The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1876-08-11
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
HEAT AND HEALTH-1CE-THE TILToNs
LIBRARY PAY-BUsIEEsS
NEW YoRK, July II. 1876.
THE FAST MAIL.

some papers are making SO much fuss
humbug and a bIuuder from the first. and
never was of any use to any class bnt the
morning papers of New York. Business
closes here at p. NJ. and all the mail for
the day is put into the office at that hour.
/: leaves by the regular express at $40.
arriving at Cleveland the next night at z.
at Toledo at 1885. ard at Chicago the next
morning at 8. Now the fast mail leaves
New York at in the morning, and gets
into Toledo, Cleveland and Chicago. at
practically the same hour as the regular
train. There was ia 1t no earthly use to
theebusiness men either to the east or west,
and the expense of the extra train was an
entirely useless expenditure New York
sends out each week over 10, 900 sacks of
mail matter that originates in the city. be-
sides the vast amount of matter that comes
here for distribution. But the Govern
ment ought not to pay for special trains
just to give New York papers an advan-
tage over other cities, and that was all the
good effected by the fast mail train. 1t is
well if it s dead.
THE PNEUaATIC TUBE.
An experiment is being tried in this city,
or rather has been tried, that will work
revolution in the transmission of mail
matter. Hollow tubes have been laid from
the main Office of the Western Union Tele-
graph Company to its branches. In these
hollow tubes are placed leather boxes, con-
tanning MESA ges--the air is exhausted, and
III second the dispatch is at the other end
of the route. The Pneumatic Tube Is
cheaper than teiegra phing for messages of
any length, and as the experiment has
proved to be entirely successful. tubes are
to be laid i'll Philadelphia and Washington
very soou. The rate will be something
more than postage, of course, but it will
be nothing as compared to teiegraphing, as
four-page letter can be sent as cheaply as
ten words. Suppose the inventive genius
OF the age should apply this idea to pass
enger travel! How would it seem to be
boxed up, put in tube, and sent from
Chicago to New York in an hour? It may
come to that.
EMIGRANTs FROM A NEW SOURCE.
We have etnigrants from all the countries
of tile world bat Arabists~ atitt BOW that
country has contributed is quota. \ Inc
Arab stone-cutters having heard fabulous
accounts of the wages that We're bring paid
in this country, made their way IIitiler, and
landed in New York last week. iie poor
fellows could not speak word OF English
or any other language that could be ui.der-
stood by any one here, aud only by signs
did they make their wants known. they
We're disappointed to find that thousands
OF stone-ctltters We're ont of work. and
they had no means. of course they found
themselves in Bellevue Hospital, living at
the expense of the city. They are tail.
intelligent, fille-lookihg neu, and having
been given tools. showed wonderful prcfi-
cheney in their art. What is to become of
them heavea ONLY knows, There isn't
work for olt- halt the mechanics here. and
new-romerS fare badly. We could spare
Arabia enough stone-cuttcrs to build over
lis entire territory.
THE HEAT AND HEALTH.
Never in the history of the city has there
been o i term of heat. For almost
a month the thermometer has kept mp in
the iIineties. aud for many days together
going above a hundr.d; right along
through the night well as day. The
mortality among children has been fright
fu'. In tine lower part of the city where
they are hmldl.d d together in badly venti-
lafetl dens. where a hundred exist ih
room Insufficient for single family, the
poor inuaeeuts have died bv the thousand.
The physicians and charities have done all
that was possible, but to little purpose.
The children could not live III an atnos-
phere heated like Il ftirnace, in which air
could not come; and then their food was
mt such would enable them to withstand
tile tiyhiITating. effects of the heat. aud so.
despite Gf doctor aud nurse, the little ones
went by the thousand. In one of these
human hives in the lower part of the city,
o9e hundred and fifty children died during
tle month.
THE ICE QUESTION.
And Willie the heat IS so intense, and.
consequently. the uses Tor ice multiplying,
the ice companies. in the most heartless
manner. have doubled the price. No one
out of New York can appreciate how OPP
pressive such raise is. The water runs
on an average fifty miles in pipes. and be-
fore it reaches the consumer is as warm as
disll-water- In fact it is entirely mifit for
use. The ice business is in the hands of
two companies. an,l being titus placed. it
is huge IN monopoly. 70 erect iee-houses
on the Hudson, to build tiepots ilf the city.
to buy thousands of horses, and to fit up
thousands of wagons To deliver the Ice, re-
quires SO much capital that competition Is
impossible. and the whole city IS left at
the mercy of the two great corporations
that are in the business. They fix their
own prices and terms. aud the people are
thousands of people who are using o,,ly.
liaif what they should before the raise wifi
be compelled to do without 1t altogether.
and a fearful imerea . OF mortality iiiay be
looked for. But THE managers Of the ice
companies win not only have ice enough
for their champagne, but will have more
cf9s, for their Ire If Er.,r3f,3xv