The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-01-01
Union depot, new music hall. and uptown

all the auxilIary organizations seem well
sustlined.
There is also a longiist Of benevolent,
social, endowment, military, and other
bodies, which cultivate the amenities Of So
cial life--care for the sick, bury the dead,
and succor the widowed and orphaned.
Some years back it was reproach to
Richmond that there was no hospital here
except that c,'nnccted with .he Almshouse.
II Is a happy evidence Of progress thai we
now Laye two psher excellent ones, doirg
work beyond price for people OF this
community. and attracting from distance
many pay patients who avail themselves OF
the skill OF the Richmond Faculty.
The review OF police operations strength
ems the reputation OF our force for
watchfulness and zeal, and gives the char.
acter Of offences coming under their eye.
The records Of the courts show that in
the year past-as for time, almost out OF
mind Richmond, for city OF her size,
has been happily free from shocking
crimes. Although the administration Of
Justice was never lax here. and has at
some periods been rigorous, it has been
more than dozen years since within our
jurisdiction any one has suffered death on
the gallows. And OF crimes Of less degree
we have by no msonS reached the figures
OF mos, cities Of Our population.
MANUFACTURES AND THE JoBBING TRADE.
Our manufacturers did nobly for the
city in 1883. Generally speaking, they
had over-production and low prices TO con-
tend with; vet, the comparative figures are
as follows:
Number establishments. TIA ITO
Number hands employ
cd NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. J6,S14 ID'Sl 8
Capita in business. ~ ] ,525,430 S11.213,6s0
Annual sales. ...........$2s,297O61 S2S,O61 1892
A pleasing item that goes into our ex-
bibit is the number of worthy girls and
women who are nov able to find employ
ment in the manufactories-employ
that is respectable, that is fairly remunera-
tive, and that is suited to their strength.
The mass of them are in cigarette and pa
per-box factories, -binderies. and
manufactures OF gentlemen's furnishing
goods.
The iobbing trade OF Richmond for the
year amounts to about S19,5OO,0O0. More
goods were sold than ever before, and that
in the face OF the keen and never-resting
competition of larger cities. Our drum
mers have to fight for every inch OF terri
tory they enter. That they have done it
we'll is demonstrated by the fact that they
have held all their old ground and ac-
quired new. They have "talked Rich
mond up" in the mountains and valleys
and plains Of this old Commonwealth and
Of West Virginia; they have secured new
customers in the fast-developing western
part OF North Carolina, and held to their
old friends in the Tidewater country Of
that State; they have been all over South
Carolina and Georgia, and have found lis
teners and buyers in those States and in
Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky. AS
for the representatives Of the tobacco trade,
they have been almost from Canada to
Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Tobacco has OF late been bringing pretty
good prices, but nearly everything else we
had to sell was low. Low prices, small
profits, sharp competition-with all these
checks Richmond has planted her goods
aud established the enterprise and relia-
bility OF her houses far and wide, and now
has a foothold IN capital, experience, and
customers, from which it Will be difficult,
with moderate sagacity on our part, for
our rivals to dislodge US.
MUNICIPAL TERPRIsE, NEUROLOGY. &C.
The new City Water-Works were fully
complC Tod during the year; the Gas-Works
were r, |, and after February 1st
the price "a. . will be lowered from 81 to
s1.5Oper thousand feet; Shockoe creek was
walled in from Broad to Franklin; the
Church-Hill avenue was pushed forward
considerably; good deal Of granite paw
ing was done on Main and Broad streets,
and the thoroughfares of he city generally
were largely improved.
On'v limited amount OF work was done
on IT," river-improvement; but thorough
e<' lg of the channel lately made proves
ne "jetties" do certainly force the
am to do its own securing. No new
bars accumulate in the channel. The I'M
provemcnt is permanency and success.
The health Of the city has been good, the
nu nber OF deaths having been 1,7SS
against 1,so6 in 1882 and zoos in 1881.
In the neurology will be found the names
Of many well.known citizens-many gen.
tie and generous ones whose faces are
withdrawn forever from our busy places,
from our society, and from our homes.
A great event Of the year was the elcc-
ton Of November 6th-following can
vass which aroused the people as they had
not been since f26Q--ip which the Demo- |