Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-02-15

!, Patriotic Opportunities Of Which New
York Has Not Taken Advantage.
The duty Of naming streets III New
/ York devolves upon the board Of alder
men. The duty Of numbering them de-
wolves By law upon the dspar tment Of
public works. Thoagh there has been Of
late years no 1nolesfation Of New York
aldermen by the Albany legislature as
respects street naming. while other lu-
ties aud RESPONSE hilities of the aldermen
have been interfered with, the city S
Legislators do not tronble themselves to
any great extent with this matter, act
ing only On petitions submitted by per-
sons in interest.
1t is very different with the munich
pal bodies ID other large cities, especial
~ on the European continent and in
South and Central America, for they
are constantly making alterations, to
] the great confusion Of travellers. in street
manner, and the municipal council of
Paris may be said to excel in this re-
spect, perpetuating the memory of sci
entists. warriors. hnanciers and navi-
gators and recalling certain anniyersa-
ries and distinguishing certain localities
by the names of streets. The council
changes the names from time to time as
the fancy seizes them and refuses, as
was recently the case with the proposed
Alexandra Dumas street, to assent to re-
quests which might seem to have the
warrant of precedent in the case of 9TH
err distinguished residents of Paris.
The New York board of aldermen and
its predecessor, the common council,
seem to have acted generally on the
principle made familiar in some retail
shops by the sign, eff you don't see
what you want, ask for it. = If, there
fore, any person or persons wish to have
new name given to a street, they petit
tioD the common council or board of al
dermen to that effect Otherwise the
street names continue as they are. The
owners of farms in ancient New York
which were cut up by streets have been
officially remembered. and some gener-
ais who took part in Revolutionary
struggles have had their fame perpetu-
ated too But few geographical locali-
ties are reproduced in American street
names, and some of the founders of the
American republic have been totally ig-
nored.
The first vice president of the United
States. who was afterward the second
president. and was besides one of the
signers of the Declaration of Independ-
ence and American minister to Eng
land, John Adams, has no street named
after him in New York city Martin
Van Buren,, the eighth president Of the
United States and the first president
chosen from New York, was not consid-
cred in the choice of street names here.
There is Lincoln avenue, it is trne,
and a Grant avenue as well, but no Lin
coin, Grant or Garfield street, and the
other presidents of the United States be
tween William Henry Harrison and Alb
raham Lincoln are not considered de-
serving Of having either street or an
avenue called after them. No reference
appears in New York street names to
the chief battles of the Revolutionary
war or the best known American vic
tories over the British arms in the war
of 1912. In all western and in some
eastern cities the triumphs of Union
arms during the civil war are perpetu-
ated in street names, but New York is
an exception. There is no Atlantic street
here, Notwithstanding that New York
is the great western port of the Atlantic
ocean, there is no Pacific street either
The choice of street names seems here to
have been Oh q sort of go-as-you- please
basis New York Sun.