New-York tribune., 1897-01-30
GREATER NEW-YORK CITY.

FINANCIAL CENTRE OF THE AMERICAN
CONTINENT, RANKING NEXT TO
,oxDON-FOUR MILLION INHAB-
ITANTs WILL GREET THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY.
CONTRIBUTION OF A coMMuNITS-LoViN' fEo-.
,,r ro THE GREATNESS OF THE METRop-
o5Is-oNE THOUSAND MILLIONS OF DOL
LARS INVESTED IN MANUFACTURE
ING ENTERPRISES EMPLOY
ING MORE THAN HALF
A MILLION PEOPLE.
Does anybody know how much money Is IN
.s,sa in business in Greater NewYork City?
leading official of one of the big mercah'ie
ssncies was recently asked if there was any
.ossihla way of getting at the amount or capltai
.os+od in business in the Greater New orK
us looked at the questioner for a full instant.
nc though inclined to doubt his sanity ana 'heh
replied sententiousy:
you find out and tell us. and 1t Will be money
IN YOUR pocket. for we will pay, and pay p'g' lor
iust that information.
r,nor, such as has been put forth in the pro-
,n,ion of the present Tribune supplement
,rorks toward this end. although 1t was not
originated with any such object In view. The
deeper the knowledge acquired from more or
loss diverse investigation Of the Greater New"
Works interests and her manifold resources
,he more is ones respect for bewildering figures
increased and while it is possible 10 follow
some departments OF trade TO their legitimate
lines. where
secretive faculty of men has been exercised, the
mower of the denominator" is so increased that
speculation runs riot with figures and the fig
ures themselves outsrip the feetest and most
sanguine imagination. This is as regards what
may for convenience be called direct capital
that is capital belonging to the city by reason
Of resident ownership. Indirectly, the unknown
quantity is still further enhanced. for nearly
every important corporation in the United
States has one or more representatives IN Orea'-
or New-York Not alone that. but foreign busl-
ness houses and foreign interests have their
renresentatives here affecting not only the COM
,nercial welfare of the city, but throwing out
lines of Capitalization that bring subsidiary en-
terprises into the most direct and prohtaole
contact with the metropolis. drawing into her
already overflowng treasury millions upon MILL
ions more until it can truthfully be said that
upon her success depends the success or the
Republic 1t is true of Greater New-AorK as
of no other American city that as goes New
York so goes the country. OF course, TINS state
,nent applies commercially. There have been
times when it may have seemed as though the
application were permissible along other lines.
but that is aside from the present purpose.
London and New-York are the commercial ana
financial centres of the world, and among GER
tain well defined and better understood class OF
political demagogues the chance listener yer!
often hears the phrase, Wall and Lomparu
Streets" used in a revolutionary temper, as
though IL were not matter for every American
citizen to be proud Of that outside OF elmer
Lombard or Wall Street the English metropolis
and her republican sister the leaders OF the
world in all those things that make for higher
civilization, whether in the arts or sciences OF
in the never-ending list OF life's necessitles.
They utilize more capital in a legitimate way.
They give employment TO more people ana con-
senuently pay more in wages TO the masses OF
their population.
New-York is the financial centre Of the coun-
try; but in a writing of this nature il seems a
perfectly proper proceeding to treat o. the in
,erests involved from the standpoint OF Greater
New-York aside from any charter legislation
or any argurle:.t lpon Greater New-York as