The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-12-09
CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
d Lemons Ideas for theBetterment OF our
Future Condition of Greater City
OF Wilmington.

many advantages to be obtained by the
| Improvements made to our natural INLAND
| harbor, the Christiana river, which had II
been done fifty years ago. would have
madc it rank in population and riches
| second to mono On this continent.
| endorse all you have said and am glad
the Star reporter has given you so much
| space and attention and elllogy In setting
forth your views on such an important
! question, not abridglng your views to suit
HIS own caprice, and il you object will ca IL
YOU u kickor. Every man has his own
views and should be helped out with them
in place of being retarded especially
when he is talking in the interest of jus
tice to the whole community. l consider
all tho newspapers of our city ought to
take up with one accord the betterInent OF
our progress on an economical basis and
let politics take rest.
Now, Sir, consider the improvement Of
the Chris lana river is to Wilmington
what tho kiondikc is to Alaska, q gold
mine; you know, sir, that shakespeare
said there Is a timo in the coming of events
when taken at the food leads to fortune
Now is the time, n5t in Il year nr 80 years,
when the present generation will enjoy
thegrcat blessings the improvement will
mako, how are you going to do it? Tho
legislature will meet in another month
Call u meeting of the Board of Trade
which you have the right to do and get
them to pass resolution to have sue.
rossion of mass meetings in your own
room. As the city hall is taken from the
people they have no place to meet in, and
call the friends of the project together
and got up petition of five or ten thou
sand people, which will ensure the passage
of an act to borrow enough money to put
tho project through, If il should take
million Of dollars; it took that much TO
build our sewers and pave our streets, and
after these are done there is no business
to do on them, whereas, the improvement
to the river would bring us back two
dollars for orc in five years aftet 1t was
finished We arc tho greatest people for
having all the new-fangled fads that other
cities get up, know of. such as parks on
every square in our city, and making eN-
pen,ve roadways around them, making
bou!evards and getting tho city to cut
roads through them to bcautify them be-
foro there is a house built on them, in
order to Draw the people out of the city
proper 10 1--we.
Take for instance West street property:
as the houses are vacated by their owners,
thcy fall into di>use and deprcciato . in prcs
10 per cent and more, or they cannot I've
purchase. or rented. For example, ,he
Bringliurst house, Third and West,
the Walter house, next to the Harlan and
Iloliingsworth houses, below Walters.
You have to rent them for boarding houses
Or lodging houses, or let them stand idle.
That don LOOK like u grratrr Wilmington
to racate one part of our town and move to
another part; and the tax is kept upon
them whether vacated, or rented at u nom
inal rent; 1t wuuJd be better to give the
property away under such circumstances.
Its making u codii Ii aristnc .;.ry out of one
pa;t ui our people and II hurdlum oul Of
ano hcrror ion Of our people; there is too
much distinction in that for me.
Now, Mr. lmwton, the Editor has stated
in tho second part OF the first paragraph
that y"u ar the best pc led man on no
advantages of our city. Wonderful isn't
it Allow me to name the next best man.
Mr. II. Ii. Morrison, pre- ilent of tho d, la
ware CONSTRUCTION Company. lle is not
only talker but,a docr, by his works heis
known. What did he ito, pray? Why hu
or his company filled up n picco of marsh
they own On Cherry Island higher than tho
bank that surround, it by seve al feet, they
being the first to give the example in show
ing what be impruv. mont would be.
When iaheu he applied to the Legisla.
ture to have his taxes rcmitLed, but tho
rest of tho marsh owners put iu their pro-
ifSfie,t "rtunbsU, to Uhdlr Shame. Ihe city
ought to have given him gold medal fot
being the fir to oren up such great en-
terprise fo? such alasting benefit to our
city. 1t is u we'll known fact that lands
reclaimed from tho sea are given them IN
fee in all civilized countries OF the world.
WhaG we want is more such men rs II X.
Morrison, then the results of this great
project would bc visible to our moneyeu
men, in place of sending il out to kan-as
to get 7 per cent. in gold to build whole
towns with no single person to claim
them rs their home whrn finished, and in
place of per cent. they get the houses after
they pay for the land and the taxes
against them, or to go into tho project OF
building IL railway out in the desert OF
Alaska to benefit the adventurers of tho
world to get rich in prospecting Attend
to our own home first and the klo ndike
next, for you know there is TO place Ike
home. There is anotacr man will men
ton who isa lllst Ter in the interest Of our
city. Mr. Rosseil in my opinion is smart
and intelligent and conscientious, iio
holds position in tho Security Trust and
Suc Deposit Company. These gentlemen
are Won mated for progression, There
are ,her good men c,lld mention, hut
space will no permit mo at this time.
The Board Of Trade is tho only and proper
place to project such lasting benefits to
our city and the pcopio expect you to do
it.
Now, Mr.. President Lawton, for the
real sslt at stake | will ask you some
questions ~ examples for this mnch need
cd Improvement What made chicago
that VAS dc olatrd by the great contlagra'
ton about II quarter of il century ago
when the whole city was wiped out? They
did not lay down and mourn over 1t,
they vert to work with determination
and appealed to the worlds sympa hy,and
when Mayor Joshua Valentine made the
appeal in the city hall no person responded
until broke the -icnco By giving twenty
five dollars and il l reco'iect, men VINO
were worth twenty times more than gave
the ,me. but there was quite u la 60 sum
raised right ;hric, which | am glad OF,
from tho start they go: at that lime. They
went at it witha will, utilizing their water
ways, the great lakes, by II canal from the
A lan'ic ocean in competition with all
the trunk line railroads Of-ihc west, con-
Meeting in Chicago, 1t has become equal
to ,ho first city in orr country, II not sur.
passing New Inr': IN magnitude and
greatness. I he strides she has madc are
wonderful in thr extreme. She surpassed
Nov York in capturing the worlds fair,
which was never surpassed by either
England or France tho monGyeu centreS
Of the world Chicago builEs 10 her lake,
where her business interests are we
build to the mountains of lennSylvania:
like the Chiuc,o we do everything back.
ward.
What made the great .cty of New
York? Its Gccp sea water. harbor, steam
ard trolley railway sys;cm.
What made EatimOlcY Its system OF
stcrm railroads, trolley system and deep
water channel through the Chesapeake
Bay into their harbur, which Is ussqua,e
basin
harbor, its g cunl and trolley system and
y at r,,n n