Morning journal and courier., 1882-10-21
New York Markets


 The time to see the markets is urqusstion- | ably early in the morning; for, as we have said, it is then that business is alive and com petition keen. At Fulton o'clock sees tho ] thorou ghfares near the market thronged with coupes which bring the hotel keepers l to q consideration Of tho needful supplies for l the day. Scarcely a prominent hotel land lord in New York is absent from this carly visit of inspection. All purchases for hotels and restaurants are completed by 8 o'clock; | then the main business of the retail stand | holders consists in putting up orders received 1 by mail and attending to those transmitted by telegraph and telephone Since the gene ral adoption of the telephone the business of l the market has increased enormously. Many private families who formerly ordered from l ths nearest tradesmen now telephone their needs to the central market. And this new source of business would be still further in- creased if the cost of opening up such com munication here were not so high, costing as l it does SIP within the city limits, whereas in 1 the suburbs telephone connection Is made | for g.. 50, tho result being that an immense ] suburban business is carried on at the central markets. Ten or fifteen calls an hour Is the l usual average in ono office.
 4 good deal of interest attaches to the dec orations in Fulton market, which are mainly at the expense of tho stand holders. Some of them are very handsome in the aisle de-
 
 on the Beckman street side, tho filings are of polished maple and butternut, and the colored glass windows give very pleasant appearance to the whole. Tanks and aqua riums are conspicuous, and $120o0 has al ready been expended upon this one portion of the market The frontage is 150 feet, and this space incloses thirteen stalls. In this department the stand holders are ali ! men, but in the poultry and vegetable aisles many stands are rented by women Rents vary according to position and size of the stand. At present many temporary stands occupy the sideways, awaiting the compile ! ton of the central halI which is to be GOV cred with glass, and which, when completed, will change tho whole appearance of the market.
 Washington market remains open some what longer than Fulton, which closes at 6. even on Saturdays, whereas in Washington an enormous general business is done be- ] tween that hour and or 9 on Saturday l evenings, very great point of interest in connection with Washington Is the very large business carried with Brooklyn and the suburbs and the immense supply of beef brought to it's stands. Probably it is the l largest meat market in the world, and sup | plies not only hotels, restaurants, steamships 1 and companies, but the wants of the east 1 number of families who in a crowded neigh l borhood do their own marketing. All along | the river front the thoroughfares are crowded
 with express wagons plying between Brook | lyn, Jersey City and other districts and the ! market packages being delivered for 25 cents l apiece. Some of the items of consumption 1 are interesting, for example the fact that l since frogs legs came into fashion as a deli cacy from 1000 to 1,5OO pounds day are ] sold in summer. and the demand for turtles ] is largely on the increase. Some splendid l specimens of the latter succulent dainty are
 to be seen helplessly Tapping in Fulton mar l ket, and weighing over 300 pounds, which afford food for amazement for country visi- l tors apparently, however it is not necessa- l ry to label them, was recently done ln an up town store, Hands of, for the sake of l the turtle.''
 There is in New York an almost entire ab- sence of one of tho most noticeable features l of London city life and that is in the opsn- l air markets which are held in all the crowded l districts of the British metropolis once or | twice a week. These markets consist of open | stalls, which are ranged down either side of l large thoroughfares, and which, in spite of ! police regulations, do enormous trade. l Formerly something of the same kind existed ! in Eighth avenue, and a few hucksters may
 be seen on the avenues on the east side of
 the city but this bears no comparison to the
 sights to be witnessed every Saturday night
 in London and the poorer suburbs Every
 conceivable article for household consump
 l tion is there sold in the street, and wares
 I piled up in wagons are exhibited under the
 fickering glare of blazing oil lamps or torch
 es. There the cheap Jack reigns supreme
 l and there the saddest scenes in life's drams
 are often enacted. In such thronged dis
 tricts Dickens drew his inspiration, and to al
 l who are familiar with them there lies pa thos and appeal in them which is utterl, absent from city life on this side of th' l Atlantic, where, let the pressure of hart times be what it may, it can bear no com parison to the grinding heel of perpetua
 poverty which exists in the wealthiest ant most poverty stricken city in the world.