Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-10-24
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
The Foreign Element-Where Ii Lo.
Gates Itself, and What 1t Is Composed
TIE FOREIGN ELEMENT.

| - PAO lOlCAZh-OOlu. Ut
American population comes from all III
States and Territories, fer business inter
ests drive just so many from every local.
ty to this common centre. The South il
fully represented here. The war ruined
hundreds of thousands of Southerners
who were compelled to do some busines:
that they might live, and they drilied into
New York, because, being a cosmopolitan
city, they would stand better show oil
getting something to do that they could
live at. There are thousands of ex-Cap-
tains, Colcnels and Generals of the ex-
Confederacy in New York; in fact the
number is so great that, in the event OF
another conflict between the sections, 1t
would be a question as to where New
York would stand. Take the strong Dem
ocratic majority, and add to it the enor-
nous Southern element that has settled
here since the war, and the great city
might be fairly counted on the side of the
South.
But it was not of native foreigners that
1 started TO write
The foreign element proper has always
been immense, and of late years it has
swelled beyond anyone's idea. 1t has
grown to that extent that each nationali-
ty has made its own settlements, and has
own communities The
FRENCH
occupy the territory bounded by Canal,
Amity, Broadway and South Fifth ave
nue. Within the territory you never hear
q word of German and very little English
You might as well be in Paris. The oc-
cupations followed are peculiarly French.
There are French laundries, French
boarding houses, glove cleaners, boat
makers, feather cleaners, and occupations
of these natures. The French are by
themselves, and have their own associa-
tions and amusements, and fraternize
with no other people. They do not ex-
pect to stay IN America-they are here
till they can accumulate enough to go
back to France This is their ambition.
They are, however, a sober, industrious
and useful people Crime is almost un-
koWn among them, and although they
may be very poor they manage somehow
to support themselves. They are terribly
divided, for the political amin osities that
rend the French people at home are
brought with them. Their politics are
all French, and they take very little in
terest in the affairs of this country. They
seldom are naturalized, and very seldom
are seen at the polls. What they want
is to get money enough to give them
competency in their own country. The
JEWS
are scattered all over the city, but they
have their centre. The district bounded
by Canal, Houston and the Bowery is ex-
clusIvely Jewish. The butcher shops have
every one of them the mysterious Hebra- |
ic character that indicates the killing of |
animals after the orthodox fashion. They |
follow ali sorts of occupations. They set |
glass, there are whole streets of them |
dealing in birds, they rake the cutters for
rags and scraps of paper-they do any
thing that will turn an honest penny.
They all start poor, but very few of them
stay so. When few hundred dollars are
a little shop takes the place
Of the peddler's basket, or a small ware
house takes the place of the bag and
nook. Unlike the French, they come to
stay, for in no country in the world are
hey given SO many privileges. They
Use in life rapidly, and adapt themselves
o circumstances, as water seeks its level.
When the peddler's basket has grown to
/ shop, and the shop has swelled to u
Broadway store, the Jew, whose industry
las made 1t, leaves his dingy quarters in
he locality have named and blooms out
n a fashionable house up town. He does
lot quit being Jew, nor does he go back
lpon his race or their customs-he sim
,ly reaches out for a better, broader life
or more comforts, and for recognition in
society. For the Jew, oppressed as he
has been in all the countries of the world,
wants nothing so much as this, an ac-.
knoWledgement that he is man, and
,ood and useful one. The elder Jews
lold very closely 10 their religion and
but the second generation do
lot You will see in the clubs young
Jews who are living on the wealth their
athers have accumulated, who haYe
Ibandoned entirely the faith and the GUS
oms of the race A fast young Jew is the
astest man in the world. Young Wash
Nathan, whose father was murdered some
Iears ago, is type of the class. The jew
sh element is very large, and is one of
he most us eful in the city. There is
prejudice against it, but dispite that pre-
udice, they are good, useful, orderly,
luiet, prosperous citizens. While they
re in a state of poverty, they are indus
rious and law-abiding. When they be-
ome rich, they are pushing and progress
We. They have built the best buildings
n the city, and there is no great work in
he city in which Jewish names will not
,e found profusely sprinkled.
THE NEGROES
ire not to be classed as foreigners, but
hey are distinctive race. They have
elected the Eighth Ward as their grand
entire, though there are large colonies of
hem in other parts ofthe city. There is
10 class of people in the city more dIvld-
d than the cOlored. They feel the most
ntense anxiety to get on in the world, for
ince emancipation and enfranchisement
ave given them a show in the world, they
rant all there is of'it. The negro who
as amassed money Is a king among
hem, and there are many OF these mon
rchs. They are orderly, hard working,
industrious and saving.
here is very little crime among them.
nd very little drunkenness or dissipation,
iufey is very good man, and gives
romise of being a great deal better.
THE FRESHMAN
everywhere, and he is here, just what ]
e is everywhere. Thousands upon
thousands of the sons of Erin have risen
10 affluence and distinction. They really d.
overn the city, for they act together
nd work together, and they are consoli-
ated as 10 WELD a power beyond what
heir number entities them to- They are |