The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-01
PLANNING FOR A GREATER
NEW YORK OF Is, 900, 00C

sort of orderly scheme which shall
guide us in providing new territory
upon which to pace our increasing
citizenry and to furnish suitable set
tings and conveniences for the varied
expressions Of the city's industrial
life. The growing need for this
widened foothold can be gathered
from a brief review Of New York's
past.
The population of the city in 1900
was only $4,000. Fifty years later the
number OF inhabitants had increased
nearly ninefold, the population at Ms
time totalling 700. 700. In that half
century the metropolis acquired a
growing rate which has remained
fairly constant ever since. for now,
In 1915. the citizenry Of Greater New
York Ia approximately 5000, 900. At
this rate. not counting the calls made
upon us by suburbanites and the
people of nearby cities, twenty-five
years hence we shall have to take
care OF nearly 5000. 900 persons
within our gates.
Are you familiar with the manner
in which the topography OF the fnan-
cial district Of Manhattan has
changed? Broad street. now hanked
by ponderous office buildings. was a
canal in the earlier days OF the muni-
cipality, and upon the banks Of that
waterway stood the finest homes Of
the time. Pearl street Of to-day got
its name from the fact that upon the
beach over which 1t ran New York's
earlier inhabitants used to gather
rainbow tinted shells. Again, the
eastern end Of Wall street formerly.
- now, terminated at the waters
edge. but originally that highway was
half as long, showing how ground has
been made in the interval and the
e~ncroachment upon the East River
broadened.
o later years, In our effort to gain
more standing room and to furnish
suitable dockage for ships on the
North River side. we have built out
ward into the stream until the Gov
eminent. at the instance Of the army
engineers, has wisely called a halt,
and yet our pier facilities are wo-
fully insufficient under normal condi-
lions and the demands for them are
growing.
1.-THE Panama Canal in the near
future will bring to US an immense
measure of oversee tonnage. The
Cape Coo Canal is now directing here
by way OF Long Island Sound a
steadily growing waterborne traffic.
and the intracoastal canal will make
Of the port of New York the prime
point Of freight handling. In the
State we are pushing to completion
That snIanftd nrnia,f tho urant hnron
canal, and by that waterway We are
going to drain in a freight sense sub
stantially the region contiguous TO the
great lakes. and New York will be-
come the forwarding and reshipping
point for the return trade. II must be
apparent that we are wofully unequal
to the calls that will be made upon US
when all Of these trade routes are
operating simultaneously.
LAS matters stand to-day il prob
ably Is not an eXaggeration to say
that lighterage charges and the lack
OF pier facilities for handling cargoes
and freight impose costs in dollars
where improved methods and up to
date apparatus would reduce the out
lay to a like number of cents. Not
only do we want TO better materially
existing equipment. but We should
make 1t possible to provide for and to
hold every shipping interest and every
commercial enterprise that seeks to
establish itself here.
Now l propose to add fifty square
miles of land to Greater New York's
area and port foothold. At the same
time 1t will mean IN addition of one
hlndrad miles ~ nau- yratrnnv Tor
piers, &c. I would place New York
City Hall in the centre OF a really
Greater New York having a radius OF
twenty-five miles, and within that
circle there would be ample room for a
population Of fully twenty millions.
the entire project to be an accom-
plished fact in a pan Of only a few
years.
Yes, this would mean an ultimate
expenditure of a great deal more than
the sum involved In constructing the
Panama Canal, but the returns would
b many times greater than the
original expenditures, swelling the
city's money bags while bringing a
boon to the investing public and untold
benefits to the great municipality at
large.
THE very first work I should recon-
mend would be the binding together of
Governors Island and the Battery
waterfront and then reaching south
ward by reclamation until Manhattan
approached within a mile and a
quarter OF Staten Island. This
would give us an eight mile
waterfront, on the east and west sides
OF this new made land. from which
thousand loot docks could 30 extended
without interfering with the tidal
sweep Of the Hudson River. be-
lleve this initial stage Of the project
could he made ready for the build
Ing Of docks and other structures in
side Of three years.
with this done the Interval between
the Manhattan extension and Staten
Island could be spanned by tunnels.
To-day the assessed value of Staten
Island Is about $50 900, 900, but with
the completion of the neck south OF
Governors Island the property value
Of Staten Island would not fall short
Of $500, 900 900. But there is
thing more than a financial gain and
the winning Of elbow Don for our in
dustrial life.
investigations of the tidal flow Of
the Hudson River, as well as that OF
the East River. have disclosed a dis
ogs~ingly insaritary state Of affairs
n Aar as con,-rn- tre disposal Of the
city's sewage. BY means of buoys
raet adrtft II has heep clea rly prnyad