New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-29

conoussion wa, over o number OF disabled citizens
were lying on the muddy pavement And IL
wasn't much Of @ day for pipes. either but IL
10 wildly inspiriting to read the statement of the
foreman of the gas company that AL the trencnes
arc the same and can light flame at almost every
one of the man-holes" 1t would appear, therefore.
that every death-trap-we should have said man.
hole-is likely at any time to initiate thst ~
Broadway and Maiden-lane. When the gas In tho
man-holes fails to come to time the steamppes can
be relied upon to put in some lively work on their
own account. Il may be expected, therefore, that
there will shortly be field day down town, when
thonan holes and steam-pipes shall combine to beat
the record.
Well, suppose tho much enduring citizen picks
himself up from the street and betakes himself to
his place Of business or bis home. there to ruo
off the lampblack and nurse his bruises He
has life to be sure, but has he liberty
or happinessf lie suddenly finds laborors invading
his premises and erecting ungainly telegraph poles
close before his windows Other men enter his
house to stretch wires across the roof. and having
once effected an entry, frequently reappear to make
repairs until his house Is his no longer. He starts
down town. perhaps contracting pneumonia whilo
waiting for LIP trains and changing cars and
when he reaches bis Office finds tho employees OF an
electric lighting company calmly and deliberately
drilling hole into his vaults In which to erect
pole. The attorney of the company which directed
the attack upon the vaults Of the Oriental Bank on
Saturday was oonsiderate enough to acknowledge
that tho law gave no power for TINS
species of breaking and entering. Therefore 1t
appears that the pole 10 TO be set up
near the curbstone and brsced with iron supports,
which will be pleasant TO- the individual who falls
over them as we'll as for the bank officers. These
recent additions to the burdens Of the Issachar-ke
citizen clearly show that he has no right TO his lire'
TO the security Of bis property. nor to his homo
This ia an eminenuy humbling thought and these
Affections may DO sent as @ rebuke to our pride and
to reduce us to state of BETTING meekness. 1t
may be that telegraph poles steam-ppes. street
excavations and gas explosions are but means OF
grace and that the men RESP onsible for them are
earnest but unappreciative laborers for our moral
welfare All this may be. and yet such Is the per-
versity Of human nature that feel sure the aver
age citizen while confessing that he has no rights.
even to a protest, would consent to deprive
himself of these efforts for his pur-
fcauon. He might. were be not utterly
crushed demand that the costly privileges accorded
an experimental system Of steam heating should
be Withdrawn. lie might ask that gas companies
should maintain close supervision over their pipes
He might insist that all telegraph wires should go
underground where they belong. And If this
wretched citizen were in earnest, and made bis de-
mands heard, some method of subterranean passage
for pipes and wires might be devised which would
be- permanent and do away with the continual tear
ing ND OF the streets. But the citizen Is crushed
lie makes no protest is content to lose his rights,
demands nothing, aud obtains nothing.