112 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
SPEECH OF GENERAL A. S. DIYEN, 
DELIVERED AT THE ST. JAMES HOTEL, AT A DINNER 
GIVEN TO THE MERCHANTS OF NEW YORK, AND 
PRESIDED OVER BY GOVERNOR JOHN A. DIX. 
Mr. President and Gentlemen : My under¬ 
standing is that we have assembled here to-night 
to discuss the question whether there is to be es¬ 
tablished in this, the metropolis of the United 
States, an enterprise that will reflect honor upon 
the people of this great city, or whether we shall 
allow, by our supineness, an interior town, with¬ 
out natural advantages, to grasp from us the 
great benefits that are to be gained by the carry¬ 
ing out of this enterprise. The enterprise under 
consideration here to-night was fairly inaugurated 
in 1870, and would have been carried through 
then but for the fact that the charter of the 
Company was defective, and, after being fairly 
started, had to be suspended. Twice was the Gov¬ 
ernor’s veto interposed to prevent our success. 
But for these difficulties, the people of Philadel • 
phia would not have asked or Congress granted a 
series of acts by which Philadelphia is to be 
honored and enriched by the holding of a World’s 
Fair, and by the United States proclaiming to all 
the world that Philadelphia is the commercial me¬ 
tropolis of this country. 
The object of this Company is to purchase land 
and erect on the same a building which shall be 
used as a perpetual World’s Fair, Trade Mart, 
Garden of Plants, and popular Art Museum. The 
City of New York could afford to carry out the 
objects here set forth as a city, and would be 
amply repaid. The people of New York could 
afford to spend millions of dollars in such ob¬ 
jects, and would be amply repaid in the increased 
commerce and wealth and civilization which such 
enterprises invariably bring. But, aside from these 
high and patriotic motives, there is a reason which 
is stronger than all; that has done more in the 
past and will do more in future to consummate 
large projects—and that is the love of gain. In 
short, if this enterprise is carried out, it will ac¬ 
complish this for those who aid and assist it. 
It will make money; it will increase trade and 
commerce ; it will tend to elevate and civilize the 
people of New York and of the world; it will 
dignify labor. The children of all those that in 
any way assist it will point with pride and honor 
to the work which their forefathers planned and 
executed. 
In 1870 the Industrial Exhibition Company con¬ 
tracted for all the land bounded between Ninety- 
eighth and One Hundred and Second Streets and 
Third and Fourth Avenues, comprising in all 8554 
lots. The contract price of this land was $1,700,- 
000 §200,000 has been paid. There remains to 
be paid §1,500,000. It is proposed that the balance 
due on this land shall be paid with the money 
raised for the sale of stock. To do this, it is nec¬ 
essary that there be sold §1,875,000 of stock, at 80 
cents on the dollar. This will net the Company 
§1,500,000 in cash. This land will have cost the 
parties owning the same §4,790 per lot. It was 
worth in 1870, taking the opinions of good judges 
of leal estate, at least that amount. In the two 
years and more that the land has been held, it has 
increased some in value, and good judges of real 
estate say now that it is worth not less than §6,000 
per iot, which would make the 355 lots worth $2,- 
130,000. The prevailing opinion of real-estate men 
is that this would sell for §7,500 per lot, or $2,- 
j 652,500. Taking the lowest valuation put on 
; this land by any one, and there is a profit of 
§430,000; taking the highest valuation, and there 
is a profit of §952,500 in the carrying out of this 
contract alone. It has been asked why the con¬ 
tract for the land could not be extended beyond 
the present limit—viz., Feb. 1, 1873. The reason 
is simple : The parties owning the land can get, 
without a doubt, §430,000 more than the Indus¬ 
trial Exhibition Company are called on to pay. 
Those persons who purchase the .first §2,225,000 
of this stock become the absolute owners of this 
valuable tract of land, and they can decide 
among themselves whether they will sell the 
same or whether they will erect a Crystal Palace. 
As this meeting is called for the purpose of 
considering not only the purchase of the land, but 
the erection of a trade-mart or perpetual "World’s 
Fair and Museum, it is proper to state the ad¬ 
vantages to be gained by the carrying out of the 
whole project. I have already shown—so that 
it is patent to all who are interested in or judges 
of real estate in the City of New York—that the 
smallest amount of profit that could be made in 
purchasing this land would be in the neighbor¬ 
hood of half a million dollars. This is a large 
profit, and I will now proceed to show that, how¬ 
ever profitable the purchase of this land may be 
as a real-estate venture, it would be still more 
profitable should the purchasers of the land erect 
on the same the enterprise proposed. 
Popular phrase has dubbed the proposed build¬ 
ing a Crystal Palace. The common acceptation 
of this name is a light, airy structure of glass 
and iron, subject to destruction from different 
causes. The building to be erected by the Indus¬ 
trial Exhibition Company should be substantial 
and fire-proof, and should be built in such a 
manner as to be readily converted into dwelling- 
houses or places of business. To provide for a 
change in the uses of the building, as well as to 
make it the more attractive for the present pur¬ 
pose, as well as for economy in construction, the 
building should be 125 feet deep, and should be 
built entirely around the ground, leaving a court 
in the center. It should be five stories in bight. 
