CM
 

The   Record  and  Guide.
 

May 2i, 1887
 

of the public burdens. All this seems to us as unwise as it is dis¬
honest. It is natural that the poor and struggling s'hould endeavor
to relieve themselves from all possible burdens. But the prosper¬
ous rich must not be surprised if a day of reckoning comes for the
class or classes who shift their share of the cost of government
upon the poorer members of the community. There ought to be a
public opinion among the wealthy that would render such conduct
impossible, and would demand that our laws should be so framed
as to make the rich as well as the poor bear their share of neces¬
sary taxation.

---------•---------

Concerning Men and Things.

Jay Gould makes an excellent witness. His manner is hesitating and
his voice low, but what he says is to the point, and he is ready and,plau-
sible. He seems to try and answer every question fairly, and does not
evade questions on the score of lack of memory asjhave Huntington, Russell
Sage, DiUon and others who have been examined lately.

*'*

The confession of Janitor Titus, telling how he killed Tillie Smith, bears
every mark of being truthful aud justifies the Courfc of Pardons in
commuting his death sentence to impi-isonment for life. The people who
propose to erect a statue to the unfortunate girl, on the ground that she
died in defending her honor, will of course impeach Titus's story, for his
testimony is that a criminal intimacy existed for sometime before the
unpremeditated murder took place. Nevertheless, his story is coherent and
circumstantial, and ifc is no wonder thafc the unsentimental and hard-
headed members of the Court of Pardons believed him.

±^ *

Mayor Hewitt commenced wall in trying fco rid fche sfcreefcs of peddlers
and sfcallkeepers, but he weakened when the press began to take the part
of the newsstands. He announces thafc he will not enforce the law against
them, bufc he is very serere on the storekeepers who encumber the side¬
walks with boxes and barrels. In thi < the Mayor is all wrong. NewYork
city depends for its growth on the facilities ifc gives to merchants. Every¬
thing should be done to help legitimate business, and no vexatious municipal
regulations should be permitted to interfere with the trade of the cifcy
But peddlers, apple venders and keepers of news-stands should pay hand¬
somely for the privileges they enjoy or be compelled to enter some produc.
tive employments. People who don't oughfc not to interfere with people
who do pay taxes.

* "^ *

" Rienzi" has not drawn more than half houses lately, and Mr. Lawrence
Barrett must have lost money by his venture. It is hard to tell why this
reproduction failed, for ifc made a brilliant spectacle, and,"lis the central
figure, Mr. Barrett himself was at his best. Last Tuesday evening
although the house was scarcely half full, the curtain was rung up several
times at the close of the second, third and fourfch acts ; yet somehow the
public would not come to see the piece after the first week. Mr. Barrett
deserves well of the theatre-going public, for he is the only one of the first-
class stars who produces new pieces, revives old ones, or wanders from the
beaten tracks.

* * *

The "Pyramid "is what the French would call a success de estime.
Some of the orchestral music suggests Wagner, the vocal melodies are
reminiscent of SuUivan, whUe the general concepfcion of the libretto and
the gags are a clear imitation of Gilberfc. It is about up to the mark of the
average comic opera of the day. The tenor has one really pleasing song at
the beginning of the second acfc, bufc the music generally was not either
scientific or catching. Mr. David, who fcook the parfc of a resuscitated royal
mummy, is an admirable low comedian. His only superior in the counfcry
is Francis Wilson, now afc the Casino. Were he not in the cast the per¬
formance would be voted slow.

* * *

The World newspaper proposes to have a balloon ascension, commencing
in St. Louis, acd which wiU probably end somewhere here in the Easfc. This
is an imitation of the famous Graphic balloon, which started on a voyage
to Europe and landed, affcer being a couple of hours in the air, in Connecti¬
cut, near the New York line.* There was a balloon ascension from St. Louis
some years ago which was quifce successful, for the aeronauts landed on
the shores of Lake Ontario. But baUoon ascensions are no good. They
subserve no scientific purpose and do nothing to help solve the great prob¬
lem of air navigation.

The World remarks thafc something musfc be done wifch the person who
spifcs on the floors of the elevated cars and places his feet on the seats, and
suggests that a cattle car be attached to each train in order to provide suit¬
able transportation for him. Here is an instance which was observed on
the evening before the paragraph referred to appeared. A man dressed in
quite good, though half-fltting, clothes, with a clean collar and big gUfc
sleeve buttons, sat down facing a very genteel and pretty little miss of
eleven, and presently drew a newspaper from his pocket, placed his heels on
the seat beside her, cocked his hat on one side, and began to read, and very
soon, of course, to spit on the floor. The little girl drew her skirts as far
from him as she could, and looked poutingly out of the window instead of
chatting gayly with her mother on the seat before her, as she had been
doing. A person who has lately been released from BlackweU's Island
complains that a man may be put in the dark cell fchere for merely, spitting
on the floor. If there were more dark cells for this offense against good
manners and the public health, our people might not be any longer known
throughout the world as "spitting Americans" and "expectorating
Yankees."

* ' *

It is estimated around the Real Estate Exchange that its income wiU b9
fully $50,000 this year and its expenditures about $30,000, leaying $20,000
available for dividends aud improvements.
 

The New Parks.

Editor Record and Guide:

I respond wifch pleasure to your request for informafcion in regard to the
new parks beyond the Harlem River and the movement which resulfced in
the enactment of the law of 1884, by which this great system of pleasure
grounds has been secured for the people. It is peculiarly fitting and proper
that your paper, devoted to the raal estate business and in favor of every
effort to add to the material growth and prosperity of our metropolis, should
take that active and earnest interest which you have manifested in the
success of the movement.

