New-York tribune., 1896-04-03

and 1876 votes against II.
SIMON BRENTANO FAVORS THE BILL.
The Mayors announcement cut of a brooklyn
man who was ready to make a speech ana the
first speech in favor OF the bill was made by
Simon Brentano. who said In part:
In advocating this measure | coniine myseh eN-
c.usvey 10 pointing briefly the ADVANTAGES 'hat
of each of the communities affected in the event OF
consolidation refer to The tire DepitteHtSS ,e
Wrtments and their administration under one cen,
trail authority would be ot direct n,Irs ~ rai 90,
and equally enduring import IN a mihlzne nesie our our
citizens and Indeed, Il has pleaecd our city oiilGals
and practically everybody except those EXERCISING
OF FIRE eNtngushment ana the protection q 'hs
community. cherish the idea thal the CIV? ~,
New-York shall forever be exempt from greatly
Ii is really time to publicly state hat our highest
To- be apprehendcd recognize and always have mat
under certain adverse conditions New-fork may De
community. more frequently than is PERHAPS known.
has been exposed 70 this danger al ana mas a. 1@s or
curing concurrently have gained the mastery. AZ
@ out in operation ouch force OF officers, men and
apparatus that It leaves for long perloi oi iine ne
this condition means a grave hazard and menace.
To obvlate such conditions We nave riSht al hahI
ready capacity for augmenting the strength OF our
own. No city the face Of the globe has within
York ana Brooklyn an array Of such trained nremen
ana their powern sprorstus oar ana % no CITY so sn0
Mr.. Mayor the ultimate protection OF a com,
c'1r oonstan, importance that measure embodyng a
feature which would In 40 large cegree qirccty
interest. should receive the most earnest thought
from this standpoint, aside from any other consider
ations which weigh In this matter
FEAR AN INCREASED TAX RATE
Short speeches in favor of the bill were made
drivers Association: Thomas Cunning. repre-
senting the tailors Of the city. and John II.
Maxwell and thea ex-Assemblyman George p.
| Webster said that the opponents Of the bill ap-
| peared TO be only property-owners. who dreaded
| an increased tax rate ir this city. There was
| similar opposition to the bills for annexing
| portions Of Westchester County. he said. but
| there had been no increase OF the tax rate.
Erastus Wiman made speech which drew
! out much applause. He declared that the an
nexation OF Staten Island would greatly increase
the city's commerce and manufactures, ana also
would supply more homes for the working peo-
| ple The commerce Of NewYork. he said, had
| declined greatly in ten years on account Of the
imperfect methods Of delivery. storage ana snip
| ping At present the merchant receives goods
| al one point takes them by dray to far-re-
moved point for storage and then ships them
| from a third point as equally far removed.
| Buffalo. which is at the small end Of the Ma
tion's cornucopia, receives annually 95.00l.ooO
| bushels Of wheat. To ship this to New-York
. the railroads charge $40 for each 1000 bushels,
! and delivering it they have TO pay SIS for light
! erage. The result is that Boston gets the best
| Of the wheat bargain, because Its lghterage
| charges are so per cent less than those OF this
! city.
| AS to manufactures. Mr.. Wiman said that
| Manhattan Island was not adapted 10 them as
| well as Newark Elizabeth. Hoboken, Jersey
| City and many Connecticut towns on account
| OF the cost Of transporting goods and coal.
STATEN ISLAND AN AID TO COMMERCE.
| The Greater New-York bill would have a
beneficent effect by making Staten Island the
| place where railroads would meet the steam
! ships and there the commerce. the manufact-
! ures and the homes Of New-York could find
| ample room.
| Ex-State Senator Creamer said II was evident
from the argumente presented against the bill
! that the citizens Of this city were the greatest
crowd Of tax dodgers of any municipality OF the
| world II the tax laws were enforced properly.
| he said men living In Brooklyn and doing busi-
| ness in Ncw-York would not be able To escape
| taxation as they now do. and the establishment
| of one tax department for both cities would
have the effect TO lower the general tax rate.
| Mr. Creamer made long argument In favor
| OF the bill. saying that civic pride should be
| paramount to the sordid and more selfish In
| terests OF taxation. II the bill Is approved Mr.
| Creamer said. instead OF Brooklyn's tax-books
| showing an assessment based on $590.OOOOOO OF
| values the values would be nearer 00O.OO0OO0
| Thus would Brooklyn give a dollar for every
! dollar OF benefit received.
| The Mayor then adjourned the hearing until
.. m. to-day.
dor the hearing In Brooklyn. see page iA>