New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-01-08


mains to be seen how long-ltved the advantage Of
the lottery company Will be. Congress should
promptly amend the laws In the manner suggested
in our Washington dispatches yesterday, by re-
moving the word fraudulent" as applied to "lot-
teres from the last section of the statutes In which
1t still sticks 1t will not be in the power Of the
companies then to cite any section Of the law In
support Of their claim that only such lotteries as
can be shown to be "fraudulenty" or dishonesty
| conducted be deprived of the use of the mails.
Representative Brownies proposed bills Furnishing
any newspaper published in the District of Column
bia or in any Territory, which prints lottery adj
| vertisement aud any person who mails such paper,
is step in the right direction, Washington Is a
| hotbed of lottery-dealing, the great gath
| ering there of persons with moderate in
comes making q splendid field for the sharpers.
General Gresham, who probably inspired these
bills, has given notice that Post Office clerks
buying lottery tickets will be removed As this Is
| but form of gambling, the POstmaster-General is
merely doing what any employer would probably
reserve the right to do under similar cir
| cumstances.
| "FOr revenue only" is the motto which Tn
| Washington Post puts at the head Of its columns
But the repetition of perfectly well known fact is
not exactly the province of bright newspaper.
| The high hopes that were entertained of the ex-
| plOration into the Florida Everglades by The
| Times Democrat of New-Orleans have been disap-
pointed. 1t was believed that the interior portions
Of the supposed great swamp might be found to be
| found elevated and reclamable and of value for
farming purposes 1t was also hoped that it would
be found practicable to build telegraph line from
the cable on the west coast Of Florida across to
Jupiter Inlet on the eastern coast where all YES
| sells pass from the West Indies and the Gulf, and
where their arrival could be telegraphed north
ward. The exploration made with great labor in
| canoes over distance of nearly 300 miles, shows
that of these expectatiOnscan be realized. The
| great swamp is a swamp and cannot be made any
| thing else. The lands if they can be called so,
are worthless for any purpose of cultivation, and
not even the proposed telegraph line can be set up
and maintained. This will put at rest forever all the
legends of generations past about uxuriant and fer
| tile regions within the Everglades. They must be
left to the Indians who still haunt them and
| have done so since the days of OsceOa and the
| Seminoes.
| General Cochrane gives as his reason for going
| back to Tammany Hall that the Republican party
is one of protection, while he is in favor of revenue
reform. The General has got into party now that
is in favor of revenue, the taxpayers of New
York can testify, if not of reform. If Tammany
|
Of an equal numbero Of good impulses it would be a
benefccnt organization, fitted either for missionary
work the regeneration of the political heather.
Some of the Aldermen in Syracuse consider them
| selves injured men because fault has been found
with them for not being taxpayers They ought to
come to New York and join our Board of Aldermen.
Any taxpayer who gets IN that body IS certain to
find himself in the minority, and to be "sat down"
upon whenever he shows any sympathy for the peO
| pie who pay taxes. In Syracuse the members Of
| the Board of Aldermen paid altogether 1886 out of
| q total of $685., 937 raised in taxes in 1883. In
| New-York outside of the Republican minority,
which has little influence in the Board it is doubt
| full If the remaining members altogether contrib
uted 1896 out of a tax levy of nearly $29,000,000
| in 1888. Any Democratic Alderman who would
consent to pay taxes in this city would be cOnsid
cred ineligible for reelection. In the majority of
the districts the sole requirement for Democratic
! Alderman is the ownership of whiskey shop.
man who owns real estate or other taxableproperty
stands no chance of securing Democratic favor, es
pecialy if he allows himself TO be taxed.
| With singular arithmetical wisdom, The Herald
discovers that if the present surplus is kept up"
until 1907, cit will then amount to more than
Sl,4OO 600, 0OO" whereas the bonds then to be
deemed will be only S737, 632, $50. This is truly
dreadful, and it should make everybody free
! trader Mt once. The minor question how with
| drawal of 81 400, 900 900 from circulation may af-
feet the business of the country and consequently
| the revenue, or in what way the money, if not
| headed, is to be expcnded-that does not trouble
| truly arithmetical statesmen.
According to the vital statistics of the Board of
Health the population of this city has increased ten
| per cent in three years, and is 1,3j000G An
other indication of this rapid growth in population
is found in the traffic returns of the street railways
In 1850 the horse railways carried 4S,OGS369 pas
sengers and the elevated roads 0O,S3l 757 In 1888
the surface roads carried 175,094,523 passengers
and the elevated roads 90, 12i ALB, total of POS,
1879 GGG The total increase IN three years was over
So 900 900. For the five years from 1870 to 1850
| the total increase 43,000,O0O The number of
passengers now carried by the surface roads exceeds
the number carried by them before the elevated
roads were built and the same is true of the
buses 1t is clear that the population of the city is
growing rapidly; and it is equally clear that to ac-
commodate this enormous growth of travel during
certain hours Of the day there must be provided
further means of transportation. OF course the
travel increases in proportion to the facilities fur
nished There some portions OF the city, partlcu-
| larry on the West Side, which are now very made
0uately provided with means Of transportation of
any kind. When provision Is made to meet that
want no doubt millions OfdOllars worth of property
now lying unimproycd will be built upon, and thus
| much will be added to its taxable value The
Rapid Transit Commission, which is now consider
ing this subject ought to be careful to that the
interests of the city fully protected. The cable
system which has worked SO well in San Francisco
and Chicago has strong advocates before the Com
mission. 1t is claimed that the expense of moving
cars by cable is 40 per cent less than by animals.
If So fares should be placed proportionately lower.
There ought to be more valuable franchises given
| away.