The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-20
OUR CITY, NEXT CENTURY.
COZ. WANING PREDICTS A WHO'LL
CATEGORY or SURPRISES.

-
Te,, Millions OF us, Long Island All Homes.
Manhattan All Towers or Trade, water Used
over and OyCr Again, Mnsbe. Not n Horse
In tho Streets, aud TannhnJ All So"d'
Prophecy was the order of the evening at the
Quill Clubs dinner, held at tho windsor Hotel
last night, and Col. Warning OF street'cleaning
fame was a prophet in chief. not without honor.
Tho subject for discussion was spread out to tho
gaze OF all having programmes as Tho Twen-
ttcth Century City; What 1t May Be, II Man
aged on Business Principles, Calling TO Its Aid
me Highest Scientific, Artistic, and Philan-
thropic Talent"
The first speaker was J. Cleveland Cady, Pres
ident Of the club. who outlined briefly the possl.
Utilities of the future In Creator New York, and
gave way to Col. Warning. Col. Warning said!
"In the nature OF things any remarks on tho
subject OF the evening must be hypothetical. 1t
seems a fair hypothesis, however, figuring on a
normal rate of increase. TO estimate that there
will DO ten million people in this city and the
immediate vicinity before the end of the TWEEN.
tieth century. Long Island, rs l see 1t, will
BE- covered with suburban homes to Its
uttermost ond, all easily attainablo by
some effective method of rapid transit.
And thtr will be homes worth living in, with all
the improvements oven In the case of the poorer
people; not tenements without air. light, or
eanitaJ y arrangements. Everybody who can
ret oG Manhattan Island will. and what is now
Now York city proper will be crowded with
arch ~itectural monstrosities devoted almost en-
tfre.y to business.
such q condition OF affairs will entail tre-
M ,ndous problems. One question that suggests
t~tseifis: How are these 10, 900, 600 OF people to DO
'fsupplied with wateri Tho rivers Of this vicinity
won't DO sufficient. and the Croton watershed
will be only n drop in the bucket. But how IL
we use our water over and over again as we do
nowi Yes. we do use it over and over again.
after It has been rehabilitated by nature. Our
sewage drains into the rivers and floats out to
Pea. Its polluted water Is taken up by evapora-
aion to form clouds. which pour rain upon the
earth. and that rain. filtered by natural pro-
cesses. is the water We use again. In expert.
ments made in Providence with sewage from
the main sewer OF the city / have found that the
Watet of the sewage. after passing through suit.
n pSrel pssSSSEllIIns II ,asteI ess drinkin ToH Natee. iSS op
was L the interested e~xperimenter. the only one
willing to taste the water. Other gentlemen
drank IL without hesitation and pronounced IL
excellent. Perhaps in time. instead of spending
millions on watersheds. the city will furnish com
used to the roofs of the houses. where, received
IN ~cisterns. it may be filtered and purified.
This may seem a chimerical proposition, but
Tbelieve that the other problems will be solved
In ways no less astonishing: Consider the mat;
twenty Years. ago that the esteemed and disni.
fled President OF. this club would be seen spin
ming along on q bicycle After the bicycle comes
the carriage. which is a great con.
t%ribution TO the cleanliness Of the streets. ! be-
lieve that In twenty years you won't see u horse
noble animal who is the source of my greatest
As to the people 70 will make I'D this vast
New York Of the t Jhtieth century I think we
may be hopeful. The city is much better than
It was thirty years ago. and we are going to
keepon getting letter. tApplause.l All the in
dications point that way. We hear a great deal
OF the old-time and recent iniquities of Tam
many Hall, and many good folk believe that tho
old regime will come in with new force II Tam
many gets into power. Not a bit OF it. ZAP
pauseI The people have learned what
good government is. and they won't
give 1t up under any administration.
I've had considerable conversation with many
of the men who control Tamnany, and l tell
you, they are governed by the same aspirations
as we are, gentlemen. They don't banker after
people 10 the controlling power with them.
Some Of them make mistakes: some of them do
wrong; but any man OF them will hold his hand
before he will shock public opinion.
Then, too. we are educating our children
better than we used to, and that makes for u bet
Ter city. Another powerful influence will be
organizations something akin tothe fellowship
clubs which will spring up in every Assembly
district and will discuss the welfare of that i'm
mediate neighborhood. a very much greater
New York will DO a very much better New York.
The thing for US to do Ia to apply ourselves to
tho betterment Of the people. acting on the
theory that a city will have as good government
as 1t deserves" [Applause.j
The subject was informally discussed by the
members. and afterwsrd all present were
brought up and introduced to Col. Waring.