The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-01-25
filth whole city. They are materially incapa-
citated from complying with any one Of the or
d;nances xresnectinp the disposition If slops

but to throw them into the streets. This is,
of course, not so much the fault OF the con-
tractors or the street department. as of the
rich owners OF property in that vicinity.
who refuse to make such improvements In
their buildings as would adapt them to the
necessities of modern times. Fifty years ago
these houses were the mansions OF our ariseo-
cracy, who were then the CLOVER" instead OF
the upper ten; and the conyeniences oil theT
construction were of course equal to those
times, and to the necessities of single families
Now, this whole region has been invaded by
trade and emigration the mansions Of our old
time exclusives have been converted into Ger
man beer-shops and emigrant boarding houses,
each containing half a dozen families of the
fltbest class of our foreign population, and
converting the neighborhood for many square
miles into one insufferable morass-the Dismal
Swamp of our great metropolis, through which
it is impossible to penetrate with safety.
This is a truly gigantic evil, and one which
demands the immediate attention OF the Com
mon Council Let the Board OF Aldermen de-
clare all existing contracts void, invest the
vigorous measures for cleansing and keeping
clean the streets, and appoint a commission of
thorough practical, business men, to investigate
and report on the condition of the dwellings in
the lower part of the city. The winter, whose
charitable mantle of snow and frost covers up
and sufrocates millions of poisonous MAS
mas, is gliding rapidly away. Soon the
warm days of spring will betray the exist
ence Of this putrescent corpse beneath its
rottng pall-the airs of May, instead of being
laden with balmy and life-giving odors, will
bear to the lungs of our million of inhabitants
the seeds of some fatal epidemic, which the
slightest unfavorable circumstance will de-
velope into terrible activity. There is not
moment to be lost; the case is imminent and
full of danger. For Gods sake, let our city
government forego, even for few days, their
squabbles over the spols, aud set themselves at
work to cleanse and purify the city while the
benefcent winter frost still holds in crystaliza-
ton the elements which. once dissolved be-
meath the breath of spring, will hurl death in
ten thousand forms into our city's midst. Such
monstrous violations of natures physical laws
as at present exist in our city cannot but be at
tended by consequences the most fearful and
disastrous. Let US act while it is yet to-day.
SUBSCRIPTIONS ON ACCOUNT OF THE SAN FRAN.
CISCO DIsAsTER.-We have received several
letters from subscribers to the fund for testi-
monial to Captain Creighton and the crew Of The
Three Bells, complaining OF the manner in
which the money has been appropriated, and
rejecting severely on the conduct of the com
mittee. By the report of the last meeting of
the merchants committee it would appear that
a sum Of 1900 or thereabouts had been sub
scribed, and $4,000 paid; and that out of this
latter nearly $4,000 had been voted to the
officers OF the San Francisco and Lieut. Murray,
of the United States Navy, as follows =
To Lieut. Murray. U. s. N ..... 81 900 in ola.e.
John w. Marshal, Engineer San
Francisco ................,$ $500 in money.
DO. .................A gold medal.
Capt. Watkins, of San Francisco 81 900 in plate
f'rsi b Ms'e Of do 90. $3.50 in money
Second Mate Of do ......... 500 10 money money.
10. do............A gold medal.
Now we have no desire to ask whether or no
these various persons are worthy Of reward
They did their duty in very trying circum-
stances; and if any one were to start sub
scription to testify the public appreciation of
their conduct we should approve the idea, and
have no doubt it would be popular But it is
very clear that the parties who subscribed the
various sums disposed of by the merchants
committee did so from wish to recon.
pense Captain Creighton and the officers
of the Three Bells, Antarctic, and
Kilby, and not in order to reward the officers
OF the San Francisco. The public gratitude
felt towards Captain Creighton and the other
pleservers of our countrymen was the true Sc
cret of the success of the subscription list; and
to avail oneself of that feeling for the purpose
of raising money for other objects is, to use the
mildest term, very ipjudcious. We wish this
matter could be cleared up in satisfactory
way, so that not the smallest cause for regret
should stain the memory of the event. As it
now S ands great dissatisfaction prevails among
the subscribers; and the subengineers, firemen
and seamen of the San Francisco, who lost
everything they had, complain, justly enough,
that if their officers are to be rewarded they
should come in for share also.
john Mitchell AND His DEsrNY-We are
sorry to see that John Mitchell is going the
way of Kossuth. Kinkel, and many others of
the patriots who have come here with great
telaf. and fzzled out after a few weeks Of glory.
A few days ago John Mitchell was the observed
of all observers now there are none so poor
as do him honor" The whole press of the
country is down upon him and his paper. The
former may be considered as tolerably near his
extinguishment; the latter, which began with
a circulation of some fifty thousand, is said by
the other journals to be in rapid decline. Sic
transit gloria mundi.
TIE FREE Soil LETTER OF PRESIDENT PIERCE.
Owing to the pressure Of California, Sonora,
Utah, West India ngressional, and other i'm
portant news upon our columns together with
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