New-York tribune., 1911-11-29

ent fine collection of buildings were erect
ed There were fifty-threc general and spe-
cial libraries i'm tine city at this time ana
then Andrew Carnegie gave the city So2"'-
OO0 for sixty new library buildings These
neighborhood libraries soon began to spring
up and to-day they dot the city at points
convenient TO everybody.
Columbia College ard the New York Uni
versity more than kept the pace. while the
public school expenditures grew enormous
/ Is. but not fast enough 20 keep UP to the
demand for sttngs.
The original city comprised q rochy strip
Of land sticking out into New York Bay
and known as Manhattan island. II was
about thirteen miles long and from ono to
two miles wide 1t extended northward 40
/ Spuyten DuyYt Creek. In 1874 and in 1893
parts oi Westchester COUNT were taken
I IN. ard in 1888 about two hundred square
miles more were added This took in all
Of Brooklyn. Queens and Richmond coun-
ties and sections o. East Chester and Pei
nam.
+ Tho present territory cf the greater city
in square miles is as follows:
. Manhattan. p; Brooklyn, Co. Queens lSi'
Bronx. 20: Richmond. 81
Tho building Of the four great bridges
across the East River and tho boring oi
tubes under its he'd for the subway system
broke down the natural barriers and made
OF the city a homogeneous whole. Not
ONLY this. but the principal citics OF North
ern New rsey were practically made q
part ~ the city BY the construction OF the
Hudson tubes and the great Pcnnsy!van d
tunnel. What may now be called the met
ro,olitan district OF New York - really
much larger than London. as such cities
as Newark, Jersey city. hoboken. the
Oranges. MOntclair, HGckensack, etc, are
within easy committing distance. In fact
train time TO Newark, city or more thdh
half a million. is only fifteen minutes THIS
is better than from the city lldll to llar-
lem by subway express.
Mighty Things to Come.
The vast new subway system which viii
give rapid. comfortable and cheap trans
portatlon to every part Of the greater city.
o. now i'm actual course of construction. II
will cost about s2)0olo.ClO and probably be.
completed iu six years from date. But
even this wonderful system, which VIII
maxi; the map OF the underground city look
Ike the Roman catacombs a thousand
times multiplied, will probably be outgrown
before IL is completed, making even
greater systems necessary to meet the de-
mands Of a marvellously growing popula-
ton.
New York is growing not merely in lcngth
and breadth. but ia thickness as well.
When The Tribune was founded. seventy
years ago. a building % feet high was a
wonder. To-day there are hundreds ot
structures five times that height, and the
march toward the skies is not yet ended.
The new municipal building, set close to
the old city Hall, at the Manhattan ono
of the Brooklyn Bridge, typides in strik-
ing manner the change from the old to the
new city. The new Wooiworth building
across from city Hall Park. is soon 10
stand as the last word in commercial
structures But who can say that IT VIII
long hold its supremacy? Like battleships
which become obsolete tho DAY after thclr
keels are laid down. the New York SKY
scrapers become old-fashioned before they
are in use year.