Year: 1868




Within the space indcated-say six hundred
SCARE miles or little less-this accumulation of
population is. perhaps, impossible; but that the
laws upon which these statistics are based and
the principles of development out of which they
spring will prevail for o quarter of century in
the future, there can be no reason for doubling;
for, with population Of less than six millions,
the natural metropolitan capacity Of the situation
will not have been 30 exhausted as to set bounds
to the onward progress of the city and its SUBJ
cities taken together. The line of the Hudson
will, of course, furnish sort Of natural highway
for the development Of this metropolis northward;
and the time will soon come when Sing Sing and
Yonkers will be simply portions Of one
vast city, of which the Hudson will form the
commercial avenue. As a metropolis considered,
these cities are as large as Paris and in fact, as
large az London was in 183l-though London Is az
old as the days of imperial Caesar; and il tables Of
population be collated with reference to the effect
Of the financial crises Of 1887 1854 and 1857, and
others of lesser note, it will be found that none Of
these have been sufficient to disturb its progress
to any appreciable degree. New York is just now,
in fact, entering upon its career of metropolitan
grandeur, which will no doubt ultimately outvie
the grandeurs of Paris and London; for both Lon
don and Paris are examples Of what is possible in
the way Of prosperity and magnifcence and he
who has never seen either, and whose horizon of
observation has been bounded by New York past
and present as the grandest city and the most
beautiful within his individual ken, may well fail
to discern what New York is to be and with what
splendor it will bedeck itself within the next quar-.
ter Of q century.


IMPORTANCE OF ADEQUATE THoRoUaHFARE.


It is important, therefore, that adequate tho
roughfare should be provided for in the plan Of the
upper part of the city, and that bold and compre.
hensve minds should bring their best talent to the
work. Owing to inadequacy Of thoroughfare
Paris has undergone complete transformation
since ls4s. most of which has been due to the far
sightedness of the present Emperor. Vacant
suburbs have been Incorporated in the city by the
extension of its walls, and have been covered with
magnificent palaces Of business or dwelling trees
have been planted along the streets; elegant
fountains have been introduced; lighting by gas
has became universal; series of broad streets
radiating from the regions back Of the Hotel de
Vile have been opened, and large buildings Of
uniform elevation have been erected upon
them; lines of quays have been completely the
Place de la Concorde and other public places have
been embeshed the Elysan Fields have been
surrounded with picturesque structures, and its
course through the Arc do la Triomphe de fEtoile
to the Bois de Boulogne has been made the finest
thoroughfare in all Europe. The Hotel de Vile
has been magnihcently rebuilt, the Palace of the
Louvre has been finished, the Notre Dame
has been restored, and hospitals, model prisons,
bridges, fountains and arcs de triomphe have been
added with profusion to the improvements within
the Department Of the Seine, making the city ex-
penses under the administration Of M. Haussman
about 200 600 900 francs per year In this metamor
phosis of the capital Of France, all OF which
might have been obviated by adequacy Of plan at
the beginning. The same metamorphosis has
been going ON to q considerable extent in
the lower portion Of New York, simply because
the commissioners Of 1907 placed 400 900 as the
maximum of New York's population within half a
century from the completion Of their plan dslD
and made no adequate provision for the double Of
that number and somewhat more which that half
century brought forth. The Park Commits
sion ought not to stop, therefore, without ade-
quate provision Sor the utmost possible maximum
both OF New York proper and the adjacent cities
and 1t may be stated to their credit that they have
thus far poted by the comprshensiveness Of
mind and cultured taste Of Mr.. Andrew II. Green)
manifested very thorough comprehension Of
what II needed and expected from them.


THE WEST SIDE


has one Of the tracts undor the supervision Of
the Commission, and adequate provision is now
being made for the development Of this tract aad
the extension Of the city westward. The rectan.
gular plan upon which the laying out Of this tract
was begun nfty years ago was based upon an utter
lack Of comprehension Of the needs Of this tract.
The plan was simple enough. mathematical enough,
numerical enough in nomenclature and Hst enough