New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-09
STREET. s1Gys AND NUMBERS.


The mystery of the streets is still unsolveo-
Other cities have solved it without difficulty,
and this one has successfully disposed of PROB
lens of apparently far greater difficulty ana
certainly of immea surably greater cost. But
the simple marking of the streets and NUMBER
ing of the houses still seem TO be beyohd the
ken or power of New-YOrk, and here III thls
,o1atronolis of the Western world the wayfarer
must still find the street he seeks by counting
the blocks from some known landmark anu
when he has found the street he must ma tHe
house he wants by counting doors along the
block from some number which happens to be
in plain sight. If by some strange catastrophe
all the signs and numbers of the city had been
suddenly obliterated it would be bad enough
70 no compeIled to endure such inconvenience
for few days. while they were being replaced
But for the city deliberately to put itself INTO
such plight and to remain in 1t suplnely, WIN
scarcely an effort for reform, year AFTER year.
taxes the limits of credit and surpasses the
bounds of the grotesque. CULVER himself could
scarcely do justice to the situation
We have said there has been scarcely an
oeport for reform A few quasi-efforts have
been made from time to time IN a hail-heafteu
wsy A few years ago. it being generally recog-
nized that uniformity of signs was highly deslr-
able the civ government undertook to see now
many different kinds OF signs it could devise ana
nut nm and in how many different POSITIONS
until there were scarcely two streets hlarkeu
in the same fashion and some OF the signs were
60 foarfuIIv and wonderfully designed that 1t
voc difficult 70 distinguish them from penny
in the-sIot' machines and anti-smoKlng Chill
ney CAPS Seeing, also, that a sign 10 DE use
FIJI ar night must be Illuminated, care was
taken TO nut the signs on unlighted lampposts
and to leave the lighted lamps devoid of signs
+ho
carefully removed though the frames they had
| occunied were left in place as reminders OF
what had been. For the last year the plight Oh
the civ in this respect has been probably worse
than ever before since the days OF New-Afnster-
dam. se4
Recently there have been few more ehoFts
ar ATTEMPTS TO make eforts-for REFORM. lew
| fairly legibIe signs have been put UP mere anu
+bare in Manhattan, chiefly, however, in places
| where they are least needed, Whlle over III
| Rrooklyn there has been a sporadic eruption OF
| those cbeap and nasty little tin signs so dear
| 70 tho FRUGAL heart on tree trunks, fence posts
ond other odd places OF intelligent and ener-
! qetic purpose to give the whole city UNIFORM
| effective and artistic system OF signs. such as
alone would be worthy OF NeW-1orh, we can
| norooiva no official symptom. The best hope for
| = onnears as has so often been the case IN
other matters, in private initiative we note
| that the West End Association WHICH mas
| hitherto shown so fine q public SPIRIT mas
taken the subject up again, in conjunction win
various other civic and commercial ofganiza-
| +ions and if NAV be that thus something VIII
| no accomnlished 1t seems necessary IN TINS
town not only to elect officers to do the public
| business but also to organize societies to prod
| them into doing it. Since such is the case we
must wish these organizations success in their
propaganda, and hope they will not remit their
efforts until every street is legibly marked at
every corner, and every building bears us
proper number, so placed that it will be easily
| Iegible by day and by night