Although the widest publicity has been given to the subject by the press
of New York, many erroneous impressions still exist as to the effecfc of the
law and the present status of the parks. The Court of Appeals, to which
the question of the constitutionality of the act was carried, after a favorable
decision by fche General Term of the Supreme Court, declared, as you
stated in your last issue, that " the statute itself condemns and appropriates
for the pubUc use the precise lands selected, by metes and bounds, so that
every owner affected had means of knowing that his land ivas taken.''^
And yet, despite this emphatic declaration, one of the last published maps
represents these very tracts as "propossd" parks. Now the term "pro¬
posed" has no application whatever to the case. They are, in the language
of the highesfc tribunal of fche Sfcafce, " taken.'"

This quesfcion, however, has been so thoroughly discussed during the
repeated and persistent efforts made to repeal the law, that further com¬
ment thereon is unnecessary. The opponents of the measure insisted that
the movement was premature, bufc the rapid growth of the city since the
first meeting of the promoters aud friends of the parks, which was held
in the Fifth Avenue Hotel on the llth of November, 1881, pi=ove3 thafc ifc
was not commenced a day too soon. Up to that year there hai been, in
this important matter of public parks, a strange indifference not only to
the future wants, but even fco fche present needs of our population. We
have been far behind not only the great cifcies of Europe, bufc tbe principal
cities of the United States as to park area. Had the wise and generous
policy of De Witt Chnton prevailed when, in 1807, he mapped out a plan
of parks for the Island of Manhattan, there would be little if any necessity
for the creation of small parks, so greatly needed in the densely crowded
districts. If New York could be constructed anew, afc least one-sixth of its
surface might be appropriated for squares and parks with marked advan¬
tage not only to its health, but to its attractiveness and embellishment.

The park area which Governor Clinton laid oufc when the population of
New York was less fchan 100,000 gave a proportion of one acre to every 160
inhabitants. The aggregate was about 500 acres in addition to those
already established, and the total park area, south of 40th street, was
nearly 400 acres. Of one park, the largest, which contained over 200
acres, and which exfcended from 23d to 3tth sfcreefc, and from 3d to 7th
avenue, nofching is leffc bufc the 6^ acres of Madison square; while of the
40 J acres, shown on Clinton's map below 40 bh street, only 66 remain. To
purchase the balance of 334, which have been lost through the negligence
or indifference of the authorities of the city, to remove the buUdings and
to construct the parks, would now involve an outlay of at leasfc one hun¬
dred and fifty miUions of dollars—probably two hundred millions.

De Witt Clinton's parks gave, as sfcafced, an average of one acre fco every
160 inhabifcants. Before the passage of the act of 1884 the park area of our
city was in the proportion of one acre to every 1,363 of the population,
while fche park acreage of London was in the ratio of 1 to 205; of Paris, 1
to 13; of Vienna, 1 to 100; of Dublin, 1 to 183; of Chicago, 1 to 200; of Sfc.
Louis, 1 fco 167; of Bosfcon, 1 fco 190; aud of San Francisco, 1 to 211.

It is evident, therefore, as I have said, that the movement to increase
our park area was nofc commenced a day fcoo soon, and thafc a wise policy
dietafced the selection of a park wifch an exfcensive fronfcage on fche Sound,
which if nofc secured afc once could nofc probably be obtained twenty or
twenty-flve yeai's hence, if at all, for ten times the pi'ice which it will now
cost the city. This park embraces the mosfc desirable portion of the terri¬
tory on Pelham Bay, including Pelham Neck and Hunter's Island. It will
be the favorite suburban resort of the mass of our population—the toilers
of the great city; it will be their Newport. The majority of our feUow
citizens, happUy, is not made up of the very rich and the very poor, but of
the industrial classes, who are fuUy able from their accumulated earnings
to afford many a day (and hereafter they are to have a half-hoUday every
week) for healthful recreation and social pleasure in the counfcry. Of the
tensof miUionsof dollars in the savings banks of New York the greatest
portionbelongs to the thrifty aud provident workers, and ifc is for sueh
fchat Pelham Bay Park, againsfc which the greafc force of the opposition has
been directed, is specially required. It is really one of the mosfc important
of the whole system on account of its water fronfc, and ifcs imporfcance and
value justify special reference to the advantages which ifc possesses.

As the seaside park, and within easy reach by rail and boat of our east
side population, its popularifcy will increase year by year. Ifc is but ten
minutes by rail from the Harlem River and two miles nearer than Glen
Island, and will be a speciaUy attractive point for all the trade and benevo¬
lent societies, for rowing and yachting clubs, for swimming matches, for
fishing parties ; and whafc place so admirably adapted for the many excur.
sions which are organized by benevolent societies and individuals every
summer, and through which tens of thousands who could never otherwise
hope to spend a day in the country are enabled to enjoy that pleasure and
breathe the pure air of heaven?

The wealthy and generous phUanthropists of New York who get up
summer excursions for the sick and poor of the metropolis could find
no better place for the purpose than Pelham Bay Park. A sail up the
Sound would be, in itself, a satisfying pleasure ; bufc how that pleasure
would be intensified, how immeasurably the gain in health of mind and
body would be increased by every hour spent in these tranquilizing scenes 1
How the tired muscles would relax, the unquiet nerves grow calm, the
dimmed eyes brighten and the' plodding step become elastic under the
potent speU exercised by the combined influences of sea and land and sky
possessed by this park in perfection.   Space, beauty and yafiety }  Closed