New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-07-20
|NEBR|ATES' COLONY SOON
Approval of DurIand Farm Pur.
chase Makes Plan Feasible.
BOARD is A YEAR OLD
DR.. Morrison Tells of the Dltfi
culties Met in Acquir-
ing Site.

| New York is TO have the first colony
for inebriates in this country and the
! finest in the world, when everything Is
finished, according TO the plans hanging
in the office Of the Board of lnebriety, at
No. 800 Mulberry street.
The action taken by the Board Of Es-
innate and Apportionment this week al
lowing the purchase of the Durland farm
for the colony changes the carrying out
OF these plans from distant goal TO an
immediate task
DR.. William Morrison, secretary OF the
Board OF Inebriety, confessed to The
Tribune reporter yesterday that the heat
was not the only thing that gave him q
queer feeling this week. There is sort
Of blank sensation that follows after the
end Of long sustained effort, and the
board has been searching, inspecting and
arguing about sites for this colony so
long that It takes a little while for tho
realization OF achievement to penetrate.
DR.. Morrison was induced TO interrupt
his work Of planning the next part OF the
campaign long enough 10 tell the reporter
the history OF the boards activities so
far.
Just a year ago." said Dr. Morrison,
I'VE were appointed by the Mayor to UNI
dertake this work. The board consists
Of Thomas J. Cotton, Father Hughes, Dr.
John Dorning, DR.. William Brown and
myself. while Commissioners Drummond
and whitney are eX-otfic!o members.
No Funds at Start.
ON the beginning We found ourselves
a sort Of sidewalk commission. with no
| money, and II was not until December
! six months later. that We came into pos
session of any. But we were not idle.
+ We got our Offices here furnished on
credit Il assure YOU there is nothing to
smile at in thaD and we started real es-
tate agents looking for place 10 put our
colony. We did quite a lot Of looking our
selves. | remember one day when We
borrowed q bridge automobile from Com
missioner O'Kecfe and traversed Orange
County. We made 20 miles that time. he
sides getting lost. ! said I suppose St.
Anthony had too much TO do. Just then
10 keep US from losing ourselves.
After three months we selected tract,
Hilltop Farm, in Orange County. bat IL
didn't do much good TO select u because
the owner doubled his price and we had
to abandon the plan and begin ali over
again at the beginning.
THE next place we picked out was On
Long Island. We recommended tract
at Hauppauge, and this time the recon-
mendation got as far as the Controllers
office. and then he refused 10 paFs upon Il.
After that we chose 2 tract at Stony
Brook but with the Same result. Then
the Controllers office suggested a place
at Smithtown, which IN due course this
board agreed TO recommend. This pro-
posal got az FAR as the Board OF Estimate
and Appointment before Il came 10
grief. u met opposition there rom Mr..
McAneny because Of the price OF the
land, and also because some Of the people
In smithtown didn't Ike tho Idea Of hav-
ing the colony for neighDor.
"A bill was introduced I'm the I,eg.sla-
ture 10 require the consent Of the town
board OF any town In which the city pro-
posed to locate the colony. This bill kept
me occupied for a while. but We defeated
IL in the end.
Smithtown is Abandoned.
After that, In March. we gave up the
idea Of Smlthtown and went back 10
Orange County TO look over the Durland
farm of so acres After long delay and