The record-union., 1898-02-13
IN The METROPOLIS. |I
ss
GOVERNORS ISLAND-A PARK
HARBOR SCENERY.
Arctic Weather-The Poor-Gar-
ment Workers-Snow-St
Features.

Especial Correspondence OF Record-Union.)
| NEW YORK, Feb. THE suggestion
! that Governors Island be made a city
park has brought forth many inter-
esting facts relating to this pretty bit
| of harbor scenery.
| There are very few New Workers who
| have not seen, in fact, who are not
perfectly familiar with the location Of
Governors Island, and yet it is. safe
to estimate that hardly greater num-
ber have put foot on its well-kept and
romantic appearing shores As it is not
only a military post, but the headquar-
| ters of the Department of the East, the
civilian has to secure a pass from the
! commandant before he can board the
Government steam launch which is gen.
orally in waiting at the Battery. Uncle
Sam displays his native shrewdness in
| making these passes necessity, for
otherwise the present transportation
| facilities would have to be doubled
many times before they could meet
| the demand made upon them by an
enthusiastically free sea-ride loving
populace.
/ When one does reach the forbidden
| isle, how ever, he is sure to feel amply
repaid for his perseverance by the
pleasant surprises he meets on all sides;
| for IN spite of the fact that Wall street
| itself is only ten minutes away one
| finds here all the refreshment which
| fresh sea breezes and peaceful rural
surroundings can afford. Peaceful IN
spite Of the frowning port holes, with
their black protruding guns; in spite
of the pacing sentry and the parks of
| glittering brass field pieces. The big
black capnon that look so ominous are
only relics of comparative antiquity, and
the character of their usefulness is best
| illustrated by the fact that a birds
nest was found in one, while removing
| the wooden plug from the mouth of an
other I discovered a quantity of oyster
| shells and soda water bottles, the re-
mains of a former picnic of the officers
families.
| The fort and bomb proofs are inter-
! esting orly because of their extreme
age and serve to add to the picturesque
ness Of the place. The lawns and streets
are carefully laid out and kept in fine
condition by the soldier-gardeners The
view of barbor scenery obtained from
| the island cannot be surpassed. Off
to the right the Battery Park. with its
background of towering spires and Of
| flee structures and thanking it upon one
| side the East River, spanned by the
wonderful Brooklyn bridge. On the
other side of Manhattan the Hudson
and the imposing nights on the Jersey
shore stand out in plain view. Directly
| ahead, and under the muZZleS of the
old black smooth bores before mention
| ed, are the Isles of Staten, Ellis (where
the foreign steerage passengers are
! landed) and Bedloe's, with it's world
| famous Statue of Liberty. Looking
| down one sees the exit to the lower bay
with the more modern Notifications,
| Hamilton, Wadsworth and Lafayette
| lying square and fiat ON either side
| of the Narrows. Added to all this is
| the ever animated panorama made up
by the shipping, steamers and sailing
vessels of all sizes and shapes.
| If public ferry We're established or,
better still, if the briny interval We're
| bridged over, ataettef4 location for
city park could hardly be found in the
| neighborhood of any great metropolis
| in the world.
The city's chances of securing this
property, however,. do not seem to be
very bright. The island really belongs
! to the Livingston family and was loan
ed to Uncle Sam in the early part of
this century as strategic point, with
the proviso that it reVert to the Liv-
| ingston estate whenever it was perna-
| nently evacuated by the troops. The
island lost it's strategic value long ago,
h1lt ha still fharp r,rirni-
pally, it seems, because General Miles
hasn't enough confidence in New York
ers to trust them with treasury
| unless nearby point is fortified and
garrisoned by the regular army.
| The arctic weather which the city IS
| experiencing at present is responsible
| for many a sad tale of woe. The va
rious charity organizations have never
| had their resources so taxed as now.
and their efforts to relieve the suffering
| in the poorer districts are only reward
| ed with partial success.
| Every winter thousands of men, lack
| ing sadly in worldly wealth, leave the
adjacent country districts and come to
| the metropolis in search Of employment,
while as many more, equally we'll off,
the great mass of unemployed already
here The majority of them manage to
survive the winter. though just how It
| is difficult to state. Many turn beg
gars. and one can hardly walk the dis
tance of a block down town without
being accosted by some one with a
pitiful tale of woe, and as far as the
writer's observations can testify. prac-
SC oh aJ Wit
method OF soliciting charity. A scheme
more successful. however, is that OF
committing some slight infraction of
the law and thereby earning a prison
bed and board, and when it comes to
either breaking a pane of glass and
going to Jail. or suffering the alterna-
tive of pershing from cold or starva-
ton, human nature generally breaks
the glass.
The foreign garment-wo workers of the
Ghetto are in their usual state of mid
winter misery because of the customary
circumstances of starvation wages.
strikes, eyictions, homeless families. Sc
we're weather, ETC. 1t is estimated that
of the 1000 members of the local
union, not 10 per cent are employed.
What this means can only be realized
by visit to the Yeddish colony when
one sees the crowds of unemployed men
and the look of gaunt despair depicted
upon nearly every visage. To free them
selves of the misery of the novels
called homes the helpless heads of FAM
lilies resort to the streets, where they
stand in groupes, some stolidly silent.
but others gesticulating and discussing
the situation in that peculiarly rasp-