USA > New York > New York in the nineteenth century. A discourse delivered before the New York Historical Society, on its sixty-second anniversary, November 20, 1866 > Part 8
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Photographers
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Stone and Marble Cutters
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Teachers and Student -...
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15.522
24,240
19,666
17.394
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15.996
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Printers
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wacksmiths
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Carvers and Turnere
39.9.
* Closed during part of the month.
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APPENDIX.
MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSSOCIATION.
The number of volumes added during the past year was, By donation. 150
By purchase .. .8,950
9,023
Of which, were
Folios and Quartos
6.5
Octavos.
.3,080
Duodecimos 5,858
2,023
Less duplicate volumes sold. 1,071
Net increase of books 7,949
Number of volumes in Library, as per last report 73,175
Present number of volumes. $1,124
The additions are of the following classes :
Theology 111
Mental and Moral Science, and General Literature 617
Political Science, Law, etc.
History, Biography, and Travels.
1,207
Natural Sciences.
62
Medicine.
49
Useful Arts.
85
Encyclopædic
4
Fiction. 6,593
9,023
The number of volumes delivered from the Library was 118,812
From Up-Town Branch. 56,110
From Down-Town Office. 23,200
Total. 178.215
NEW YORK SOCIETY LIBRARY.
This Library now contains over 59,000 volumes, and its annual re- ceipts are, by the Report of 1866, $5,243 61, a poor and bergarly sum for the oldest institution of the kind in the city, and the only avowedly family library. The number of books taken out yearly has increased, since 1861-2, from 10,100 to 32,612. The yearly assemment has been raised from six to ten dollars, and the number of books may be expected to increase.
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APPENDIX.
THE ASTOR LIBRARY.
This institution, which was incorporated January 18th, 1849, is one of the most significant fact that introduced this city to its rank as a cosmopolitan centre of learning. It does for the higher literature what the Cooper Institute does for popular instruction, and the two combine to provide our scholars and our people at large with priceless opportu- nities of improvement. The original endowment of the Astor Library was $400,000, which has been increased by over $300,000 by Win. B. Astor, son of John Jacob Astor, $50,000 of the sum having lately been given, $20.000 of the donation to go for the immediate purchase of books, and the balance towards the endowment.
The present number of volumes in the Library, including pamphlets, is about 145,000. These are the main facts from the report of the trustees for 1866 :
The Library continues to be largely and advantageously used by the public. The report of the superintendent exhibits in tabular form the number of readers monthly during the year, in the departments, respec- tively, of science and art, and of history and literature, arranged under fifty-three separate subdivisions. It is believed to be of general interest in nowing the comparative tendencies of the public mind to different b: inches of knowledge.
The number of readers in both the departments was 19,510; of whom 11,282 were occupied with history and literature, and 8,258 with science and art.
In addition to these, 3,545 were admitted into the alcoves; 1,674 having been occupied in history and literature, and 2,171 in the various branches of science and art.
The whole number of books read during the year was 44.966.
By the treasurer's report it will appear that $3,975 58 was expended during the year for books and binding ; that the income of the Library was $11,169 10, from a total investment of 8184, 568 39, and the cv- penses were $9,427 88.
The report of the superintendent shows that there were :! ded to the Library during the year, by purchase, exclusive of periodicals and transactions of learned societies, 587 volumes and 63 pamphlet-, and by donations, 196 volumes and 112 pamphlets.
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APPENDIX.
NOTES OF THE ERIE CANAL.
NEW YORK CITY, January 1St, 1867.
MY DEAR DR. OSGOOD :- I have your kind note of yesterday, in which you ask for some facts illustrating the interest which your friend and fellow-laborer in the New York Historical Society -- my father- took in the project of connecting the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Atlantic. Cadwallader D. Colden, in his elaborate memoir, has given so full an account of the building of the great work, and paid such ample justice to its originators, that, perhaps, I cannot better ment your wishes, than by confining myself to such topics os shall enable a younger generation to recall more vividly the painful agency of the Erie Canal in developing the internal resources of our State.
