The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1879-05-28
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
NEW YORK. Nav 2eth. 1873.


messed some extraordinary transactions.
The enormous subscriptions to the new
four per cent. loans made by our bankers,
who, contrary 10 all precedent. astonished
the Treasury by taking the bonds by the
hundred millions. were events as memoir
able as they were gratifying; and the
present rush for the new ten dollar ccrtiii-
Gates Is no less worthy. This loan Is
tlOatcd entirely without pushing. or the
Intervention of the banks, aud even under
restrictions intended to retard its absorb
ton: hut the rush for them here Is ire
mendous. The Sub-rreasury on Wall
Street and the Post-Oflice are the points
of supply, aud every day, long before the
opening of the doors for selling, the
waiting crowd Of applicants would give a
stranger the idea that each OF the great
stone buildings was some popular Nlace
of amusement ut which the supply Of
tickets was limited. Ofthe two the Post
Office sells by far the larger proportion.
At twelve o'clock last Monday there were
probably about three hundred women,
men. girls and boys in line at the Post
Office. waiting their turn to buy. Per-
haps one hundred were women. The line
extended from near the northeast corner
of the building way ground past the cash
ier's window, and thence to the Broadway
side. One male and one female are alter
nately allowed to visit the cashiers win
dow. The sales do not begin until ten
o'clock. and yet the line begins to form at
about seven o'clock. so eager is the rush
for good place. The supply of certti-
Gates is frequently exhausted by one
O'Clock. and then there is long line Of
the disappointed ones.
Each applicant is allowed only 500
worth. In order to obtain larger quantl-
ties :. repeating" is very frequent. Nearly
hundred people have been turned out of
the Post-Ofice for this ollense in one day.
Some sharp boys are making quite re-
spectacle living by taking places in the
line, and when they get near the window
selling out their positions to impatient
and bona fde purchasers. The clerks have
to work like beavers during the hours OF
sale. and sell on an average $3.50 worth of
certificates per minute. All sorts of pcO-
pie are the customers of the government
in this transaction, though the lower and
middle classes of course preponderate.
Some of the investors are professional
beggars. For several days the number of
blind men in the line was noticeable. and
afterwards there seemed to be Il special
visitation of cripples, so numerous were
the one-legged, one-armed and deformcd
persons in the waiting thrOng. Thus far,
the sales of these certificates in n. \ i have
amounted to nearly three millions OF dol
lars, of which amount the Post-Ollice has
probably disposed of thrce-fourths, and
the Sub-HrCasury of the remainder. 1t is
reported that the printing facilities of the
Government are to be increased mt oncetO
meet this unexpected demand. Who says
we are poor people?
The Mayor of this city has recently
been the recipient of a petition the like Of
which. | am firmly convinced, no mayor
ever received bcfore-being nothing more
or less than the prayer of twenty-siX mil
liners to have their trade protected from
the competitive violence Of their neigh
bors. For many years Division Street
between Catharinc and Market. has been
Il centre for the millinery trade of the
cheaper sort. On the west side of this
street there were. not long ago, no fewer
than titly-onc milliners' shops all in Il
row. As may be imagined, COMPETE
ton is the life OF trade in this ncighbor-
hood. Firmly convinced that the world
owed her u living, the proprictrcSs Of
each of the tifty-One establishments rackcd
her brains ana her resources sou css TO KEEP con-
course it was quite impossible for every
one Of them to succeed in this laudablc
ambition. Natural selection and the sur
vival of the fittest did as usual their re-
morsclcss work, and eventually Il fOrmid-
able minority of the 1ifty-one found them
selves slowly but surely approaching the
wall. Up to this point, we may suppose,
history being silent on the subject, that
the contestants confined themselves with
in the bounds tolerablc business fair play.
That is, number one for instance would
doubtless tell Il customer that numbers
two to iitty-one inclusive We're artflll huS-
sizes who never paid their bills and kept
nothing but last years STOCK, but would
perhaps hesitate to go further than that,
But at last fOrDearance ceased to be
virtue with the aforesaid minority and he
role measures were resorted to, to prop
up their tOttering fortunes. Each hired
one or more stalwart damsels to stand in
front of her establishment and gather in
unWary pasSerS Of the feminine denomi-
nation. Their instructions were positive
to bring in customers; peaceably if posi-
Bile, but in any case to bring them in.
The practical wording of this new sys-
TEN may be inferred from brief but pa
thetic quotation from the petition to
which | have already referred: The
millinery business on Division Street has
been lately and is still carried on in a
most disgraceful mannGr--so much so
that respectable lady is unable to walk
through the street without being insulted
by some of the girls who are hired for the
purpose of pulling ladies in to purchase
hats against their will, 1t was but lately
that u shawl was torn off q woman's
shoulder by trying to pull her into the
store. The other day lady passed thro'
the street with baby in her arms, and
one of the girls of the store, trying to
pull her in, almost dragged the baby out
of her arms, and hundreds of similar cases
we cannot describe to you.'
Ills Honor has not yet sufficiently re-
covered from the shock produced upap
eiae Jaet FL iie'' viii appeal to the Presio
dent for troops or trust entirely in this
emergency to the local militia. Surely
something ought to be done. and tint
quic@ly not so much on ooUouuL Or une
fair complainants as for the sake of the
hapeless males resident in the neigbor-
hood OF the riotous milliners. The prone
ness of feminine humanity to bonnets and
their concomitant ribbons, has been recog-
nizcd as a great problem to be dealt with
ever since the first fig leaf. Fathers, hus-
bands and brothers have suffered and
"bled'' under it, while sisters and cousins
and aunts have throughout recorded gen.
erations passed more and more hopelessly
under its thrall. 1t has often been pro-
posed to station sentries about the millin-
ers shops, to gently, but firmly, dissuade
women from entering therein, and thus to
aid them in resisting their natural ten
denotes. and now, to have the order of
things reversed--to have physical force
called in to aid, instead of REFRESHING this