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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 25, no. 636: May 22, 1880

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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 ■ 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,