504 



NEW YORK CITY. 



security applicable to construction, equipment, 

 rents, maintenance, and operation. On Jan. 26 a 

 communication was sent to the Manhattan Elevated 

 Railway Company asking that corporation to pre- 

 sent separate formal applications for such additional 

 franchises and facilities as may be desired in be- 

 half of the Manhattan Company and to state spe- 

 cifically the exact routes upon which it desired to 

 erect extensions and the form of structure to be 

 used upon each route ; what additional tracks it 

 desired to erect upon streets and public places al- 

 ready occupied by its railroad ; within what time 

 it would construct such additional structures as 

 may be specified and authorized by the board, and 

 such further facts as may be pertinent to such 

 applications. A prompt reply was received and 

 four contemplated routes were outlined, including a 

 West Street line with connection from City Hall to 

 the west side and extensions east and west to 

 King's Bridge and Two Hundred and First Street. 

 ( n April 11 the Rapid Transit Board served on the 

 Manhattan Company 7 separate documents, tender- 

 ing 7 separate franchises, and requested that within 

 thirty days the company should accept or reject 

 them. An answer was received on May 6, in which 

 the franchises as proffered were rejected on the 

 ground that the terms were too onerous to be con-, 

 sidered. The proposed franchise to build a tunnel 

 under Amsterdam Avenue the Manhattan Com- 

 pany would not accept. Also for four of the lines 

 for which 5 per cent, was asked the Manhattan Ele- 

 vated Railway Company offered half of 1 per cent. 

 Further correspondence was held, but without 

 result. On May 21 the commission addressed the 

 Manhattan Elevated Railway Company a letter 

 which contained the following statement : " Unless 

 your company is willing to submit to our board a 

 counter-proposition which shall be complete in all 

 its details, and which shall thus show exactly what 

 benefit the community may expect to receive from 

 your action, it would appear to be futile to continue 

 the negotiation." 



East River Bridge. The commission having in 

 charge the building of a bridge across the East 

 river from Delancey Street near Grand Street, 

 Manhattan, to South Fifth Street. Brooklyn, was 

 abruptly removed I5y Mayor Van Wyck on Jan. 19, 

 and a new commission consisting of Lewis Nixon, 

 Smith E. Lane, and James W. Boyle, Manhattan; 

 Julian D. Fairchild, John W. Weber, and Thomas 

 S. Moore, Brooklyn, was appointed. The old com- 

 missioners applied to the courts for relief, contend- 

 ing that they were illegally removed, but after one 

 favorable decision in their behalf by a lower court 

 the Court of Appeals rendered a decision in which it 

 was held that Mayor Van Wyck is the successor of 

 the former M;iyor of Brooklyn, as well as of his 

 predecessor in old New York, and that under the 

 new charter he has the power to remove public 

 officers at pleasure within six months after the 

 beginning of his term of office. Up to Dec. 31, 

 1897, the commission had acquired title to property 

 in the cities of New York and Brooklyn requisite 

 for the foundations of the towers and anchorages 

 of the bridge to the amount of $368.950, original 

 cost of the several pieces of property, and $8,986, 

 additional expenses. 



During the year the work of completing the 

 trolley-car service on the New York and Brooklyn 

 Bridge was continued. On Feb. 16 the cars of five 

 Brooklyn lines were running on the bridge. In 

 March an agreement was made between the Long 

 Island Railroad and the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad, 

 by means of which the trains of the Long bland 

 Railroad were enabled to cross the bridge. The 

 connection between the tracks of the companies wns 

 made by means of inclined planes at Flatbush 



Avenue and at Atlantic Avenue near Chestnut 

 Street. This agreement became operative on June 

 18, when a train of cars left the Manhattan end of 

 the bridge under electric-motor power, and pro- 

 ceeded to the Brooklyn side, where a regular engine 

 was attached, and then to Manhattan Beach, which 

 was reached in thirty-seven minutes. 



Public Library. A special act of the Legisla- 

 ture in 1897 authorized the city to construct a 

 library at a cost of $2,500,000, and a plan for the 

 building was accepted by the library trustees, which 

 plan was also approved by the Board of Park Com- 

 missioners (see " Annual* Cyclopaedia " for 1897). 

 Early in the year an effort was made to secure from 

 the Board of Estimate and Apportionment a bond 

 issue for $150.000 to remove the old reservoir and 

 to prepare the site for building, but it received an 

 abrupt check from the Mayor, who decided that no 

 bond issues would be made, as the debt of the city 

 had already exceeded its constitutional limit. The 

 matter was again agitated in the autumn, but the 

 issue of revenue bonds for the library was deemed 

 not advisable for the reason that the city " is not in 

 a financial condition to warrant any new bond issue 

 until next year at the earliest." 



Art Commission. A Municipal Art Commis- 

 sion, consisting of Charles T. Barney, Henry K. 

 Howland, Samuel P. A very, John La Farge, Daniel 

 C. French, and Charles E. McKim, was named by 

 Mayor Van Wyck on Feb. 14. The Mayor, the 

 President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 

 President of the New York Library (Astor, Lenox, 

 and Tilden Foundations), and the President of the 

 Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences are ex- 

 officio members of the commission. This commis- 

 sion has extensive powers. Without its approval 

 no work of art can become the property of the city 

 by gift or purchase, and none can be placed upon 

 city property. The expression " work of art '' is 

 construed by the charter to include "oil paintings, 

 mural decorations, stained glass, statues, bas-reliefs. 

 or other sculptures, monuments, and arc lies/' \' 

 the discretion of the Mayor or of the Municipal 

 Assembly the commission may exercise like powers 

 over designs for municipal buildings, bridges, gates, 

 lamps, etc., to be erected on city property. The 

 commission met on Feb. 28 and organized by the 

 election of Mr. Barney as president. Mr. Marquund 

 as vice-president, and Mr. Healy (President of the 

 Brooklyn Institute) as secretary. 



Monuments. In comparison with previous years 

 very few historical monuments were added to those 

 already in existence. The Lorelei fountain, com- 

 memorating the genius of Heinrich Heine 

 "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1890 and 1897), \vas 

 located finally in Hoboken, N. J., permission having 

 been granted by the Common Council of that city mi 

 March 31. The monument is to be in Hudson 

 Park, the cost to be $4,000, raised by subscription 

 among the German-American residents of that city. 



On Oct. 31 a beautiful memorial to Richard M. 

 Hunt was presented to the city by the Hunt Memo- 

 rial Committee (see article FINE ARTS). 



The Municipal Art Commission met on Dec. 19 

 and selected Mount Tom, a little hill in Riverside 

 Park, at the foot of Eighty-third Street, as a site for 

 the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. The project 

 for the monument has been open ever since the 

 Legislature passed a bill authorizing the city to 

 spend $250,000 for its erection. 



On Dec. 31 the Park Department received official 

 notice that the Board of Estimate had granted 

 President Clausen's request for $3,500 to defray tie 

 expense of the erection of the Washington-Lafay- 

 ette bronze. The statue was the gift of Charles 

 Broadway Rouss. It was accepted by the Ait 

 Commission and the Park Board, and a site for it 



