New-York tribune., 1896-05-15
end In the permanent triumph Of the Republican
policy.
DIFFUSION OF CITY POPULATION.

New-York Is sadly lacking In comfortable
homes for its wage-earners. Probably no city
in the wOrld-certainly no city In America
offers them so little In the way OF healthful
and pleasant surroundings for their money as
does New-YOrk The reason for this Is obvious.
and has been frequently remarked, but as yet
no adequate attempts have been made to over
come the difficulty caused by physical conforma-
ton The narrowness Of the Island and the
barriers which have restricted lateral expansion
Of the population have resulted In crowdlng
between the two rivers h0rdes which cannot
properly be accommodated in the space which
they can command The lands above the thick
ly settled portion of the city and the lots in the
more accessible suburbs to the north are gen.
orally held at too high a price for the wage
Garner and are reserved for the homes Of per-
sons Of larger resources. SO the tenement and
the fiat have increased to an unhealthy degree.
and the owners OF homes have shrunk to small
number
The remedy which will restore 10 this COM
munity the normal condition Of society in which
1t Is not unreasonable for an Industrious man
to hope to possess his own home must be found
In the stretches Of unoccupied land across the
East River. There are vast areas there avail
accessible il only the question Of transportation
across the river were solved. With the present
restricted means of communication 1t Is almost
impossible to build rp such cottage communities
as flourish en- the outskirts of Boston, Phla
dephia and Chicago The banker and mer
chant can so TO his suburban home in comfort
able fashion by combination Of ferry and car
and carriage But the wagc-earner cannot so
,i,o 81, Tho fnr for
he needs is the possibility OF being brought di-
rectly within reach Of his work for one fare and
in little longer time than he now spends In
going up and down town. If 1t were possible
for the people in the factories, who now take
long tramps to uptown fats or short ones to
sitting tenements or are dragged along hanging
to the buffers OF cablecars and the straps in
the elevated trains, to take trains which would
quickly carry them TO cottages on the Queens
County plains, they and their employers and
the whole city would be benefited AS It is.
they will crowd here. The great body Of them
cannot he induced to make several changes to
get to such homes. They are used TO the old
way and the new. however much it may be bet
ter, must be made easy for them or they will
not try II.
Nothing but bridges can make this transit
eaSy-nOt the Improvement Oh the present bTluSe
or the building of one new one. but several so
placed that escape shall be easy from different
parts Of the island. and numerous that there |
need be no great congestion OF traffic 10 cause
discomfort and delay. The proposed railroad
bridge over Blackwells Island will be of great |
service In this respect and the Williamsburg |
Bridge will relieve the pressure some, though |
II will accommodate the city population Of Il
section of Brooklyn and relieve them Of the |
ferry inconvenience rather than open up the |
way greatly for cheap suburban homes. Be !
sides it Will be years before they or any others |
can he finished Instead Of planning TO give |
away to private persons franchise for a bridge |
which may or may not be built near Wards |
Island. II would be much wiser for us TO place |
bridges there and elsewhere 10 be built by the |
city, so as to remove the East River barrier as
far as possible from being factor In the move
mcnt of population. No narrow view Of local
interest should be allowed sway. Newio
Is the whole district inhabited by
It's workers and tributary TO IT, As these work
ers nre made more prosperous. more healthy
and more clf-respectng the city Is benefited
both morally and materially. New-York's great
est need Is expansion of its babitabe area. An
nexaton cannot give this. Bridges can.