New-York tribune., 1903-05-26
Tgr METROPOLIS.

Tho official celebrations OF tNe -''otH ann
,ersarv of the incorporation OF TINS CITY heELh
to-day. The town which began as UaoIn-
most OF the Dutch West India Company ana ID
1888 obtained measure Of home rule from lne
-.o1,,c+an+ Governor Stuyvesant is now the sec
ond civ in the world. true 10 its beginning III
re nreoccupation with commerce. Even the
,;t4la +ovrn of Amsterdam, In New-Netherlands,
vas COSMOPOLITAN place. and it remains 4
,,e,nono1itan MACE to this day 1t is the third
,,,,oo+ce+ German city in the world. The Irish
bava r,1ed If far more than they ever did Dub
lin I looks as if there might soon be more
Italians here than In Naples. II Is the metrop-
o1;s of +rA InYvs To if are drawn the youth
of xevv England the South and the West. 1t
&c the mecca in the Western Hemisphere OF
-be seeker for fortune and the seeker for pleas
IRE.
This COSMOPOLITAN ana commercial charac-
Ter has been at once the strength and the dan
rar of Neyv-York. Even in the days closely
7rAoe9inc the Revolution it represented Cont
mental interests far less than IT'S neighbors. Bos-
Ton and Philadelphia. and after the Constltu-
non was framed it developed a school OF poll
ticians expert at manipulation. but little lnnu-
entail in the development Of national poHcles-
Today New York, great as II IS Goes not e1-
ercise its due political influence on the rest OF
the country just because of its eommerclaHsm
and cosmopolftanjsrn. It's chief energies are de-
voted 70 business. It does not take time or
possess the unity Of spirit needed even TO safe
euard IT'S own political interests. IN a certain
sense il IS an agglomeraion rather than COM
Ynunfty. It is an aggregation Of communities.
each with its own ideals. and allaost al the
individuals in each first intent Oh making
money It Is the workshop Of thousands who
dwell elsewhere and take no part N its civic
life, the resort Of other thousands who come
from all over the world to spend money or get
# 70 spend elsewhere. Favored By nature with
an une1ceIled situation, rapid expansion has
been forced upon it While other ambitious
towns have been beating drums and trying to
lift themselves by their bootstTaps, New-4ork
has grown almost in spite Of itself. It's rail
roads might discriminate against il. It might
neglect the canals which had brought com
merce 70 its DOORS 1t might seem careless that
there was anything outside itself, still the
stream Of wealth and population flowed IN.
Under such conditions It is no wonder that
New York when set to solve the greatest prob
lem of modern democracy should have succeed
ed indiferently Nothing else could be ex-
pected Municipal government at best puts
popular self-ruIe to the test and here the test
was made with population from the begin
ming absorbed il private concerns and split
I'D into groups without mutual understanding.
Naturally all the evils incident TO the admins
tration CT great cities have been seen in an
! exaggerated form. but the same tendencies
which produced them also developed acute and
/ Independent men ready TO cope with the dan
/ gers, and in the last few years more progress
/ has been made toward solving the difficulties
! Of city government In New-York than any
where else where compare bic obstac cles had To
! be overcome. To-day New-York celebrates its
250th year Of municipal life proud in the con
sciousness that. with all its vastness and It's
Inevitably INFUSED elements II is nearer the
ideal of civic life and has more Of public con
science than ever before.
The rest Of the country sometimes looks with
jealousy and distTust on New-York- II is a
thing apart. Its cosmopolitan life is not typi-
cal Its wealth is sometimes said to be drained
from the veins Of the nation. But it gives as
much as II takes. It's cosmopolitanism has a
good as well as a bad side. II is an inter
prefer Of the Old World 10 the New. From
New-York goes forth a stream Of civiizing ten
dency for the overcoming Of provincialsm and
prejudice So, too from II TO the rest Of the
country 90 the riches Of Europe for the devel-
opment Of new lands The capital Of New
York has been the foundation Of Western
wealth Western wealth comes here to get its
richest returns To the great city which has
grown from Peter Stuyvesants little town the
whole nation looks for leadership in thought
in social life and In all business enterprise IF
its political power is not commensurate with
its general influence, the reason is to be found
n its greatness, which has made it compara-
lively Indifferent 70 governmental favors
While other towns have logrolIed in Wash
ngton with the aid Of the ablest men, New
York has been generally content TO go on fits
own way and pay It's own bills