The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-01-28

This is the lev term. North River anu East
River are full of ice. Acres OF it are carried
by the swift running tide up and doWh-tne
ferry boats crash through it, and some OF them
are hauled off every day with broken rudders
ice eyerywhere-on Broadway, III Central
Park-it is difficult to put the foot down any
where without slip. Skates are all the go;
every other boy has pair dangling to his
side: even the girls go skating-in fact, New
York on ice" is verify nowadays. Further.
in the way of amusements in city life, the
"Black Crook" has gone out" and the white
Fawn" has come in. Immense crowds gather
at Niblo's to see what an enthusiastic report
er calls. 'pretext for tall dancing" "In the
White Fawn the legs are very numerous, and
some Of them are beautiful, and most of the
young ladies are scant of apparel, lack, how
ever, which does not seem to occasion poign-
ers or of their admirers"
The California fever has broken out again.
The recent reduction in fare, and the general
business depression operate to attract atten-
ton to the Pacific, where mechanics and arti-
sans get good pay in gold, and have enough to
do. Ten thousand men are to be employed
Immediately ON the great Central Pacific
Rrilroad in Humboldt County. The ticket
offices of the c alifornia steamers are crowded
with applicants for passage, and the steamers
90 full The fare by the Pacific Mail and
n orth American lines is now: First cabins
$1G0; second cabin, $50; Storage, $40. Some
100 passengers have gone in the three steam
ers which have left this port for the Isthmus
since January l. This is better than to stay
at home with nothing to do, though it is pity
to lose these enterprising men from the At
lantic States. California is exempt, to great
extent, from our business reverses. Its re-
sources are unlimited, and most prudent men
who go there are successful.
A Few days ago the ship Leibnitz, an emf
grant vessel arrived at this port from Ham
burg with 353 passengers out of 1856 who left
Hamburg, one hundred and foe persons haU-
ing died on the 0oyage, and their bodies Hro,cn
into the ocean More than 100 of those who
arrived are broken down in health and consti-
tuition by their sufferings. The disease is call
ed by the off GERS of the ship, cholera. No
such thing. The deaths were wholly among
the poor class of emigrants who cannot pay
for cabin passage. There were no deaGhs in
the cabin or among the crew. The fact is,
these foreign emigrant ships are merely the
shambles of death, where the families of poor
cmigrants are driven by starvation and ILL
usage to sickness and death. This is the Sc
cret of the terrible fatality on board the Leib-
nitz. Who ever heard of such horrible calam-
tiles ON board American ships? 1t is high
time for Congress to do something in this mat
ter. If nest of European merchants can
become citizens of our country, by the hum
dred, to crafty their cupidity, let their ships
be made an example of, and if need be, scut-
tied ,at our docks; or let no emigrant land on
our shore unless he comes on the deck of an
American ship where he is well taken care of.
These Germans make our best citizens. They
are an industrious people and most OF them
go to work and cultivate our bOundless acres
in the Great West. The statistics of the year
1867 show that out of 242, 81 foreigners who
arrived at the port of New York during the
year, III ,591 were Germans. The next high
est are the Irish, who number IS 134; the next
the English, who number SO, 712; the next, the
Scotch, who number 6,315. Thus it appears
that the whole number of Germans, lrishmen
Englishmen and Scotchmen, who came to
this country last year is 222,752, out of the to-
tai of 242 81 from the whole world. The
largest number of emigrants that ever arrived
in this country in one year was 300 1892, who
came to this port in 1852
The Commissioners of Emigration in this
city have done all they could to protect the en-
how hoa,, incl;
ed-yet the barbarous work goes on, and the
scenes ON board the Leibnitz still repeat them
selves. The remedy is with Congress- A line
of American emigrant steamships can be es-
tablished under Government aid, controlled
by American enterprise and humanity Let
this be done, and the foreign pest-ships may
be swept from the ocean.
A recent investigation of the gas business in
this city reveals the fact that most unreason-
able profits are made by the gas companies.
What the citizens pay from twenty-five to
thirty-fve cents for costs the companies only
twelve cents. New York is supplied with gas
principally by three companies, the Manhat-
tan, the New York, and the Metropolitan.
There are nearly 2400 street lamps in New
York, and the city pays for gas over 100000
annually. With all the talk of the economy
of the private manufacture of gas, very little
of it is done, few of the leading hotels at pres
ent manufacturing their own gas. The gas
companies do about as they please, and are in
many cases extortionate and abusive. An at
tempt will be made to induce the Legislature
to regulate the business and protect the gas
consumers.
A very nice piece of speculation has lately
been achieved. By legislative enactment a
portion Of the main pipe of the Croton Aque-
duct is to be moved from where it now leads to
the reservoir, through Ninetieth ST. and down
Eighth Avenue. By this means the proprie-
tors of the land on the old line find themselves
again in possession of the property for which
they originally got their pay from the city,
The property comes back into their hands at
greatly increased value, and they besides
pocket the amount of the damages originally
paid them an interest thereon for about thirty
years, the city bearing the expenses of the re-
moval of the pipes. This shows how legisla-
ton subserves private interests.
Dickens has been reading in Plymouth
Church. Vanderbilt is getting hold of a con-
tinuous line of railroads from New York to
Chicago. Albany draws the leading politi-
clans just at this time. Beecher has been
speaking for the information of cyprians and
the Midnight Mission" Cooperative eating
houses are coming into vogue, where man
subscribes So stock, takes the amount in tick
cts, and has share of the profits. The ice
and Hell-Gate have made some trouble with
the Sound steamers recently. Eghty-four
thousand people visited the Central Park skat-
ing houses last Sunday. They don't allow
skating on Sunday ON the ponds of Prospect
Park in Brooklyn. NASSAU.
ANOTHER Book BY THE QUEEN-Late files
of English papers have extracts from the
Queens new book entitled s'Leaves from the
Journal of our Life in the Highlands, from
1913 to 1861" These extracts show a strongly
marked sentimentalism. We might almost
say that the Queens prodigality of adjectives
and evident preference for superlati res are
sus gestive of young ladies' boarding school
and the literary productions emanating there
from. In regard to her gillie, John Brown.
concerning whom there is SO much scandal the
Queen says:
The same who, in 1863 became my regular
attendant out of doors everywhere in the
Highlands, who commenced as gilie in 1849
and was selected by Albert and me to go with
my carriage. In 1851 he entered our service
permanently, and began in that year leading
my pony, and advanced step by step by his