Real Estate Record
AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.
Vol. XXV.
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1880.
No. 636
Published Weekly by
TERMS.
ONE YEAR, in advance....SIO.OO.
Communicafciona should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET,
No. 137 Broadway
THE NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR AND THE
MANAGER'S RESPONSIBILITIES.
The random suggestions made, for some time
past, by self-appointed commifctees in regard to a
New Yorlt World's Fair, are at last crystallized iafco
something tangible by the enactmenfc of a Congres¬
sional Law creating a corporation charged with
carrying to a successful issue fche greafc enterprise.
The names of gentlemen who aefc as incorporators
are, by a large majority, those of public spirited
citizens, whose entire aim and purpose ought to be,
and will be, we hope,|the increased grandeur of our
own Metropolitan city. Those who cannofc devote
time, energy^and brains to this vast project, it is
fondly hoped, will be requesfced to go to the rear
before many steps in advance have been made.
The cifcy of New York cannot afford fco have a medi¬
ocre universal exhibition, it musfc be excelsior, like
the State in which it is to be held, and must out¬
rival all those previously held. Anl, in order to
make ifc so, no time musfc be lost. We are a very
fast people, but in order to do this work thorough¬
ly, so as to reflect honor upon our city and stimu¬
late manufactures â– throughout the country, work
should be begun afc once. Three short years pass
by very rapidly in thia era of the Republic's exist¬
ence, and the material benefits to be derived from
a successful universal exhibition are so multitudi¬
nous that those authoiized to nurse fche plan from
its very inception can well afford to devote their
besfc talents and their entire time to the cause. Ifc
should be remembered thafc the Paris Exhibition,
the second one in the line of World's Exhibitions
held since the one originated in London, by the
lats Prince Albert, created almost a revolution in
the industrial pursuits of England. Strange to
say ifc waa found there that while the Continental
nations had made rapid advance in manufactures,
the artizana of England had stood still during the
previous ten years.. When ifc was then ascertained
that the French and Germans had been educating
their working classes by industrial schools, Eng¬
land at once followed their example, and the result
was, that at the Philadelphia Centennial, fche excel¬
lent progi'ess made by English manufacfcurers be¬
came at once noticeable. A generation had passed
by since the previous competition, and the interval
of time had been taken advantage of to recover
ground previously lost. These are, among others,
the lessons taught at universal exhibitions. Na¬
tions there ascertain their shortcomings, and now
that ifc is universally acknowledged fchafc these
United States cannot only depend for their perma¬
nenfc prosperifcy upon agriculture and commerce,
but must also foster, and keep on fostering, manu¬
factures, the importance of making the New York
World's Fair soihething more than a noisy jubilee,
will at once impress itself upon the minds of the
projectors. It should be, as it ought to be, the great
competitive arena upon which the industries of the
world are to be engaged in an earnest contest for
the crown of superiority. America may not suc¬
ceed in securing that crown, bufc the very defeat
will amazingly help our industries hereafter and
teach our artizans how to work better, and manu¬
facturers how to sell cheaper. The time will come
iu a very few years, that we must take a stand in
the neutral markets as a great manufacturing
people, if we afc all care to add to our resources,
now mainly dependent upon tho soil. No better
school, no better stimulus for such a status can be
devised than this Universal Exhibition. Lei all
persons then engaged in this business not under¬
rate tha task they have taken upon themselves, nor
fritter away their valuable time by matters of minor
importance. We have heard rumors, for instance,
that the committee chai'ged wifch selecting a site
for the World's Fair may possibly not report until
nextfall. This is all wrong. It should be selected
before that time, and that, too, with the least pos¬
sible delay. Ifc will be generally admitted that a
New York fair should, to say the least, be held on
Manhattan Island. This preliminary question
being settled, there are bufc very few spots to
select from, whether in the Central Park, Morning¬
side Park, at the Terminus of the Metropolitan
Road, or on the New Parade Ground about 205th
street, is all the same to us; but settled ifc must be
at once, so that the City Governmenfc not only, but
private individuals, may take advantage of this
year's summer weather, and make whatever im¬
provements the emergency requires. Delay in
this instance will bo detrimental to the interests
not only of the West Side, but the entire city of
New York.
