NEW YORK CITY. 



523 



sion on tln> specie value, and that we will give a 

 preference to each other in our negotiations." 

 Originally the meetings of the Exchange were 

 held van'ou-ly, frequently at 47 Wall Street. 



frior to the adoption of its constitution in 

 W7. Later it had a room in the building of 

 thr Courier and Enquirer," but finally settled 

 down in the Merchants' Exchange, at the corner 

 of William and Wall Streets. The fire of 1835 

 drove it from these quarters, and at that time 

 tin- records were completely destroyed. In 1842 

 it found quarters in the Merchants' Exchange, 

 imw the United States Customhouse, whence 

 in 1S53 it removed to the Commercial Ex- 

 change Hunk Building, at the corner of William 

 and Heaver Streets. Here it remained until its 

 removal to the present building, in Broad near 

 Wall Streets. Its membership has increased to 

 1,100, the number to which it is limited. There 

 are always several hundred applicants waiting 

 for election, and the seats, as the memberships 

 are called, have increased in value from $25 in 

 1823 to $3,000 in 1863, and now are worth $23.- 

 000. As high as $35,000 has been paid for 

 seats. The present officers are P. K. Sturgis, 

 President; Dewitt C. Hays, Treasurer; and 

 George W. Ely, Secretary. 



The Columbus Celebration. Late in April, 

 in accordance with the act of the Legislature, 

 Mayor Grant named a committee of one hun- 

 dred representative citizens to take charge of 

 the preparations for celebrating the four hun- 

 dredth anniversary of the discovery of Amer- 

 ica in New York city on Oct. 12. The first 

 meeting was held in the City Hall on May 2, 

 when a preliminary organization was effected, 

 and a resolution offered authorizing the selec- 

 tion of an executive committee of 25 members, 

 to include the Mayor and the President of the 

 Board of Aldermen, and report the list to the 

 next meeting. At a meeting held on May 3 

 the following permanent officers were named : 

 President, Hugh J. Grant ; Vice-Presidents, 

 Horace Porter, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Samuel D. 

 Babcock, Charles Barsotti, Martin T. McMahon, 

 and Abraham Mead; Secretary, Charles G. F. 

 Wahle ; Treasurer, J. Edward Simmons ; Audit- 

 ing Committee, George J. Gould, John H. Starin, 

 David Banks: with the following executive 

 committee: Morris K. Jessup, John D. Crim- 

 mins, Arthur Leary, Robert B. Roosevelt, Charles 

 S. Smith, Juan M. Ceballos, William Sulzer, 

 Howard Carroll, Isidor Strauss, Louis Fitzger- 

 ald, Ferdinand P. Earle, David McClure, Wil- 

 liam II. Wickham, J. Schuyler Crosby, William 

 Lyall, Frank Earle Hay wood. Charles" A. Barra- 

 toni. Charles V. Fornes, Henry S. Cram, Edward 

 V. Skinner, Abram J. Dittenhoefer, Charles A. 

 Moore, Edmund C. Stanton, the Mayor, and the 

 President of the Common Council. 



Under the management of this organization 

 active preparations were at once begun and the 

 arrangement of the programme effected. 



The actual celebration of the quadricentennial 

 of the discovery of America began in New York 

 city on Oct. 8, when religious services were held in 

 the Jewish synagogues. Special programmes 

 were prepared, with patriotic addresses at Temple 

 Emanu-El, where the subject was " America, the 

 Land of Promise," and at Temple Ahavath Che- 

 sed, " The Importance of Columbus's Discovery 



for the Jews." On Sunday, Oct. 9, suitable re- 

 ligious services were held in the Christian cliun li- 

 es, many of which were artistically decorated. At 

 St. Patrick's Cathedral the archbishop celebrated 

 a solemn high pontifical mass, after which an 

 appropriate sermon was preached, and at Trinity 

 Church also the preacher did honor to the mem- 

 ory of Columbus. Elsewhere, such sermons as 

 "Columbus's Life," by Rev. W. S. Rainsfnrd ; 

 "Columbus, the World's Benefactor," by Rev. 

 E. S. Holloway; "The Santa Maria and tin"- May- 

 flower." by Rev. C. W. Millard; "Finding 'a 

 Country," by Rev. James Chambers ; "An Ep< >ch 

 in Christian History," by Rev. Ensign McChes- 

 ney, and others were preached. For the subse- 

 quent events the city was elaborately and pro- 

 fusely decorated. Along the leading thorough- 

 fares the buildings were brilliant with masses of 

 color. The national red, white, and blue min- 

 gling with the yellow of Spain was the pre- 

 dominating decoration. 



At 22d Street was a trellis arch, designed by 

 Stanford White. It spanned the avenue, and 

 was 40 feet wide and 40 feet high. It was of 

 classic design, supported on 12 columns 20 feet 

 high, and bisected at 22d Street by a small arch. 

 The trellis was decorated with laurel, and flags 

 wound around the arches and with shields. At 

 night the dome of the arch was filled with lighted 

 lanterns. 



Over the stretch of city decoration along Fifth 

 Avenue, from 22d Street to 34th Street, 100 stand- 

 ards were placed, from which were suspended 

 pointed gonfalons and Venetian flags bearing 

 the arms of Ferdinand and Isabella. The stand- 

 ards were surmounted with gill eagles and deco- 

 rated at the base with civic shields. Stretched 

 across the avenue between standards were net- 

 works of lines, from which were hung flags and 

 Chinese lanterns, forming arches, while at Fifth 

 Avenue and 58th Street was an arch painted to 

 represent white marble, with fountains, polished 

 monolithic columns of red marble, mosaic, and 

 gold inlaying bas-relief work. It was 160 feet 

 high and 120 feet wide. The opening was 80 

 feet high and 40 feet wide. Figures represent- 

 ing Victory and Immortality stood above the 

 fountains in the piers, and above the figures 

 were panels representing Columbus at the court 

 of Spain and the navigator at the Convent of 

 Rabida on the eve of his voyage. On ton of the 

 arch was an elaborate colossal group. The ex- 

 ercises on Oct. 10 included the school and col- 

 lege parade, participated in by 25,000 persons, 

 under Col. David S. Brown, grand marshal. It 

 consisted of a public-school division, of which 

 John D. Robinson was marshal ; a Catholic school 

 and college division, of which James R. O'Beirno 

 was marshal; a private-school division, of which 

 Mnx Reece was marshal : and a college division, 

 of which Franklin Bartlott was marshal. The 

 line of march began at Fifth Avenue and 57th 

 Street, thence down the avenue to 17th Street, 

 to Fourth Avenue, to 14th Street, to Fifth 

 Avenue, to Washington Square, to I'niversitv 

 Place, to 4th Street, where the parade disbanded. 

 The reviewing stand was on Fifth Avenue, in 

 front of Madison Square, and, in the absence of 

 President Harrison, Vice-President Morton with 

 Gov. Flower reviewed the procession. An inter- 

 esting feature of the parade was contributed by 



