New-York daily tribune., 1858-02-03

though our ponds may remain unfrozen and the cemen
UNEMPLOYED, more than thousand laborers are yet
thanks to the unseas ,nabe weather permitted to earn
livelihood for themselves and their families upon the
Central Park Thsis something 10 Be glad Of makes
at least thousand hearhstones happy and greatly
ers the number of applicants for public charity. There
are at the present time 800 persons employed upon the
PaIk which about 100 less than the number at work
few weeks since The majority of the men receive
dollar a day each, while some 80 of them are en-.
poyed at stoncbreakDg at cents per foot the usual
contract price, at which some earn 4! per day and
more; but many, owing TO want Of the "knack earn
even lees than a. The work Of clearing the
ground, grubbing, dching, and so forth, appears to
the inexperienced eye to progress very slowly. But
! such appearances decetful for, in truth i'm.
mense amount Of labor has already been performed
when the difficulty of the undertaking ard the numb r
of men employed considered. But will be long
time yet before the grounds indicate the form which
ii is intended to make them They have to be
trenched TO the depth oftwenty inches perhaps. II is
stated that if the force employed were increased
| three fold and continued at work. in the space Of
three or four years the lower secton-tat from Fifty
ninth to Sixty ninth street and from Fifth to Eighth
avenue-would 10 in very fair condition. This appears
not very encouraging but il is doubt good as can
| he expected.
| The work is perfectly systematizcd. The men are
divided into gangs, over each of which there is fore
man who receives 81 80 per day. All are governed
by certain printed regulations. Every man ia required
to be the ground in his place. and ready to go to
work when the bell strikes, and full time is not allowed
to those who fail of this by minute. Every man
when the Park il required to be decenty clothed,
sober and orderly not to smoke and not to stop work
on any pretense except when permission is given him
TO do so by his foreman. 1t is the duty OF each
foreman to report to the Superintendent the names Of
any who willfully habtually fail to adhere to
the rules that they may be discharged but in order to
enforce his authority in which he does not think
Of efficient consequence to report, each foreman is
| also given power to impose fines upon his men, Such
fines are in to exceed 10 cents per day against
| any one man; and the amounts and the for
each must he stated by the foreman in the hear
| ing of all his subordinates who shall be pres
| ent at the next roll-call after the offense.
| The whole amount against each man is withheld
from his wages at each pay day and contributed to
charitable fund, which is applied at the discretion of
the Superintendent for the assistance of any OF the
workmen who may fall sick or be otherwise disabled
or for the families of any wlo may die while en-
| gagged on the Park. Within day or two, Mr.. Super
erdent Omstead, wishing to make provision for
little assistance 10 those who become sick meet with
accidental injury while at work the Park, Issued to
the men circular recommending the establishment OF
Central Park Provident Fund In this circular,
which s written language suitable for the easy com
| prehension of those to whom il is addressed, Mr..
| Olmstead says:
"What should be doneis to help man TO help him
self if after being taken i'll, he finds at the end of
week he is better, and if he hopes that after
week two he will recover, and soon regain strength
| to do good day s work. To give a lift to men in
such circumstances, the superintendent proposes that
| all hands contribute little from their wages each
payday to form fund, which he will engage to use
| according to the following rule; ~
"Any who leaves the work on account OF il-
ness, or bodily injury and who, aitsr week alb
sence sends word to the Superintendent that he IL in
need of assistance shall have his inquired ho.
and if his statement is found to be true, 80 cents
when the fund will admit of itshall be furnished him
in money every day, long as he is unit tor work,
| thereafter, during one II onth.'
Then en- with about ahalf-dozen exceptions, cheerfuy
responded to the suggestion and agreed to contribute
toward the fund five cents per week EACH ten cents
each pay day. and on Wednesday last the fund was es-
| tablished every man but Ia Germanl permitting
| ten cents to be deducted from his pay.
The men us whole present comfortable appear
ance and nearly all have far behaved themselves to
the satisfaction Of their oremen and of the Supernten-
| deLt Most of them live near the grounds many in
| the shantes adjoining, but not few walk from the
lower part of the city miles distant, and as one OF them
told us, "thauk God for the privilege in such hard
times
The number OF applicants for employment Is nearly
as great as ever great indeed that the services ot
policeman are necessary to maintain order about the
| Superintendent office. These applicants come laden
with recommendations, letters, orders, &c. from al
sorts Of people, but especially from aspiring politicians
moved more by de5re for their own advancement
! than the aid of the poor men who ovenatng their
importance seek their influence Such letters were OF
course more plenty about election time-when an up
town Alderman seeking reelection had printed recon-
mendatory letters which he gave away freely to poor
and copfdiDg voters who did not find out their mis-
take in time The Superintendent is beset even in the
streets by women soliciting work for their husbands, in
piteous strains, and although compeledo refuse them,
| the task is by no means agreeable.
The petition OF the Commissioners TO be permitted to
convey from Hamilton square to the Park the dirt ne
cessaIy to be removed by the grading of the square,
has already been favorably acted upon by the Alder
men. Should it pass the Councilmen opportunity will
be offered for putting many more men to work and
the prospect of this gives hope to many of the unem
| ployed who looking with especial anxiety to the
| commencement of the New Reservoir within the linn
| it's of the Central Park, which it is estimated some
| 800 men will find employment.
/ r. n a. ID