Great as was the assistance given to the canal project by the act of the New York Legislature of the Sth of April, 1811, the obstacles in the way of its successful completion were by no means removed. The same incredulity as to the practicability of the canal, and the same ap- prehensions as to the capacity of the State, continued to raise a fierce opposition in the Legislature against any appropriations for carrying on the work which it had itself authorized. Many attempts were accord- ingly rade to arrest, or at least curtail and postpone the project ; and often, during the progress of the undertaking, it seemed as if it would be utterly abandoned. Party spirit, at that time, ran high; and the greatest effort, on the part of its supporters, was required to persuade the people of the State to give it their support at the polls. In accor- phishing this result, the Commercial Advertir, of this city, pate power- ful aid. That paper, which had always been the organ of the Federal- ists, became, upon Mr. Stone's assuming its management in 1:20. a staunch advocate of the Clintonians. A strong personal friendship for Mr. Clinton, on the part of its editor, together with a firm conviction of the necessity for a canal through the interior of New York State les to the position thus assumed. The trials and rebuti's experienced by Governor Clinton and his supporters in pushing the canal projec;, and the energy which fought it through to a triumphant end, are matters of history. The Erie Canal was completed in the fall of 1525. At ten o'clock on the morning of the twenty-sixth of October of the same year, the first canal-boat-the Seneca Chief-left Butfalo, having on board Governor Clinton; and the booming of cannon, placed at intervals of a
113
APPENDIX.
few miles along the entire line of the canal from Buffalo to Albany, and thence along the banks of the Hudson to Sandy Hook, announced the successful termination of the enterprise. In New York City, especially. this event was celebrated by extraordinary civic and military core:no- nies ; and the citizens gave themselves up to the wildest demonstrations of joy. Nor was this joy ill-timed or excessive. "For a single State to achieve such a victory-not only over the doubts and fears of the wary, but over the obstacles of nature-causing miles of massive rocks at the mountain ridge to yield to its power-turning the tide of error as well as that of the Tonnewanda-piling up the waters of the mighty Niagara, as well as those of the beautiful Hudson -- in short, causing a navigable river to flow with gentle current down the steepy mount of Lockport --- to leap the river of Genesee-to encircle the brow of Irondequoit as with the laurel's wreath-to march through the rich fields of Palmyra and of Lyons-to wend its way through the quicksands of the morass at the Cayuga-to pass unheeded the delicious licks at Onondaga -- to smile through Oneida's verdant landscape-to hang upon the arm of the ancient Mohawk, and with her, after gaily stepping down the cadence of the Little Falls and the Cohoes. to rush to the embrace of the spark- ling Hudson-and all in the space of eight short years, was a work of which the oldest and richest nations of Christendom might well be proud."* Mr. Stone, as one of the most zealous champions of the canal, was appointed to write the NARRATIVE OF THE CELEBRATION, receiving "a silver medal and box from the Common Council of New York City, together with the thanks of that body.
In connection with the Erie Canal, and its influence in building up the interior towns of our State, Mr. Stone was wont to relate the fol- lowing anecdote : In 1820, he visited Syracuse with Joshua Forman, the founder of that city, and one of the earliest and mnost zealous friends of the Erie Canal. "I lodged for the night," says Mr. Stone, " at a misor- able tavern, thronged by a company of salt-boilers from Salina, forming a group of about as rough-looking specimens of humanity as I had ever seen. Their wild visages, beards thick and long, and matted hair, even now rise up in dark, distant, and picturesque effeet before me. It was in October, and a flurry of snow during the night had rendered the morning aspect of the country more dreary than the evening Fotore. The few houses, standing upon low and almost marshy ground, and sur- rounded by trees and entangled thickets, presented a very uninviting scene. " Mr. Forman,' said I, 'do you call this a village ? It would make an owl weep to fly over it.' 'Never mind,' said he in reply, 'you will live to see it a city yet !''' Mr. Stone did, indeed, live to see it a
* Stone's Narrative.
