New-York tribune., 1897-01-18
VEWyORK HlRBOR IMPROVEMENTS.

Americans do not relish being told they are
slow and behind the times. They prefer 10
reckon themselves the most enterprlsing and
progressive people in the world Yet the lat
fer totteripy unction is sometimes undeserved
and the former indictment Is found to be
true bill. For proof Of this il Is needfnl I"
look no further than 10 the harbor Of New
York Every schoolboy for several genera
tions has been taugh: that II Is one Of the
largest. safest. most beautiful and most COM
modious in the world No doubt that Is true.
But It is equally true that it has long been
one of The most neglected and abused. Thou
sands of tons of street sweepings have been
dumped into II, until it has In parts become
dangerously shallow. Piers and bulkheads
have been n wonder Of the world for ram
shackle wretchpdness. comparable only with
the narrowness and vile paving OF the ada
cent streets That In spite Of these and other
like handicaps NewYork has attained ana
maintained her commercial greatness is a fine
tribute TO her good qualities. But what might
she not have become had she improved her
natural advantages to the full. as Hamburg and
Liverpool have done. and had the era OF better
things. now happily begun. had its commence
ment and elimination long ago:
Another feature Of the ease. often. but not
too often, touched upon, was again brought 10
mind by the trcnchant and suggestive letter
from Mr. StOughton. the veteran agitator Tor
Harlem River improvements. which was print
ed in The Tribune few days ago. Complaint
was made in IL of the sOwness with which
works of nestimable public importance are car
ried forward Seventy years ago DE Witt Gin
ION MANNED to make the Harlem River and
Kills a link in the great waterway from the
Lakes to the Atlantic He saw the advan-
tages of n short cut from the Hudson River
~ the Sound. and the fitness OF Port Morris
70 be a great deep-water harbOr. lie saw too.
that such n route would one day he necessary.
to relieve the congestion of traffic in the lower
rivers and Bay, and that il would ultimately
he in the very centre of the metropolis. as ii
s tn-lov But he died with his vast designs
unfinished and unfinished they still remain.
The Harlem River CaLal has dragged ar
snoils nocc for wears and is still far from COM
nletion. while the equally important Harlem
Kills Canal has scarcely been begun Yet
whiIc these works have Jagged. others else
whore have hastened to triumphant completion.
The Suez Manchester and Kiel canals, and
the IIoosac and Mount Cents tunnels. are nen-
Toned by Mr. Stoughton, by way Of contrast
nnfavorable 10 New-YOrk enterprise: and he
might have added many more instances.
But would these works pay? That Is the
question asked by the douDter and the sceptic
The answer may DO made with confidence:
Yes. "A thousand times Men said the Suez
Canal would never pay; but its stock Is now
worth five and a half times its par value ana
jts receipts are over $lJ.OOOOOO year. ana
steadily increasing. The Manchester Canal
was laughed to scorn. but It's success is now
established and assured beyond all cavil. The
Kiel Canal men said. would be little used, eX-
cept in time of war: but in the first year or us
existence il was traversed by 1854 merchant
vessels of JOI9S3 tons. Or to take an exam
ple nearer home the Erie Canal was rdculed
and condemned unsparingly at the time or It's
construction as fit only 'to bury its mad au-
thor in" 1t could never be constructed, and II
constructed would never be used, and if used
would never pay. Yet for more than hai1 Il
century it has been vne Of the greatest sources
of the commercial prosperity OF this state ana
city. of which fact the people are so well as
sured that they have recently voted to spend
millions of dollars in enlarging and improving
il. Surely these facts should be ample warrant
for proceeding promptly to the completion of
Clntons imperial scheme and for creating. III
the very centre Of the Greater New-York an
other harbOr. directly connected with the vast
system of inland waterways, and capable Of Civ
ing easy entrance and cOmrnodious hospitality to
the mercantile naves of the world. To do so
would be small task. compared with the
works done elsewhere for smaller cities and
for smaller interests. Not to do so would be
to incur the reproach either Of lack Of enter
prise or of lack Of faith in our own CONNER
cial future.