Omaha daily bee., 1894-03-05
GREATER NEW FORK.
Extent of the Proposed Consolidation ard
IIa Significance.

Extent OF the Proposed Consolidation ard
Its Significance.
The movement for the consolidation OF
New YORK, Brooklyn and outlying rural
communities In Kings, Richmond and West
chester counties only lacks the approval of
the voters to bring to a successful end a
struggle covering twenty five years. The bill
submitting the proposition to the voters was
passed by the New York legislature ten
days ago and has received the approval OF
Governor Flower.
The communities affected are many, but
the two most important are New York and
Brooklyn. The line proposed starts from
Far Rockaway, and running through Queens
county, northerly and northeasterly through
the towns Of Hampstead and Flushing,
reaches Long Island sound at Little Neck
pay Passing through the middle of the
pay, ana turning to include Harris island,
which is already the property Of New York.
II enters the county of Westchester through
the channel that divides Hunters island
from Glen island. Crossing the county, IL
includes the three great suburban parks. and
reaches the Hudson at Mount st. Vincent.
Immediately south OF Yonkers. RunnIns
southerly 1t ends In Raritan bay.
WITHIN these lines are included all OF
Richmond county and Kings county, the
towns of Jamaica and Flushing and part of
Hampstead In Queens; the town OF West.
chester and part of Eastchester in West.
chester county. New York, BROOKLYN and
Long Island city are the cities that would
be included in the charter of the greater
New York.
The first and most obvious reason for the
consolidation, says Harper's Weekly, is the
practical identity of the interests of the PEG,
pie who dwell within the proposed bounda-
ries. Nature has made the three great
tslands-Manhattan, Long and Staten-tho
boundaries of the wonderful bay into which
enters two-thirds of the imports that como
to the country. From the very first New
York has been the center of the active life
that has been lived about these shores. Here
the commerce OF the great community has
been carried on. The ships that have brought
the merchandise of Europe to the new
world are tied at her wharyes; the transac,
tiOns OF commerce have been conducted in
her Offices and banks and counting rooms.
Those who have dwelt in Brooklyn or In
the rural communities Of the neighboring
counties have lived on the toll and trade OF
the metropolis. Year after year this has
grown to be more and more the fact.
Brooklyn has been called the boarding
house, the 'dormitory,' of New York, and
what is true Of Brooklyn is true Of Staten
island and Of Westchester and Queens.
Practically the people who dwell in the ter
ritory which it is proposed to include in the
consolidated city-the greater New York
are one people, having their home interests
where they dwell and their more important
business interests where they spend their
active days. This is the center of the hive,
but it is not the whole hive, and the cens:s
which declares the people living on Man
haitian island to constitute the population
of New York does not tell nor even indicate
the truth. From such a declaration one
cannot begin to determine New York's real
Importance among the cities of the world.
The lesson OF the past history of New
York and its neighboring towns is that an
neXation is inevitable. 1t is the widest
absurdity to maintain separate municipal and
town governments, each with the burden Of
its peculiar expenses, for people who are all
united in interest and who are chiefly con-
cerned, no matter under what local govern
ment they may dwell, in the character OF
the government of the central and largest
municipality where the business of the whole
is transacted. Recognizing the logic of such
a situation, the cities of Brooklyn and
williamsburg were united many years ago,
and to meet the demands OF the northward-
moving people who were provided out OF the
narrow limits of Manhattan island. the
towns of Westchester county lying between
the Harlem and the Bronx were long since
ANNEXED to New York.
Under present conditions 1t is possible
for the criminal classes of New York City
to escape the jurisdiction of Superintendent
Byrnes by crossing the bridge to Brook
Ign, or going to the rural districts of Rich
mond, Queens or Westchester county. The
man whose store is within a dozen blocks
of the city hall should enjoy for his busi-
ness and his dwelling, which may be twelve
miles from the hall. the same police protec-~
ton. His chief pecuniary interest is where
his business is, and consequently he is mora
deeply concerned in the government of the
metropolis than in that of the village or
city where his home may be situated. Tho
consequence is that those who might be
the best citizens in the smaller ommun
ties take no interest in local politics, and
there Is bad government, the government
of the unprosperous and uninteiligent, Of
the people who stop at home, the small re-
tailers, the local bosses, the men to whom
the mental activities and moral impulses
of the great city are as remote as they are
to the dwellers in the hill towns Of New
England.