S
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APPENDIX.
city, when he wrote the above in 1840, with mayor and allermen, and a population of more than twelve thousand.
Syracuse, however, was not the only town that vindicated the fore- sight of Clinton and Forman. In the fall of 1829, Mr. Stone made a tour of the towns and villages in the central part of the State, partly for recreation, but more especially for the purpose of observing for himself the great impetus given to internal improvement by the canal. Familiar, however, as he had been for the last four years with the pro- gress which had been making, he was scarcely prepared for the signs of growth and prosperity which met him on every side. His amazement is pictured in a few extracts here given from the diary kept by him on this journey.
"Between five and six o'clock we entered Utica, which, nine years ago, the period of my last visit to it, ranked only as a flourishing village. It had now grown as if by magic to the dimensions of a largo city ; and it was with utter amazement that I beheld the long street and rovs and blocks of large, beautiful country seats, stores and dwellings through which our coach conveyed ne in driving to the lodgings I had selected. I had heard much of the march of improvement in Utica, since the completion of the GRAND CANAL, but I had no idea of the reality. Rip Van Winkle himself, after his thirty years' nap in a glen of the Kats- bergs, was not more amazed then I was at the present aspect and mag- nitude of this beautiful place. Bagg's Hotel, to which I directed my wwwleve, was in the very heart of the village, and the centre of business at the period of my last visit. Now it was quite in the suburbs. The houses were then scattered, but now they are closely built, lofty and spacious, and the length of some of the streets, like New York, begin to look like a wilderness of bricks."
" Tuesday, Sept. 224. Arrived at Syracuse at half-past ten o'clock. and had the unexpected pleasure of being greeted by my old and highly valued friend, Seth Hunt, a gentleman of extensive travel and vist gen- eral information. I looked upon the villaze as I stepped on shore with still more astonishment than at Utica. Another enchanted city ! I ex- claimed, as I glanced upward and around upon splendid hotels, und rows of massive buildings in all directions -- crowded, too, with people. all full of life and activity. The prediction of my friend. Joshua l'or- man, when I was here nine years ago, is already realizel. For if noble ranges of buildings two or three large and taste ful churches. busy wharves and streets, and all the life and animation of a large commer- cial place, will constitute a city, then, most assuredly, Syracuse may be called by that name. And as the county buildings, now erecting upon an extensive scale, have been located midway between Salina and Syra- cuse, the two towns will be soon united, as. Greenwich il to New York.
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APPENDIX.
Within twenty years, therefore, Syracuse will equal the present size of Albany. Salt of the best quality can here be prodneed, at the cheapest rate, for the whole continent."
Leaving Syraense, Mr. Stone visited succe-sively the pleasant vil- lages of Marcellns, Skaneateles, Auburn and Lyons, the rapid growth of which surprised him scarcely less than had Utica and Syracuse. " This village too," continues the diary, in speaking of Lyons. " was a wilder- ness at the period of my last visit ; now it has grown into considerable importance. It is the shire town of Wayne County, and in addition to a number of shops and stores and the county buildings, it contains many respectable and some elegant residences. Among the latter is the seat of Myron Holley, E-q., formerly one of the leading and most able aud efficient of our canal commissioners, whose names will be perpetuated as long as the lakes and the ocean are connected by the golden commer- cial chain forged under the direction of the great Clinton. Mr. Holley showed me through his grounds ; and I was much surprised to find one of the richest and most beautiful gardens that I had ever seen. It con- tains some six or eight acres, which was forest at the time of my visit in 1820. Now it was elegantly laid out and cultivated, and planted with fruit-trees, plants, shrub-, aud vines, in rich variety and profusion. The size to which cherry, peach, pear and plum trees, quince bushes, to say nothing of the beautiful shade trees in the lawn, had attained since this land was appropriated to its present purpose was truly wonderful. Cherry and apple trees, planted eight years since, now measure ten and thirteen inches in diameter, and every vegetable seems to flourish in this genial soil with the sune unequalled vigor and thrift."