In this connection we ought to state that some
public-spirited citizens, who have fcaken a deepin-
teresfc in the preliminary organization of the fair,
do nofc look with despair, aa others do, upon the
financial side of the enterprise even in the absence
of a Government subsidy. They claim thafc fche
citizens of New York, alone, if called upon by mer¬
chants of standing, will themselves contribute out
of their own pockets all the money required for the
proper organization and maintenance of the great
Fair. They themselves feel, as others do, that
whatever the outlay, even if not paid back to them
in the same amounts, ifc will be refcurued to them
iu some manner or other, with interest, by the
millions and millions of people who will, owing to
the World's Fair, consider New York not only as
the gay metropolis of the country, conducive to
their temporary happiness, bufc as the great school
for their permanent prosperity.
been done. The clouds of dust have turned this
beautiful spot into a veritable Sahara, and have
made ifc anything bufc the paradise upon which
New Yorkers were anxious to pride themselves.
Two of the Park Commissioners claim fchat the
paltry sum required for sprinkling and rolling
this drive can be easily taken oufc of the regular
fund, bufc two others oppose this. Ifc was believed
at flrst thafc ifc was fche question of patronage that
caused this deadlock, as the owners of eight water
carts, sixteen horses and a dozen drivers or so,
have a direct or indirecfc voting power not to be
sneezed afc by ordinary politicians. We are credi¬
bly informed, however, fchafc this cannot be the
cause of the trouble, as an old puecedent, which has
never been ignored, divides the patronage of the
Department among the four commissioners, thus
securing to each of them two carts, four horses
and probably one full grown driver. We rather
incline, therefore, to the belief that nothing but
stubbornness, growing out of the presidency ques¬
tion, stands in the way of the proper management
of the Park. How long the property owners aro
going to atand this remains to be seen. The com¬
missioners to-day virtually occupy the position of
the barriers, which an indignant crowd hurled
down^the embankment during the midnight hour.
The question to be answered now is whether the
Park Commissioners will eventually be doomed to
share the same fate of the obstructive materials,
which so long defied public sentiment.
THE BARRICADES REPLACED BY LIVING
OBSTRUCTIONISTS.
It will be seen by a communication from Mr. C.
R. Roberts, ono of the leading owners of properfcy
along Riverside Drive, fchafc notwithstanding all
efforts on his part and others associated with him,
the great drive continues to be neglected by those
having control over the same to the detriment of
the public and private rights. Like veritable
demagogues, the Commissioners, week before last,
made a show as if they were disposed to do some¬
thing for the property owners, but, beyond asking
the Board of Apportionment for a sum entirely
unnecessary for the work in band, nothing has
SUSPICIOUS LEGISLATION.
There are now before the Legislature two meas¬
ures which, considered upon their simple merits,
are really called for by the constant growth of our
city and the increased demands to accommodate
travel and traffic. The West Street Improvement
bill, as well as Senator Strahan's act in relation to
elevated roads, are but the mere outgrowth of a
steady but irresistible demand to make the most of
this longitudinal and narrow island, and enable ifc
to furnish all the room and all the convenience for
thafc vasfc amounfc of shipping of merchanaise and
moving of passengers called for by the increased
traffic ot the city. Nobody denies thafc West streefc
should be widened; nobody begrudges the elevated
roads the task of combining their East and Wesfc
Side branches, but the modus operandi, as set forth
in these two bills, deprives them of the support to
which they would otherwise be entitled. To give
the present owners of Wesfc street property so
much additional" land under water" at a fixed sum,
regardless of the wishes of the Commissioners of
the Sinking Fund, looks too much like a gigantic
job, and hence we are not surprised, fchat with an
almosfc unprecedenfced unanimity, the loading offi¬
cers of the corporation of Neiv York have sent air
emphatic protest to Albany, so as to prevent the
passage of the till. To change the license held to¬
day by the elevated roads along Battery Park into
a grant not revocable by the Park Departmenfc is
also a piece of uncalled-for legislafcion, ruinous of
the city's rights, interests and dignity. There cer¬
tainly can be no question that the authorities of
the city of New York should be left free to control
the streefcs, parka and river-front of our city, with¬
out any dictation on the part of the State authori-
tiea. If improvements, like those mentioned above,