The chronicle=news., 1913-06-07

ltsoh.6S square yoOt Nhcn " was
soid about ten ycars ago. In the his
cities Of the old world the hixhcS.
values seems tn belong to u property
In Rome. Here l. where u value a.
$3.50 is To be found. and strange To
relate. the plot IL not used for an
hut includes the property OF the
German Embassy. which holds the
Embassy building and It's cxpcnsi,.
gardens. i-riin has property
which sold recently for $50 u square
foot and thereby established u new
high value for real estate In that
city. In Paris the most vaiuabl"
land Is placed at $3.50 n square foot.
Altogether Wall streets real estate
values seem To he In no danger of
iosinE their title to being the high-
est ia the world.
That New York street paradrs ar,
Extremely expensive iuxuTics II n
fact VIII 'ch is being emphasized now
that the opening Of the parade seas
on is at hand. As an example Of
what II costs the city to exhibit to
the public employees is cited the re-
cent parade In which representations
OF various departments took part.
Occupying half n day u has been
carefully figured out that this par
adc cost the taxpayers almost 3l".-
oo0. This parade. made up chiefly
Of members OF the police. firc and
| street cleaning department. To tho
number Of 1859. was about six and
ono-haif miles long. 10 that is cor.
was Just about $4,000 u mile. The
half days wages Of The men In I'm"
account for ssa...i.15. The cca, OF
tho floats and banners that de
scribcd clearly the particular work
of the departments" as the official
phrascd Il. was ap-
proximutcly SlO.0oo. Making allow
ancc for the time that Mayor Gay
nor and various other city officials
spent In the reviewing stand before
the Public Library. the whole cost
Of the afternoon Genes c!orc to ft0,-
900. But the snow was apparently
regarded as being worth the money.
Tffordiny to anyone who watched II
from beginning to end an under
standing OF the city's machinery
that he could get In no other way.
More than that. the entertainment
afforded must be included, for the
departments are vying eagerly to be
something more than helpful and
impressive alone. Altogether there
were 55S vehicles In the parade and
the floats among them were the la It
word In that kind OF advertisements.
As this Is only one of the many par
AIDES to travel Fifth Avenue between
spring and fall. II IL conscrvativcly
ESTIMATED that the cost OF all Of
them. municipal and otherwise. "
close to $l,OOO.OOO n year /.
One of New York's oldest church
buildings, famous In the history oi
the city, Is apparently doomed. Old
st. Johns, one of the buildings OF tho
great Trinity Corporation. built LOG
years ago, II is now announced. must
shortly give way to make room for
! subway extensions and street widen
ings. With it will 20 one more OF
the rapidly vanishing land marks
N famous when what Is now the ccDtc'
of the city was looked upon as being
out in the country. When this ia
nous chapel was erected In 1907 !,
cost the enormous sum for those days
Iof $1.772,S33 and occupied n part OF
the vast acreage known AZ King
Farm on the lower west side OF the
Island which was granted to Trinit!
some 2OS years ago by Queen Anne
This great grant, with nearly mile
of frontage on the Hudson. now
worth hundreds OF millions of dollar.
was then looked upon as being prac.
ticaliy valuelcss. IA waste tract which
hunters used in spring and fall anc
skaters in the winter. For more
than a hundred years the doomed ST
Johns has held Its own In this city
of change. Once fine homes were
! grouped about It and fashionable foil
passed beneath its stately portico
but that was long ago. Once it.
doors looked forth upon n jealousy
guarded green park that was tht
pride of the chapel. but there came Q
day when the park gave way to-
ugly freight depot. Gone with tn,
park are the fine homes and today
the splendid spire Of st. Johns rise.
amid warehouses and tenements
One ancient rite of St. Johns has re
mained unchanged In all the recen
departures. From that chapel o