Rochester, however, seems to have completed his astonishnent.
" Friday, Oct. 2d. And this is Rochester! The far-fiumed city of the west, which has sprung up like Jonah's gourd! Rochester, with its two thousand lionses, its elegant ranges of stores, its minerous churches and public buildings, its boats and bridges, its huge mills of stone, like so many castles, its lagoon-, quays, manufactories, arcades, parsertis, everything -- all standing where stood a frowning forest in 1812. Here I am, near the very spot, where, in a thick wood, my namesake, Eins Stone, in the autuinn of 1911, had a remarkable fight with an old -he-bear. which, in anticipation of the present doctrines of. Tamgany HesH, was carrying out the agrarian principle by sharing his little patch of corn."
But I am already making this letter too long. On his return to New York, Mr. Stone gave his readers the results of this tour in a series of articles-the publication of which confirmed more strongly than ever in the public mind, the forecast and wisdom of the originators and execu- tors of the GRAND ERIE CANAL.
Most cordially yours,
WILLIAM L. STONE.
116
APPENDIX.
P. S. I append a statistical statement of the Erie Canal, brought up to the beginning of the present year, the materials for which were kindly furnished me by my friend, the Hon. Nathaniel S. Benton, for many years our able Canal Auditor :
Length, Albany to Buffalo 303 miles. Width at surface.
66 bottom. 70 feet. 42 .
Depth ..
Width of tow-path
14 .
Burden of boats
80 tons.
Length of locks
90 feet.
Width
15 4
Number 6
$199,655 08
$3,960,522 52
Amount of tons going to tide-water from the Western States in 1836. 54.219
Smount of tous going to tide-water from the Western States in 1866 . 2,235,716
Total amount of tons going to tide-water from the West- ern States, from 1836 to 1866, inclusive. 40,485,73$ Total amount of tolls from 1823 to 1866, inclusive. . . . . . $90,153,279 19 Amount of tons going to tide-water from New York State in 1836. 364,900
Amount of tons going to tide-water from New York State in 1866. 287,948
Total amount of tons going to tide-water from New York State, from 1836 to 1866, inclusive.
12,276,223
Amount of tons going from tide-water in 1836. . ٠٠ 66
133.500
٠٠ 1566 626,971
Total amount of tons going from tide-water from 1836 to 1866, inclusive .. 10,034.011
Estimated value of all property transported on Erie Canal in 1837. $47,720.579
Estimated value of all property transported on Erie Canal in 1865.
$186,114,718
Total estimated value of all property transported ou Erie Caval, from 1837 to 1865, inclusive .. . $3,432,407,522
Amount of tons going to New York by canal-boats, on different canals in the State, without breaking bulk, for 1857. 3$1,390
7 "
Amount of tolls in 1823
1866.
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APPENDIX.
Amount of tons going to New York by canal-boats, on
different canals in the State, without breaking bulk, for 1866.
1,633,172
Total amount of tons going to New York by canal-boats, on different canals in the State, without breaking bulk, from 1857 to 1866, inclusive
11,775,396
Amount of tons arriving at tide-water, the product of New York State, on the Erie Canal, for 1836 ... .... 364,901 Amount of tons arriving at tide-water, the product of New York State, on the Erie Canal, for 1805 .. .... 173,538
Total amount of tons arriving at tide-water, the product of New York State, on the Erie Canal, from 1836 to 1865, inclusive. 11,702 314
The original cost of the Erie Canal was. $7,143,789 84
Cost of enlargement. $33.050,013 90
Total.
. $40,224,103 60
W.M. L. S.
SPEECHI OF HON. J. B. VARNUM ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY.
