CnAntriEs. The great number of immigrants landing at the of New. York, the poorest of \Omni remain in the city, tends to increase the dependent class. The administration of public eharities is under a separate department gov erned by a commissioner, appoints two deputies and other subordinate °nicer:. New York City differs from other large American cities in that it grants large subsidies to private eharitable institutions, the amount spent in this way exceeding that apportioned to puldie charities. In 1901 the city maintained three almshouses, with 3(itep inmates, and 11 hospitals, two of which are asylums for idiots, with 53.991 patients. Nearly all of the city institutions and some of the State and private institutions are located on Randall's. Ward's, and Blaekwell's islands. in the East River. Sailors' Sling Itarbor, a home for aged seamen. is 011 Staten island. This institution derives an 11110)1111' of $250,000 from valuable Broadway real estate, with which it is endowed. The orphan asylums of New York are under private eontrol. Private charity is active and tbornnghly organized: and much has been done in eorrelate the different agencies by the Charity organization Society of New York City. The society has a number of sub-eommitti-es in eharge of the different districts into whirl the city is divided. The Brooklyn Bureau of Charities performs a similar function in that borough.
Among the more important organizations which give attention to charitable work are the United Hebrew Charities, Children's Aid Society, Saint Vincent de Paul Society, and the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. The comb tions in the crowded sections of the city have been greatly improved by the work of Social Settle ments and similar institutions, of which there are a large number, some denominational, others non sectarian. Manhattan alone has some 25, the best known of arc University Settlement and the Educational Alliance.
1NTERCO3l MUNICATION. The problem of pas senger transportation within the limits of New York City and its residential areas offers peculiar difficulties. The wholesale business is at the lower end of Manhattan Island, and the shopping districts in the middle, while the dwelling dis tricts are at the upper end, and across the water ways in the surrounding regions. The crowding and discomfort on the various car and ferry lines during the 'rush' hours surpass anything of the kind known in any other city of the world. There are ear lines on almost all the thorough fares leading north from the business district, the limit of surface transportation in this direc tion having been practically reached. The first elevated railroad was opened on Ninth Avenue in 1870, from the Battery to Fifty-ninth Street. The Sixth Avenue line, opened in 1578. extended from the flattery to the Ilarletn Ricer. the upper half being on the line of Ninth and Eighth avenues.
Similar lines were built on Thin! and Second avenues to the Ilarlein River, and later the Third Avenue line was carried across the Ilarlem River into the northern suburban districts. The ele vated roads, on which it was found practicable to run trains by steam at a high rate of speed and at very short intervals, with a minimum of dan ger, soon proved utterly inadequate for the traffic. In 1550 the first cable line in Manhattan was established on 125th Street. In 1595 the under ground electric trolley system was introduced and rapidly supplanted the cable all over :Manhattan. The overhead trolley system still prevails in other portions of Greater New York. In 1902 the ele vated roads began to run their trains by electri city. A contract was awarded in January, 1900, by a commission created for the purpose, for an underground rapid transit railway system rim fling from one end of Manhattan to the other. with a branch. starting at 104th Street, to the Bronx. Work upon the subway was la-gun in February of that year. The time fixed by the contract for the eompletion of the system was fonr years and a half, and the original price was *:30,500,000. The contractors were conceded the right to operate the road for fifty years. Thirty live stations are provided for on the main line and 13 on the Bronx branch. An extension of the subway to Brooklyn was decided on in May. 1901. The cars are operated and lighted wholly by electricity. Express trains run on two cen tral tracks.
There is a very extensive ferry system between Manhattan and the surrounding region. Besides the ferries to Brooklyn (q.v.). lines connect with Jersey City, Hoboken. Weehawken, Fort lee, Staten and other points. During the ter months the ferry traffic is somewhat impeded by oeeasional fogs and Iloatin“ iee. The construc tion of the Brooklyn Bridge (see IlttionE) in 1553 greatly facilitated commode:it inn with Brooklyn; but in recent years the bridge has been wholly inadequate. A second bridge was begun in 1896, extending from Delancey Street, .Manhattan, to Broadway, Brooklyn; three other bridges are projected: from Grand Street, Man hattan, to Williamsburg, Brooklyn; from Cor lears ]look, Manhattan, to the Navy Yard, Brook lyn; and from Fifty-ninth Street, Manhattan, to Long Island City, by way of Blackwell's Furthermore, two tunnels to connect Manhattan with Brooklyn have been planned, one by private railroad companies (also connecting with the New Jersey Shore), and the other by the city through the extension of the subway. The Har lem River is spanned by a number of costly bridges, Washington Bridge being perhaps the finest structure of its kind in the country, and High Bridge, which carries the old Croton Aque duct at an elevation of over 100 feet, being un equaled among American stone bridges.