Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1870-06-22
A DAY IN THE SMOKE.
The RAILROAD MEN At PITrsBURC,
WHAT THEY SAW THERE.


some forty five miles outside of Pittsburg BY
delegation of officials and prominent business
men Of that city on hospitality intent, and al
most before we had washed off the dust and Crime
of days travel, at the Union Depot hotel, they
were on hand with programme blocked out for
our entertainment, the feature for that night
being visit to the places Of amusement in the
city. The performances were not noteworthy
and the theaters are rather dingy; but one
feature struck me as well.worth imitation
by our Washington managers, and more
particularly by our police. The theater
being rather crowded, some of the audience
undertook to place chairs in the aisles,
but were promptly checked by the ushers, who
explained that the act would render the mana
gers liable to fine of fifty dollars, and that the
police would enforce the peHdItyl We have laws
against blocking up the aisles of places of
amusement in Washington, but nobody ever
heard Of their being executed. And a Wash
ington usher who should undertake to keep the
Passages OF a theater free under any absurd
pretense of Interference by the police, would be
considered quite unit for his business as a
Washington car-conductor who should be green
enough to stop at a crossing to pick up transfer
passengers. Our Metropolitan Police is in many
respects the best in the world but Is the weakest
just in those points where 1t should be the
strongest. E., in the execution OF disagreeable
laws. Every visitor to the seat of government
Is amazed by the sight OF hogs, geese. goats
and COWS running at large in all the streets.
and is disposed to charge the discredit-
able spectacle upon our Lawmakers; bar
we have stringent laws on the subject, only the
police will not execute them. So of the law nro-
viding for the safety of visitors to places of
amusement, the police will not execute il. No
one who has seen our leading theater on a
crowded opera night blocked up in all its pas
sages with chairs, and with but a single exit for
the entire house, but must look upon il as a
regular murder-trap in case of fire or other ac-
eident. There will be = terrible Responsibilities
for somebody to bear in case of such accident
with its terrible loss of life; and in all kindness
We advise our police authorities to take a hint
from the manner in which the Pittsburg police
enforce such laws.
A Day I'm the smoke.
This morning early a delegation of We solid
men OF Pittsburg, including the Mayors of
Ptsburg and Allegheny City, took Us in
charge for a days sightseeing amongst the
great manufacturing establishments of the
Smoky City. The day opened with the ever
lasting rain that followed us all the way from
Washington; and a rainy day in Pittsburg has
probably elements of he disagreeabIe such As a
rainy day has nowhere else on the globe. On
sueh day the coal-smOke is packed down in
this narrow hedged-in valley as il in a well. and
there Is a moist smireh and smut upon eyery-
thing touched that is twice as disagreeable ga
the unpleasant smirch and smut of a dry day.
The Aristocracy Of Turned Up Trow.
The milIionaires of Pittsburg, the great IRON
masters, and men of steel and of glass pride
themselves upon a sort of fist-boatman simplicity
of dress Our escort, which perhaps embraced
three-quarters of the wealth of this rich city,
was headed by David A. Stewart, the Stewart
Of the famous Columbia oil wells, and of the
great Pittsburg Locomotive Factory, who wore
dollar felt hat that looked as if it had served as
q mark for q target company, and had his rough
and ready trOwsers turned up at the bottom, at
least foot higher than any state of mud would
demand. Mayor Brush, of Pittsburg, had has
pants turned up; Mayor Callow, of Allegheny,
had has pants turned up. President Carpe Ole
OF the Union Iron Mills, had his turn, ed nm: 40
had Messrs. Park, of the DiamoDS, Steel Works;
Pitcairn, of the Glass worL.. French, of the
Steel Spring Works. md all the rest of them.
Ii was evidently re correct thing to do at
fitsOufg' II WI are anybody. and we turned
ours up,
Looking for the Corpse.
Our liberal entertainers must have engaged
pretty nearly all the hacks in Pittsburg for our
accom- mediation, and our procession as IL left
the Union Depot Hotel was quite long IL not i'm
posing. Ii had never struck me that our party
was particularly solemn one; but the gloom of
the Pittsburg smoke and SCOT may have had a
depressing effect. Anyhow we soon noticed
that the by-standers after the first look of in
quiry invariably turned their eyes towards the
head of the line as If in quest of the corpse. We
were set down as a first class funeral process
sion.
The Iron Mills Of Pittsburg.
Our first stop was at the Union Iron Mills
which are devoted to the manufacture OF iron
bridges, nre-proof building material, &c
Pittsburg, from its wonderful conjunction of
navigation, and manufacturing supplies COAL
iron, petroleum, chemical salts, &C., may be
said to be the most favored spot on the surface
OF the earth for manufacturing operations in
iron, steel, glass, &C. So partial has Nature
been to Pittsburg in her gifts that her manu-
facturers are able TO compete with the rest OF
the world, with heavy odds in their favor.
Thus in the matter OF iron bridges, the Key
stone Bridge Company, in the service Of which
these Union Mills are engaged, has virtually
the monopoly Of iron-bridge building for the
country. The extent of its operations Is only
limited by the exteTt Of its capacity to perform
work Mr.. j. III. Linville, President OF the com
pany, tells me that the work contracted for this
year win amount to about 5000 900. This in
clades the great bridge at ST. Louis, having
three spans Of SIS feet; that In Cincinnati 1000
feet long and with spans from 200 to 40 feet;
that at Belaire (fcr the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad) having one span Of 800 feet, one of 2iO
and three OF 300, bridges at Keokuk, Middle
town, Connecticut, Baltimore, and at points all
over the country.
The reputation on the Pittsburg-made bridges
. due largely, no doubt, 70 the care given to the
working Of the iron. For instance, the iron
here Is worked to sustain g, 900 pounds to the
square inch, while the strength required is but
1000 to the square inch.
other Works.
The Diamond Steel Works OF Messrs Park
Brother S Co. was the next Pittsburg "lion'
visited. Our railroad men were greatly inter
ested here with the exhibition of the quality of
he homogeneous steel made by hammsriny IL
Id and doubling IL down in repeated layers
Sithout a particle Of fracture. Only experts in
these matters could appreciate the real excel
lence Of this work, and those of this class in our