Mr. J. B. Varnum, Jr., desired to refer the committee to a report of the Committee on Cities and Villages of the Assembly on the subject of the present city charter, which report would be found in the Assembly Documents for 1857. It states, in a very concise form, what portions of said charter were derived from former charters, and the reasons for those sections which were new. A pernsal of it would, he believed, materially aid the committee in deciding what the defects were in that instrument, and what recommendations to make. The year 185" was one during which a great excitement prevailed in New York city ou the subject of reform in the city government and police an excitement which gradually extended to most of the other cities in the State. - 0 that the Committee ou Cities were overwhelmed. It was in that year that the Metropolitan Police bill, the City Charter, and the Supervisors' bill were passed. That committee had not the advantage of sessions in the city of New York; but large umumbers of persons appeared before them with drafts of charters, and suggestions which embo lied inach reli- able information ; but comparatively little of this material was in a very available, systematie forin, and the committee found themselves unable to agree upon any one of the plans proposed. They therefore decided to make a charter which should combine, as far as possible, whatever
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APPENDIX.
was good in former charters and in the suggestions laid before them. The result of a compromise of opinions among themselves was the present charter, which was amended in the Senate by the insertion of Aldermanie Districts, and which was at the time generally received as a great improvement upon its predecessors. although time has shown it to be by no means free from the defects incident to everything human. Still, he believed very slight amendments were all that were required. Others have commented upon the absence of any proper system for examining accounts. He would advert to one or two other points. And first as to the Legislatice Department. It would be found that a large proportion of the plans which were being presented in the news- papers, and some of which he presumed were laid before the committee. had heretofore been tried in one form or another. He had recently seen an earnest recommendation that the Board of Councilinen should be composed of a large number representing suell districts, the writer apparently not knowing that we once had a board of sixty councilmen, established by a law pas-ed in 1558 (Luirs of' 1553. p. 410). Prior to that time the two Boards, or the Allermen and Assistant Aldermen, were each composed of the same numbers, chosen by the same constit- uencies, with only the difference that the Aldermen were cho-en for two years, so that one formed scareely any check upon the other. A number of most respectable and public-spirited citizens proposed and carried through the Board of Sixty. The idea was, that in small dis- tricts electors would be more likely to know the man who was pre- sented for their suffrages, and that political parties would have to be more particular in presenting men who were favorably known. Hoy - ever plausible this theory might be in a country district, it proved to be entirely fallacious in a city, where four-fifths of the voters never cin be induced to look at such a ticket until they go to vote on election das. and where, owing to the constant changes of residences, there is scarcely any such thing known as neighborly association. Its opera- tion was precisely the reverse of what was anticipated. Men who could not have bad influence or character enough to obtain a nomifm- tion in a whole ward, managed to pull the party wires so as to secure it in a small section, and the consequence was, we la, with here and there an exception, a class of men inferior to the e who had previously been chosen-small fry. hoping to swim in de-per waters -- nich who expected to live by politics. It operated precisely as the single di-tries system is said to have operated, in sending to the Legislature men in- ferior to those who had been elected under the general ticket system. The people became thoroughly sick of the board, and there was zo hesitation about abolishing it : but what should be substituted was not so clear. Arguing from the experience in regard to Assemblymen be.
4
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APPENDIX.
