, 1879-07-27
NUMBER THEN.
The Only Way to Avoid a Great and
Growing Nuisance.
Instances Of the Defects Of the Present
System.


ia absolutely needful that something should b
done to provide better way Of distinguishing
one man from another. Complications OF all
sorts are constantly arising from the fact that
two individuals have the same, or nearly the
same, Christian and airnames- Everybody
knows the super1iulty OF John Smiths, or
Browns, or Andrew Johnsons, and even in
names which are less common there
are frequently duplicates,t tripllcates,
and quadsuplicates, which occasionally
give rise to annoying mistakes The wife o.
one man opeus the love-letter which was To-
tended for the unmarried man Of similar
name, and great grief ensues. It Is hard to fK-:
ure up the number OF broken hearts, and ruined
hopes, and lost fortunes which spring from this
fatal similarity of names. To nobody does thls
similarity bring more ve1ation than
TO NEWSPAPER PEOPLE.
The moment it Is stated In paper that, on the.
previous day, John Smith was brought, e:ty, be-
| fore Justice Walsh. charged vita Larceny and
bound over to the Criminal Court in $500, than
! a steady stream Of people begins setting intor
| the newspaper office, and they all bring little
| slips Of paper which stats thAt the notorious,
! John Smith who WAS arrested yesterday Is not
| to be coufoundcu with the j. 3. who keeps The
frst-c1ass tailoring establishment on the north
west corner OF such-and-such street, and
| whose prices have excited general admiration
! bY their rcasonableness Or "the John
! smith who keeps the first-claas
| saloon over on the West Side,
! and who requests that bis patrons will not ba
| deceived bY this similarity Of names, but Tfll
continue to favor him with their custom n; OF
Il tho John Smith so we'll and favorab]y known
to our citizens as Alderman from the Twenty
first Ward, and whose name has been proml-
nent}v mentioned by his friends as candidate
Even where the similarity is remote,-~here 1t
Is James Smith who has been run tn,-
John Schmidt, eager for freo pun;
! comes putting no the stairs and wants It stated.
that be, the gentleman who Keeps the Pr praVase aa
| school at such and such place, Is not the IN
/ diTiduai.
| SOMETHING WILL HAVE TO BE DONE
| to remedy this. In an earlier stage OF thk
worlds history It would have been enough to
describe person, and to say that the red"
headed Andrew johnson, with one finger gone
on the left hand, was yesterday arrested 10.
larceny. But there arc too many WITH red
heads, and too many minus finger.
It would apparently be ,. great .ossI, ne.p
man when arrested giving hts mouse NUMBER, 50
that the record might read, "John Brown. 70.
| 1000 River street, charged with larceny" But
| man VINO belongs TO the criminal class, either
| rs professionalism IS an amateur, 1snt al"av1
to be trnsted, and he might give the house nun
her OF some more respectable citizen, and 1t
might get in, in this wrong way, anu taen 1neIo
would be- d1tEculry. So it will probably be nee
essary to fall back upon
A SYSTEM or NUMBERING,
and to REQUIRE that each individual shall have
number bv which he shall be officially zno"n-
That number he can get from the City Clerk,
and he will nay for 1t certain license, Just pre-
cse}y rs be gets = number for bis express
wagon, ANY person who is found to have no
number will OF course be subjected to fines md
4 person is arrested it will be said that
John Smith, No. 462, 1871, was yesterday arrested,
etc. In this case all the other Smiths whose
numbers are anywhere between and 5OVeN
have no cause to complain, and all me aluHu..y
will be obviated. BY charging sman @ les.-say
of Sl.-a revenue OF about $3.50 oO0 per annnm
| can be obtainen for the city. As for the nun"
ber, it might be made either OF brass, or silver,
geld, according to the The taste ena ANITA Teatts
worn conspiculouslJ upon the hat, eost-eoaaS'
or any other prominent part OF the costume. ~
the addressing OF letters, and in thousand ana
one relations OF life, this admirable system Gs p
were considered awkward to carr5 number al
high as might be necessary with our large popn-
lation, then the system in vogue in bank S-noses
could be adoDt: sra 'ee pe5sfB12 or 2 u0a'a ~
and what sayeth the Scrtpsuress
| And ho c.useth all, both small and great, rich
and poor, sree and bond, to receive ma1k On
An And that no man might buy or sel save that b.
| had the number OF his name
| Here Ia wisdom.
| These are all crude hints, to be sure, and
| roughly thrown out, but the system - one
| which could be elaborated, and II the Mayor,
| and the Finance Committee, and the Superfn-
t tendent Ut Police will hold Cabinet council
over it some da5 this week they will probably b:
| abie to work out something which Viii rodouna
| in glory to them and profit to the city.
Now, for the lack Of such thing as this,
just
SEE wHAT TIE PAPER HAS TO DOS i!
| The A. Le Brun, who was held on the West
Side tue other day for criminal conduct. ID not
| the A, Le Brun who lives at No. 40 Indians
| avenue, nor is host 4. LIE Bruu who Is Ke
corder Brockway's CHIEF clerk, nor, again, 10 he
The 4. Le Brun who is employed In the 8upertn-
| tendcnt,s Office at the new Government Build
| ing, nor is be the Miss 4. LIE Brun living on the
| West Side. II there are my more A. lie bzunA
| who would like to have this thing explained,
they also can bo set rignt oV Applying NJ to1s
| office any time during this week.
! The Joseph Gooin who was arrested tne otheF
day on the charge OF keeping q policy snop,
committing adultery, etc, Is not the indlVlaaai
| OF the same name who has the laundry on Dear
born street. Nor IL it the Individual OF the
same name who cuts marble for living do"7
on Clark street.
OBITUARY.