Each floor should be an open floor. This would 
give a space 125 feet wide and 3,700 feet long 
for each floor. The court in the center would be. 
twice the size of Madison Square. This court 
should be covered. The court could be used as 
a garden of plants and for places of amusement. 
The four main floors would be an Industrial Ex¬ 
hibition and trade-mart. The top floor could be 
an art-gallery and museum and a public gallery. 
To make such a building of iron, the largest esti¬ 
mate of cost, which included the erection of the 
most magnificent dome in the world, is $9,000,- 
000, or an expense of §25,400 per lot. This is 
the largest cost. An iron building that will be 
more magnificent than any building of its kind 
in the world, and one that all the world would 
wish to see, can be erected for §7,000,000, which 
would be an expenditure of §20,000 per lot. A 
granite building can be erected for a still less 
sum, and a brick building for a cost of about 
§4,000,000. 
These figures may seem and are large; but, to 
fully comprehend them, suppose this were the 
case: The gentlemen here to-night purchase this 
land, and they decide that they do not wish to 
erect a building, but see a larger profit in selling 
the land to individuals. They sell the 355 lots to 
as many persons, and each person proceeds to 
erect for himself a house. At the end of a year 
or so there is a house on each lot. Now, the 
amount of money that would be paid out for 
each house, in as good a locality as this in New 
York, would average about §22,000—which would 
make a total expenditure of §7,810,000. Pre¬ 
suppose another ease: This land is bought; the 
Industrial Exhibition building is built; the one 
hundredth birthday celebrated, and a World’s Fair 
held. The stockholders decide it would be un¬ 
profitable to continue the enterprise as an exhibi¬ 
tion. Partitions arc immediately made, running 
from cellar to roof, and you have a series of dwell¬ 
ing-houses unsurpassed by any in the whole world ; 
a beautiful view from the windows of the outside, 
and a park of twelve acres in the center, and acces¬ 
sible to the owners of these houses and no others. 
The entrances to the houses could be made entirely 
from the court. Some time in the future this plan 
will be carried out by clubs of gentlemen who 
desire to give to their families more comfort and 
more luxury than is now afforded by the ordinary 
house. Go to the rear of your owu house when 
you go home to-night, and look at the immense 
amount of waste room that the court of the 
buildings on your block has, and think at what 
a slight cost to each house it would be to make 
the court a place where your children could spend 
their play-hours. The result of the plan and the 
cost of the building above described is that you 
have erected a building that ought to pay for the 
purposes intended; but, if it does not, you have a 
series of dwelling-houses erected, at an expense of 
§20,000 per lot, or less, which is some §3,000 or 
§4,000 per lot less than would be expended on the 
same if individuals should erect separate houses, 
and you have an increased amount of room. The 
number of square feet of space which would be 
available for use, if individual houses were erected, 
would be, on each floor, 384,000 square feet; 
while by the combination plan there would be of 
available house-room 462,500 square feet, being 
a difference of 78,500 square feet in favor of the 
combination building. That is, you have 52 lots 
more covered by buildings and available for dwell¬ 
ings, and you have utilized the waste ground. In¬ 
stead of a barren waste, you have a beautiful 
garden of plants, and all this at an expense of 
several thousand dollars per lot less than if in¬ 
dividuals had built over these lots. To realize these 
figures, go into the rear of any house on Fifth 
Avenue and look into the court-yard, and multiply 
the vacant space in one court-yard eight times. I 
have been thus tedious for the purpose of show¬ 
ing you that, in case you invest your money in 
a “Crystal Palace ” project, and the Crystal Palace 
is a failure, complete and entire, still yon have 
made a good investment. 
What the chances of this project paying as an In¬ 
dustrial Exhibition are I will now endeavor to show 
you. There will be in the building I have described 
a garden of plants. This should be made, as it 
can be (and the estimates given cover the cost of 
so doing), a tropical garden, with fountains and 
walks and statuary, and every known plant and 
flower. Every one who goes into the building 
should be allowed, without hindrance or charge, 
to go at will in this beautiful garden. Is there a 
person in New York who would not visit such a 
garden ? Then there is to be an art-gallery and 
museum and library. These would occupy the top 
floor. This leaves the four main floors of the build¬ 
ing for exhibition purposes. 
It must be borne in mind that the Company’s 
enterprise differs from all of its predecessors not in 
its essential character as an exhibition, but in its 
many additional features of great value. They have 
been simply exhibitions. This Company will do all 
they did, and will, in addition, make its exhibition 
building one vast trade-room or bazar. Manufac¬ 
turers, merchants, and producers will not only be 
allowed to exhibit their wares, but also to advertise 
and make sale of them in the building, replacing 
them with other goods, and thus securing a con¬ 
stant succession of novelties to interest visitors. 
The same with ai-tists who exhibit their pictures 
in the galleries. As fast as they sell one they will 
hang another, and so bring lovers of art ag..in and 
again to the Exhibition. There will be in the 
main building 1,574,400 square feet of space to be 
rented to those exhibitors who desire to make sales. 
Each floor will be open, and the space occupied by 
an exhibitor simply inclosed by a rail, thus affording 
ample opportunity for visitors who have no inten¬ 
tion of purchasing to inspect articles on exhibition as 
closely as those who come to buy. It is calculated 
that a space of 120 square feet would give all the 
accommodation which an ordinary exhibitor would 
require. The Company, then, would be able to 
rent out no less than 13,120 such spaces, for which 
