed of,
and the project which involved the taking
OF some 500 acres, beginning at Fifty-ninth
street, then an unreachable place and exc
tending as far as One Hundred aud Tenth
street, a very wilderness of rock and shrub
| and tree, encountered very little opposition.
because nobody knew anything about the
place and cared very much less. Years
| passed and hundreds OF thousands OF dollars
were spent upon the park. IL was sur
rounded by a solid wall Of masonry. and
here and there were clearings suggestive OF
| the beauties yet TO come.
Just so. New York.
A hundred years sgo New York city was
comparatively wilderness. IL has grown
| to its present stature, and to-day we, OF
| this generation, find IL on the threshold, as
il were, of greatness yet TO come. analogous
to the condition in which Central park was.
after few years of labor on the part Of the
architects and gardeners who struggled with
nature for that supremacy which ultimately
| came.
In THE MEsHEs OF CORPORATIONS.
am led to this line of thought more
particularly by reason OF the extraordinary
confusion which reigns throughout the city
on account OF the electric light muddle. As
it is in all great cities, so here.
Taking advantage of the theory that
/ what is every body's business Is nobody's,
the telegraph, telephone and electric light
companies have absolutely enmeshed the
| town in wire networks, unpleasant to the
/ eye a pronounced interference with the
comelig ess OF our thoroughfares, aud, as il
now developed, a continuity of menace Co
| life itself. 1t has long been an accepted
| theory that combined wealth and audacity.
| inielligently directed, could dominate any
| people That is abundantly illustrated by
| the infamies Of cur IL" railroad managers,
| the unblushing defiance Of law by our sur
| face road @ 1mpanies, and the great ons weep~
| ings, selfish and profitable. Of the corpora
tions in whose grasp the city squirms impo-
| tent and dismayed.
WHAT Mr.. TILDEN DID.
The late Samuel J. Tilden was master o
diplomacy.
Without touching or suggesting anything
concerning him as q statesmen, without re-
| garding Tim at ell from a partisan point OF
view. IL will be conceded at once by every
close observer Of affairs that in every line
| OF endeavor requiring finesse, dsftuess OF
manipulation, sbrewdness. sagacity, craft.
he was a very giant of intellectually.
To him the elevated railroad people are
| indebted for a charter, by the terms of
which they can do anything, follow any
line of enterprise, indulge in any business
endeavor, as we'll as run their cars. They
can sell anything from peanuts TO cigars,
and do sell at every station; the convent
ences which should be for the people are
rented to newsdealers. At those stands
4 ECl1 Nr..k nlT.W k..k
tobacco, cigarettes, in some of them, cigars.
children's toys, pictures, toothpicks and
candy. That company can under its
charter manufacture anything and sell
anything known to the realm OF industry.
The electric light companies were
| organized in a similar way. Our great
| telegraph monopolies are protected by law
from interference from the people; poles
| have been planted time and time again in
| front Of residences, much TO the annoyance
and again ct the protests Of the owners OF
the property and. as l said before, the en-
tire town is dishgured by the presence of
| these wires An effort was made to get rid
OF them, and laws were passed appointing a
co nmission to see that the wires were taken
down and run through subways. Years
| passed and not a wire came down, yet from
| ten TO twenty miles Of our streets are open
| trenches, from which escapes beastly gases
and unhealthful odors, not alone to the an
detriment Of the public health.
wish you could see our streets.
| We have rival steam heating companies
Two or three subway digging companies, the
| necessary corporate authorities for laying
| sewers, great consolidated gas company
and one or two private gas concerns, and
| between them all there isn't street in the
city that at some time or other during the
| year is not uprooted In its pavement, deep
| trenched on one side or other, continuity
| OF nuisance, never ending text for leRiti-
mate scolding and authorized complaint.
ROBBED BY ALMOST EVERYBODY.
Well. what OF it2
Simply this: The superficial observer
sees this great city, which, like some boys
| you know Of, has outgrown itself Its
stature has increased SO rapidly, its neces-
stiles are beyond the control and regula-
ton of our authorities. and we have been
unfortunate enough to have at the head OF
| political affairs great rings of politicians
sometimes called Tammany, sometimes re-
formers, sometimes citizens committees.
sometimes republicans.
These men have a fair quantum or
human nature in their composition,
utilize their opportunities TO despoil tho
city.
EVEN THE JUDGES ARE CORRUPT.
We find corrupt men on the bench. and
I
post down through successive grades to the
bought emigrant, whose vote, after he has
been in the city long enough to be shaved
and have his clothes changed, is Just az
good at the polls as mine or yours.
The press without exception is subsidized.
Do mean by that that men deliberately
pay so much money for such service? NOT
at all. There are other things than money:
there are other brides than bank bills One
paper demands the nomination of a favor
lite, and the condition of that papers sup
port for an entire ticket, good. bad or iu-.
different, is the nomination of an indi--
vidual. Another journal distinctly an
nounces that il this or that candidate is
nominated, because Of its dislike to that
individual, its opposition will be arrayed
against the entire list of nominees
Certain Of our papers receive judicial fas
vors, others get the corporation advertising.
others have the subordinates' names on the
pay-rolls Of certain departments. Others
control appointments all along the line, and
when Mayor Grant was considering the
names of the committeeman who were TO
have charge of the preliminaries of our 1892
fair he put on those committees the editors
Of half dozen papers, not one of whom
has done a solitary thing in the way of
help, while every one has done what he could
in the paper he controls to enbarrass action
and defeat the purpose whatever it might
be that found favor in the eyes of his con-
freres.
l..