fore referred to, a board elected by general ticket was strongly urged; but that was objected to because the board thus constituted would always be composed entirely of one political party. The committee adopted the present plan as a compromise-jour general tickets, one in each Senatorial District. They also introduced the system of classify- ing the terms of Aldermen, so that those from the district having odd numbers go out one year, and those from the even numbers the next. It is doubtful whether any improvement can be made upon this system, unless, perhaps, by increasing the number of Councilmen on each gen- eral ticket. Hle did not believe that any legislation would secure the choice of better men. The object of a second board is to furnish somo check upon hasty legislation, and to that end it is desirable that it should be chosen by a different constituency or in a different way. Secondly, as to the Board of Supervisors. That board had formerly con- sisted of the Aldermen, Mayor, and Recorder, and he, the speaker, had never been entirely satisfied that there was a necessity for substituting the present board for the purpose of settling accounts, although at the time he concurred in it, deferring to the judgment and larger experience of others. The idea originated in the manner in which our Aims House department was formerly managed by ten governors-half of them elected, and half appointed from those having the next highest number of votes. The first ten governors were nomed in the bill ( Laus of 1549, p. 367),* and being mostly men of well-known philanthropy, character. and means, so long as they remained it worked very well, and it was hoped to continue a class of men who would be actuated by the same motives which control the managers of the House of Refuge and other charitable institutions. But by degrees, as one term after another ex- pired aud others were elected by the people, many men were introduced who only cared to use it as a stepping-stone for some other position, and made it more a means of frolic than of doing good, the temple- tion to enter this board being greater, because a nomination was an election; and so it happened. in course of time, that this system was wiped out, and a board of four, to be appointed by the Comptroller, con- lished (Luis of 1800. p. 1(26), which he believed had thus far ben in good hands. He wished to make no reflection upon the members of the Board of Supervisors; but he thought the committee might under and how the mode of their election must inevitably result, eventually, in the same way as had the experiment with the ten governors.
Thirdly, in reference to the escentive power :
That was formerly tested mainly in the Mayor. But the same mania for decentralization, which pervaded the State and led to the
* This was the first interference (so-called) at Albany.
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APPENDLY.
Constitution of 1846, entered into the plans of all who were reforming city charters, and they went from one extreme to another.
In the State, it resulted in depriving the Governor of any voice in naming his cabinet, so that the Comptroller, Secretary of State, Treis- urer, and Attorney-General were to be elected. Even the State Prison Inspectors were to be chosen by the people. With as much propriety might you choose in that way the directors of Lunatic and Idiot Asy- lums. So it was in the city. The Mayor had the policemen, as well as other offices, in his gift, which was supposed to give him too large an army by which to secure his re-election, especially as the police vere appointed for short terms, instead of as now during good bebavior. And so, in 1849, we passed a line providing for the election of six heard of departments by the people, and as the city election then took place at the same time with that of the State, it happened that we sometimes had fourteen ballot boxes at one election, and people wore bewild ...! by the multitude of tickets. So we had six heads of departments, sill- ing on together, each responsible to no one but the people, which was really no responsibility at all, and when the subject came to be consid- ered in 1857, there were few who could say a word on behalf of this system. Mr. Varnum had voted for it in 1849, and was in 197 so well convinced of his error, that he was ready, as one of the comuittre, to vest the whole appointing power in the Mayor; but the majority were impressed with the argument that the Comptroller, who had charge of the finances, and the Corporation Counsel, who was the adviser of the city, should be made independent of the Mayor and Councils, so that they might not be influenced in their actions by a desire to retain their places. Reference was made to the changes made by General Jackson in the offices of Attorney-General and Secretary of the Treasury, in order to secure the removal of the deposits. But these arguments were, after all, more plausible than real, at least so far as the Comptroller was concerned, who must keep his accounts and make payment accon !- ing to law, atid, if the Mayor do s not appoint this officer himsent, le: i; be by the two boards, as United States Senator is chosen by the Lopis- lature, and so with Corporation Counsel. It is quite though to del t. people to elect Mayor, Aldermen, dad Councilmen, which is more than they can well manage ; but which there was, he supposed, no other way of doing except by the people, or rather by the party conventions. We might, however, hope occasionally, by a spasmodic effort, to revolution- ize the city, and elect a respectable man for Mayor. We have had many such. And we ought to impo-e on him the same kind of respon- sibility which is imposed on the President of the United States. Give him the appointment of all his assistants, with or without the approval of the Aldermen-he rather thought without it-certainly, without
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