Evening star., 1928-10-21

A general realignment of State boun-
daries, including the creation OF new
States and, perhaps the disappearance
of some, is O possibility. Whether or not
the consultations would equal the di-
visions Is uncertain, but any such plan
would be more likely to add stars to
the blue field of the American flag and
members to the United States Senate.
No nation grows according to precon-
ceived plan. At one time in the early
history Of America, Charleston, S. c.,
was as important port as New York
City, and even Alexandria, Va, was
nearly so. Yorktown, Va, now town
of only 500 inhabitants, was an i'm
portant port of entry Benjamin
Franklin, in his autobiography, tells
of a cotemporary of his who refused
to buy dwelling and instead rented
house of lodgings because Of his firm
conviction, lasting throughout his life
that Philadelphia could not possibly in
crease in size, but would dwindle away
and investors in real estate would loSe
1t must be remembered that these
cities were in existence under the
British crown for about the same
length of time they have been under
the American flag and yet the new re-
public was several decades old before
was to be the metropolis Of the West
ern world.
It took more than two centuries for
New York to reach an undisputed place
in the front rank of American cities.
It Is possible that, with the develop
ment of air transportation, some other
city-Chicago, perhaps, or st. Louis
might yet outdistance her.
So State lines laid down generations
ago do not fit as well now as they did
originally and there Is occasional agita-
ton for drastic changes. That other
people in the world besides Americans
are interested is revealed by the fact
that the proposal to make New York
City and its environs a separate State
was the subject of a paper read before
a recent meeting of the British AsSocia-
ton for the Advancement of Science
The erection of New York into a new
State would be the most important of
State line changes. The idea is by no
means new. Fernando Wood, elected
mayor of New York City in 1861, in the
course of his inaugural address, declared
his belief that the city should be sep
arated from the State of New York or,
perhaps, even from the United States
itself, becoming a free city under no
sovereignty save its own as were the
AoAAOuo IL &C NAVACo VI 6uAOpC III cdIl1cI
times.
Louis A. Cuvillier, a New York City
member of the New York Legislature,
introduced bill to separate the city
in 1908. Such a bill has been intro
duced every year since. James A.
Walker, present mayor of New York,
voted for such a measure when a mem
ber of the Assembly.
The reasons are both political and
economic. New York City is Democratic
and because Of its huge population often
elects Democratic governor and State
officers. The rest of the State is nor
mally Republican, usually returning a
Republican Legislature This means a
certain amount of disharmony. New
York City pays an enormous proportion
of the total tax bill of the State and
citizens of the metropolis pay for i'm
provements, roads. public works and the
like, in other parts of the State which
they never use or even see.
The present proposal is to create
metropolitan district. Maps have peen
drawn Of the proposed new State, popu-
lation estimated, and vast amount of
economic data assembled by asSocia-
tions and public men interested in the
project. Jersey City, now directly con-
nected with New York by the vehicular
tunnels, together with adjacent coun-
ties in New Jersey, all thickly popu-
lated, is included. Westchester County,
N. Y: Fairfield County, Conn, and
Long Island also would be included in