The sun., 1907-12-01
FORESGW NEW YORK'S BIGNESS
AUTHOR OF 4 CURIOUS OLD BOOK
WAS a coon PROPHET.
SAnaes Hardie one SS the first tO Set Down
Deliberate Estimate OG the Future
Metropolis Odd Facts and Figures
! About the City Of seventy Years Ago.

NANaes Marble One ~ the FIRST tO Set Down
Deliberate Estimate OG the Future
Metropolis Odd Facts and Figures
About the city Of seventy Years Ago.
A curious volume has been sent 10 THE
SC7g by one who signs himself "A Friend"
and explains that the book was found
recently In the attic of farmhouse in
oorthern New York. where H. had been
presumably since the death OF the owner
AhiTty-two years ago
II describes tho brief day when this WIS
New York IsIand-not Manhattan: when
there were "a large number Of country
seats ON the island which were built in 80
elegant a manner as 20 reflect great honor
on their proprietors"; when by the vast
labour OF hundreds Of cartmsn much Of the
original roughness Of the land had been
removed and the surface srnoothed as far
al vac desirable: when Notwithstanding
the forbidding aspect OF the ground, such
has been the eNertions of our citizens that
the agriculture is highly honorable to
those engaged in it; when the city was
guarded at night by watchmen who prowed
about with lanterns; when strawberry
girls. with their calico sunbonnets. walked
through tho streets selling their fruit in
little baskets, and fat. turbancd. colored
women. with their wooden pails filed with
stesming corn on the cob. sat ON the corners
near the dignifed old brick dwellings which
lined Greenwich street from Battery Park
up TO Thsnp~s street.
It was a day. too. when according TO
tbe chronicler there we're ll2 females.
old and young. who might not have hus-
bands OF their own because there lacked
that number of men 10 90 around-the
III. IN NM IN AM
{. nsles; when there we're 7iiO hogs in the
city. $3.50 meat cattle four gristmills.
three .sawmiIls, three iron works, one trip
hammer and nineteen distiIleries: also
forty-six idiots. 1893 lunatics. 2.OSS paupers
and 1856 persons Of color OF whom six
-Goen were qualified to vote
Yet with these figures before him the
author Of the book peered into the future
and saw New York as the metropolis OF the
Western Hemisphere and pleaded elO-
quently, though largely in vain. for the
Common Council to prepare for the growth
OF the city by providing adequate municipal
buildings and streets and parks.
The book was published in 1927 ~by
Samuel Marks. 63 Vesey street. opposite
st. Pauls Church" The author was James
Hardie. A. NJ. He had written a pamphlet
entitled "A census of the new buildings
erected in this city in the year 1924. &C..
also a number OF statistical documents.
interesting to the Christian. the merchant,
the man Of inquiry Sand the public In
general" That little work, as he called
IL. was honoured with uncommon patron
age. 80 he proposed to publish another
on a more extensive scale Its title page
called IL:
The
DESCRIPTION
OF the
CITY OF NEW YORK:
Containing its population. institutions.
commerce. manufactures. public
buildings. courts OF justice.
places Of amusement, &C.
Harciie said in his prospectus that "tO |
This important work my unceasing energies |
shall be directed till It shall be brought |
TO conclusion, and shall proceed with \
pleasure, in fun confidence that i shall /
receive from generous public an adequate |
compensation for my endeavors TO serve
them
But alasl" continues one who signs
himself -Finisher." 1T pleased the All \
Wise Disposer Of Events to remove him l
from this sublunary state OF existence in /
the midst Of his career OF usefulness" /
So the Finsher completed the job with /
II was a time when New York was Just /
beginning to realize its importance-and |
show IL. Why not? With "A population of /
108 ,O88-it having doubled in twenty years
lea wing an overplus Of u 1856 Mr.. Hardie
reasoned thus
-If we shall merely double our number
during the next twenty years, and this
may be reasonably expected, IL will in the /
year ls45 amount to 332.l 40: and supposing
IL TO increase in the same ratio during the /
twenty years then next ensuing. in the
year 1885 our number will amount to 5s4 $40
Without going into any further calculations
on the subject, IL almost amounts 20 a Ger
hall
war. pestilence, famine. earthquakes or
some other visitation Of Divine Providence,
We shall at the close Of the present century
not only equal but far sIrpass either Of the |
AatiOD. trade, commerce, navigation, arts,
sciences, &c
II is not unlikely that that reference to
q visitation OF Divine Providence was
penned by Mr.. Hardie with great sincerity.
for II was hut three years before that
the city was overwhelmed by yellow
fever epidemic which more than one min
lister and religious layman described as
"a punishment for public sins That
New York had begun its career Of acquisi-
tiVensss 1T that time was indicated by the
description Of the causes Of the scourge
given by Pascal y. Strong one OF the col
tegiate ministers Of the Reformed Dutch
Church. These causes. az outlined by
Mr.. Strong. were the public contempt |
which this city has affixed TO God . Sabbath.
Gods ministry and Gods ordinances; the
iuordinate appetite tor gain which has !
pervaded almost all classes Of the conf
nnuuity, and the love Of pleasure, the spirit
Of dissipation and the general profigacy
Of morals TO which the city has been sd-
dcteI"-and Mr.. Strong and other min
listers continued for some time to predict
that unless the people reformed they would
be yet more awfiIlly punished
But to return to'the argument
When We consider" he wrote, the !
great extent and security OF our harbor.
md that the ingress and egress OF vessels,
even Of the largest aiSe is seldom pre-
vented by ice during the most severe win
ters. and at the same time take into con-
alteration the Immense and increasing
ms ' igstion ~ the Hudson and East rivers,
the vast extent OF fertile regions to the
westward, which must ever pass through
these channels and the great augmenta-
ton Of our trade which will certainly follow
the completion Of the Grand Canal tthaf
is, the Erie Canal, we are lost in astonish-