Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-04-15
FIRST EDITION.
OUR PHlLApEr P1EIA LETTER.

ToPles-THE CITY N THE PARK-REv. MR..
clLFELr's oAsE-rHE AMERICAN STEAM
SHIP LINE, &c, &c
Special Correspondence OF the Commercial.
PHILADELPHIA, April Il, 1876.
The Legislative Committee having in
charge the Investigation of affairs at the
rather two reports. The major part of the
committee tiud in brief, that the charges
were substantially we'll founded while a
minority report fails to see much i'll the
charges That there would be division
has bsen for some time probable, but there
was every hopa that the weight of it would
have been the other way. Any one who
has read the testimony can see that the
greater part OF it is utterly trivial and in-
spired very evidently by jealousy and other
personal considerations. That there was
some looseness in the administration OF the
House is seen. but its opponents have
failed entirely in showing corruption, or
any abuses which do not admit of simple
explanation or which may not be easily
remedied. This will be the popular verdict
no matter how the committee. may have di-
vided it's report.
The result of the census of the city ap-
pears to be received i'll the main with sauis-
faction but there ia a conviction in many
quarters that the enumeration is not free
from error. Allowance is to be made for
occasional mistakes IN all such calculations,
but the fear III this case is that the basis of
computation was wrong. Thus the i'm
preston was given that it was proper 60
| include in the - family" of which each
| householder was asked to give return,
statistics of all visitors at that time on the
premises. There is reason TO believe that
| this was done in numerous instances and 1t
would be hard to claim such figures as hav-
ing anything TO do with the true population
of Philadelphia. But as more than an or
set to this may be placed the ignorance or
indifference of the lower class of people.
Simple as the instructions were there were
hundreds OF houses in which they could not
be read Or where they were imperfecty un-
derstood. Very probably more was lost
through this sort of density than was un-
fairly counted on the other side, SO that SIT, :
AS, che announced population for the Cen
tennal year, is under rauAer Ghan above the
true figure.
Il ID DOUBTFUL if the plan of taking CEN
sus which has just been given trial Is as
satisfactory as the securing Of the informa :
tlonby qualified agents. If all house holders
were Intelligent it would be much the best
way, the surest, cheapest and quickest. 1t
is the dunderheads that spoil the caicula-
|, tion, and it is only when some such test is
fat that it h ras lied l4F -4sl'y y! tue
stupid parties there are. The agent going
! from house TO house learns by experience
how to elicit the very information needed,
but even large force of workers would
take a much larger time to reach result
than the method of self registration with
police c1llections AT all events the popu-
laJiou is not less than Sl7 445, which is an
increase since 1870 of 143.UO0 inhabitants.
see no reason TO modify :my opinion
that the Exposition must be i'll very un-
finished condition on the 10Th of hlay.
walked through again yesterday, and though
/ week had clap sed since my previous visit,
and Though thag week was d full fourth OF
{ the interval running up to the opening
there was no very material change in the
position of affairs. or course great quan
. titles of goods were received i'll that time
but the space TO be filled is SO enormous
that the receipts, large as they are, do NC
seem to make much show. The abolition
of the terminal charges was good move
for there is evidence showing that mucl
: dissatisfaction was CAUSED in that direcUlon
V If packages had all been made up as large
as possible, each including many article
. the charges would not have been onerour
/, fragile articles, prefer sep lrate packages
l. and the charge of dollar Tor the handling
of such small matters was felt to be eX
cessiYe.
: The beauty of the International idea noy
l. begins to dawn on the people. The princi
:. pal interest with US Id in the foreign eX
i hibit, and 30 foreigners may be supposed t
0 take the greatest concern in ours. Fac
n will find In the other something he LA
not in himself, and thus will be perfecte
the oneness of design which the far.s e5ln
projectors imagined. just now the mo-
II curiosity is shown i'll the Japanese an
i Chinese. The Spaniards come next in II
~ gard, for although | eople much as ou
- selves they speak another tongue. The
,t rank France and Norway. Germany v
+ have got SO used to as hardly to nod it
! novelty. The Japanese display will
- - very tine-lncomparably the greatest this
~ that strange land has ever made outside
T. T. its own bo ders AS workers the Japane.
!, excite never-ending curiosity. They hay
- been seen 80 far only as carpenters al
they can give many good Ideas TO America
y w1rkmen, But their methods are vel
t,' strange to the native eye. You will see
a man making a roof who never once put Ii
= knee ON piece Of seantling. All is dol
~. in standing position, the Jap using b
feet almost as deftly as a Yankee carpent
uses his hands. The work is OF the vel
lis BEST bat it would be rather an interestil
sy computation to make out how long it won
We have taken to rear the Exposition building
&C. with the deliberation shown by the Japa
to ese mechanics certainly, years would ha'
been required where months have suffice
The nelghborhood of the ExpostiC
he ground is almost as wonderful thing
be look at as the ground itself. You ha
D heard that city has sprung up around Il
'r. enclosure, and while that statement
We hardly an exaggeration it does not exact
describe the fact. 1t is a kind of drea
=. city. 1t bustles with life, yet shows, in a
De oe that it was not meant to stay. 1t has d
5o air of a seaside resort, and while
u breathes the soul of business has all t
charm Of holiday time. But can all the
ho preparations be needed? To look up
tie ue the miles OF restaurants of all grad
na lls stretching in every direction, one wou
ns think that the whole hungry and thirf
world was TO assemble at Fairmou
mn Park to eat, drink, and have its fill. La
OF caster Avenue, Glrard Avenue, and ma