New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-17
NO MONEY AVAILABLE.
any On THE NEW EAST RIVER BRIDGE
MUST BE DELAYED.

DEPLETED TREASURES OF THE TWO CITIES '''
spoxs1BrE FOR THE HITCH ACCORDING
TO AN orFICIAI~-BoNDs FOR THE
BRIDGE NOT SOLD.
. surnr,sinR statement was made yester-
So, nv an official high in authority IN the ne"
ros, River Bride Commission that the s'rue'-
10 cannot possibly be completed WITHIN the
Go wears calculated to he necessary for ''s
oorstruction The fault lies not with the en-
~,,aers or with engineering difficulties out sore
= with New-York and Brooklyn In their ma
hr,,v 10 raise the necessary money "i'h'h
.oo- or possibly two years OF the pres'rioeu
,ra The work has dragged from the Deei"-
,,s because there Is Insufficient money OH
.o,d and no means Of raising more anu ""''
'.., continue until the treasures Of the two
.,.ss are replenished by the sale OF nonus To
ten, ~ $4,000 O00. the estimated sum for
,,o bunding and completion Of the bridge were
w. money available at the present time work
lid NOW be prosecuted on the Brooklyn sue
~. r,ver hut unfortunately nothing can De
80 over here for another year. The hrst ac
49,, work 10 be done on the superstructure WI"
=. heo,,n on the Nev-Yo.'; piers. On OCTOBER
- h,ds now being ad, rtised for VIII he
=, 4, tho New-York office for the tounda-
"a masonry superstructure, 10 cost APP
r-oximately 100000
~, ,oorev * not on hand. When 1t VIII De
:. ,ho question which is oothering the New
", civ administration at this time.
NJ. o5,.srtjsng for bids has just brought out
.,no,eosant fact that $4,000 of the bridge
Ids which Controller Fitch recently onereo
,o- Gale IN New-York arr yet in his possession
ouat,,ng takers Controller Fitch thought ne
nod sod the bonds until the broker who maze
the hid threw up the contract. and as the STORY
zoos the Commissioners were NOT aware OF
this fact until they called for the money An
o,ber distressing circumstance in this connec-
ton Is the fact that the bonds went begging 10
the extent that President Uhlmann. OF the Brook
,vn Elevated Railroad and the head or the Oh'-
mann Syndicate took 100000. purchasing thei"
with a portion OF the money paid for the r'Sht
~ xav which he and his associates had obtained
possession Of long before the proposed bridge
had become settled fact
Rrooklvn in It's financial aspect as 1t relates
N the bridge is I'm a worse condition IMAM New"
York According to the bridge oifcial 'here II
M nosslhle hope for this city to raise us snare
~ the bridge cost until consolidation becomes
., assured fact and the Legislature sets the
.ohi,orv NJ the greater city In motion. And
in the mean time the work. which VIII cost twice
80 much as that on tn. New-York side and will
,oka longer must worry along as best II can
7, ,s interesting to note in this connection that
even with all its poverty Brooklyn has provided
N-3Ooo 50 far-a sum several thousand dollars
greater than the city across the bridge mas COL
,ec,ad for the purpose In speaking further on
NE subject OF finances the official sald'
go Ear as I can see. there is no possible hope
,- this c,.y 20 raise it's share until we are con-
,;;da,ed AS every one knows. the tax levy Is
exhausted and bonds cannot now be sold for the
rn-noee the recent offerings here and in New
York for that matter showing this clearly
think that after we have one government for the
Greater New-York ii Will be an easy matter 10
raise the money on bonds. But the great COM
plant is that the bridge cannot be built in five
wears II Is unfortunate. for the need OF the
bridge is great and until ii is built the Eastern
District cannot possibly expand in the way it
ought after we are one city. AS | said, the bur
den Of its share is too large for Brooklyn alone.
Look at her taxes-1O per cent valuation. against
~ per cent for New-York. Money in New lork
. nor cent and over here 8 per cent. The situa-
tion is that nothing can be done until after jan
uary l. 1898. as the machinery of the greater
city cannot by law be set in motion until that
time and II will be several months after that be-
fore the bonds can be sold ana the money Hldue
available for rapid work
Work on the New-York towers must be begun
within ten DAYS after the signing Of the con-
tract. and must be completed within fourteen
months from that time. The north calsson VIII
no ~ feet below high water. and the south Gals
son 60 feet below high water. Each caisson VIII
be 6Ox76 feet and from 20 TO 20 feet high' sur
mounted by the masonry piers. The material
involved will he approximately l.WoVVo feet OF
timber $50 tons Of iron. 5000 yards OF concrete
and 10000 cubic yards of masonry. The con
tractors Will BE- cCn }elled 70 give BOND for
S1o5 nDD for the faithful performance or the
work.