New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-07
BAUSSMANNIZING NETWORK.

The recent Architectural League discussion OF
plans for new avenues and boulevards In Man
haitian Island may seem tribe academic ana
visionary, but there is great deal OF souhu
sense in the idea that improvements and trans
formations on a liberal scale are necessary IL
the topography Of this city Is ever 10 he adapted
10 the wants OF it's population. The trafnc mas
SO outgrown expectations and turned so IN direc
tons not foreseen that present streets fail either
10 offer adequate room or by their situation to
facilitate the movement Of the stream.
When Gouycrneur Morris and his Commission
laid out the street plan of New-fork at the De-
ginning Of the century they had no conception
of the nature of the present city for which they
were trying 10 solve n problem. They were
leaders of their time and did much more than
plot ont tracts for real estate SPECTATORS lhey
considered the needs Of large city intelligently,
but the large city Of their imagination was not
our large city OF reality. II 1t had been. the
Commission would never have considered park
questions and come TO the deliberate conclusion
that the surrounding water made any extensive
park area unnecessary. Neither would they
have made the avenues so few and so far apart.
Doubtless they thought Of the upper part OF the
island as covered with semi-rural dwellings, and
M its people leading a staid and leisurey life,
and they planned ont streets reasonably well
0tted for such conditions. But what did Gou-
yerpeur Morris know Of Brooklyn In his day
II was n hamlet OF no Importance Had he
Guessed that some day bridges would cross the
arm OF the sea and carry thousands an hour TO
and from Long Island. he would of course,
have provided ways for that mighty current in
stead of contrvng streets which sometimes
seem MS II arranged 10 obstruct 1t. The hosts
that come to the ferries on either side were
Equally uprealized. People were expected 10
live quietly within walking distance OF their
shops. instead OF INDUCING in daily m!grations
OH a gigantic scale.
For this we need not blame Morris Paris ana
London had as little conception of what great
populations and modern industrialism meant
The old London and the old Paris We're even
less fitted than the new New-lork or 1911 Tor
Whit industrlallsm would bring, and New-York
was little better able 10 anticipate the new con-
dition. for machinery and factories and the con
centration which they involve were in their In
fancy. Every great city OF Europe has been
transformed in the last fifty years Ilauss-
mann's work for Paris Is known everywhere
Iondon has the Holborn Viaduct the Victoria
Ernbankment and the underground railroads,
and IL now planning vast system OF avenues
IN cnen IN crowded districts. Great bOulevards
have been cut through the narrow, tangled Old
sfreets OF Rome and Naples. The wonderful
growth of city population in the nineteenth cen
fury has changed the face OF Old ana New
World cities alike, and New-York may wisely
follow the example set In Europe and replan ana
rebuild TO suit modern conditions.
Some day the opening Of streets and clearing
out of congested spots suggested by the archi-
tects must take place, but we fear that New
Workers will be slow to favor any such work by
its present rulers Not that democracy is not