The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1877-01-19
OUR NEW YORK LETTER
New YORK, Dec. 80. 1876.
BERGI AND THE HORSES.

NEW YORK, Dec. 80. 1876.
BERGE AND THE HORSES.
Bergh. the head OF the Society for the
| Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. cot af-
ter the horse car people the night before
Christmas in most delightful way. The
cars were unusually crowded, and heavy
| snow was falling. The car companies.
who are managed by the kind of men who
look upon man and horse as so much
money to be doubled in the shortest space
of time, We're dragging the cars up town,
loaded to twice their capacity, with the two
Horses usual 70 good weather. It was one
strain from the Post Office up town, aud
the jaded steeds only got on by pulling
their shoulders out of joint. At 23d street,
Bergh,s officers stopped every one of the
cars, and compelled them to stay there till
additional teams could be put on. There
was no help for it, and over three hundred
cars,afl loaded to their utmost with hungry
men, were held there an hour, till the
teams necessary to drawing them with
some degree of comfort could be brought
and attached. The passengers were as
wroth as the companies, but Mr.. Bergh in
of awakening them to the necessity of TAX
ing some interest in humanitarian move
ments. While he is about it he ought to
do something for the drivers, who are as
badly overworked as the horses, and not
half as well fed. The car driver i'm New
York is compelled TO work from fourteen
to sixteen hours a day, in freezing weather,
rain, snow or slcet, night and day, for
which they receive the munfieent sum of
81 .65! They are compelled to stand on
their feet all the time. and then there is
scarcely one of them who has not varicose
veins, or some ether disease brought on by
exposure, equally serious; and as severe as
is the labor, and hard as the work is, there
are thousands applying for the positions,
for every place that is vacant It is a
rather good proof ofhonesty that they work
at all at such wages, rather than steal.
But while the animals are taken care of,
there has been as yet no society organized
to prevent cruelty to men. The street cars
are so many mines of wealth, an6l-the COM
panies are enormously rich but their en-
ployees are harder worked and less paid |
than any in the city.
HIGH LIVING AND DEFALcAT1oNs,
The frequency of defalcations by young |
men holding confidential positions ex-
cites a great deal of remark. Every |
day some young man gets away to Europe |
in mysterious way; his books are exam |
ined and he is found to be defaulter to a |
large amount. Then his employers inyes- /
tigate. and it is found that he has been liv- |
ing fast, that he has been t3silppurtinr a |
woman, - and that his face is well known
In the gambling hells. If he is smart. ne |
has stolen and saved enough to be able to /
compromise with them; but as a rule he /
has squandered all that he has stolen, and /
has fed without money or character. |
knew one case of young man who belousr- /
edto two clubs his living at which cost hin,
not less than $4,000 year, who kent n /
mistress who required carriage for her 1
own use. and whose mid-eiay lunches never
cost him less than s.. At tho clubs M /
town he was supposed to be a partner II, I
the house and HIS extrayagant iIying was
not considered singular. It turned ont. |
however, that he was merely clerk on n /
salary VI, 500 year, and that his Clefalca 1
fions in two years footed up over 500. GOO I
AND ne got away to Australia with moth |
ing-,his mother sold stocks to get the few
nuhoreS1s l,,. r thas were necessary to take him
OUT OF New York. Every cent Of IL has
gone on his vices. His mistress sold Ills
carriages, horses and jewelry, and imlnesif-
ateIy proceeded to find another victim IL
Tnin. Another clerk, at salary Of 81 500
enoezzied IN about the same tune $50 0Oo.
when ne spent IA the same way. 1T Is 4
singular thing that the business of q nreat
house should be managed 50 as IN ,sSssles
snch thefts possible, but It Is 50; and thev
occur almost daily.
POLITICAL.
The holidays have taken tho s,,;r,t o,,, .s L
lhe politicians, and there is nothimg new