New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-08-10
1.-THE doom or THIS PROUD CITY.

The words are those which Byron put upon
the lips Of Marine Faliero. applied 10 Venice In
| her ncip!ont decay. To-day they come TO mind
| with scathing potency regarding this city OF
| Ncw-YorL only by prompt and energetic ac-
ton can our supremacy be upheld and the men
| acng end he avcrtcd But those who should
| take such action and who alone cnn take IT..
| prefer II little more sleep. little more SUM
| ber and while they sleep ruin comes near.
| II ,sr are not exaggerated words. nor are they
no gel ones They are we'll within the bounds OF
| fact and they are merely n repetition of what
has been said before n thousand times. until
their momcntous purport has become rs tedious
ms n twice-to,d tale
A report of the Bureau Of Statistics upon tho
foreign trade of the United States il NJ hand
Its most salient feature Is the same as that Of
it's prcds ccssors for years past. the decline o.
exports from the port Of NewYork. That Is
not because OF any general decline of exports
for there has been non" On the contrary, the
bountiful year which closed on June 80. 1898.
saw n material increase Of exports. amounting
10 I73 per cent for the whole country and 11.G1
per cent for the Atlantic ports In this prosper
ity New York did not share On the contrary,
Il suffered loss Of more than per cent since
1897 I'm liz proportion Of the entire exports. and
Of more than ! per cent since 1894. Nor is this
because Of some temporary condition, some
mere fuctuaton In trade. 1t Is part Of n steady.
persistent process. few years ago New-York
had more than half the export trade OF the Ma
ton. Now 1t has little more than onethird In
1894 even, II had jl3 per cent. Ii fell remorsc-
lcssly to 40l per cent In 1896, TO 80 in 1891
and 10 80 | In 1898 Next year II will scarcely
amount 10 - per cent. True. there is, on the
other hand. a gain In Imports. but this by no
means counicrbalnnccs the loss in exports AMI
IL Is really not an actual gain hut merely n
smaller loss than that suffered by Atlantic ports
rs a whole. The total foreign commerce Of this
port. both imports and exports. shows a steady
and not slow decline In It's proportion TO that OF
the whole country. Only "A few years ago New
iorks foreign trade was nearly two-thrds OF
the whole foreign trade OF the Nation Now II
il much less than one half. As late ms 1890 1t
WAS 80 per cent In 1895 IT was 5l.4 per cent
In 1891 IT was only IS per cent. In 1898 It was
only 40 per cent BY the end Of the century it
threatens to he less than 10 per cent.
That is the handwriting on the wall which
tells "thc doom OF this proud city" 1t Is not yet
too late TO avert the doom. and even to regain
some measure OF the advantage which has been
os'. But what Is being done in that direction?
Look at the Eric Canal scandal. the intermina-
bic da willing over the Harlem River and Bronx
* Ills improvements. the suspended animation Of
the North River bridge and tunnel schemes, the
terminal transfer system which seems 10 have
been designed to obstruct rather than TO facili-
tate commerce, the all but prohbitive elevator
charges. the apathy. lethargy. penny wisdom
and pound folly that preva-look Mt these. and
in them read the answer. Ii Is idle 10 blame
the State or the Nation. or to look to them To
take tho iniiaiIv" In relief and reform. True
the State has grossly mismanaged the canals
about * badly rs this city has mismannged its
own local terminal arrangements. The Nation
has been niggardy in It's appropria tons for i'm
proycmcnt and maintenance OF this harbor-as
much so. perhaps. as the city has been wanton
and criminal in its impairment Of the harbOr
But If the city did It's duty State and Nation
could not refrain from doing theirs. Twenty
five centuries or more ago the carter was re-
bukcd by Hercules for clamorlng for help In
stead Of putting his own shoulder to the wheel
Has ihis fin-dc steele city not learned that les.
son yet?