The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-11-07
Br0adbrim'S New York Letter.
Special to the CARBON ADVOCATE.

Special to the CARBON ADVOCATE.
The rapid change that is going on in
this city is startling. Ii you remain
away from q given locality few weeks
or few months, you have to inquire
your way. In many parts of the city
whole blocks of buildings are being torn
down, to make way for buildings more
magnificent and costly. A few years
ago the splendid depot at Forty-second
Street was ample for our inland COM
mercc-and now with its capacity
| doubled, there is not room enough to
! accommodate the mighty trains that
come laundering into it at all hours of
the day and night, As l stood looking
on the other night watching the arrival
and departure of the trains, could not
help asking myself If the Old Commo-
dore would recognize the Grand Depot,
of which he felt so proud, that he asked
no other monument. 1t seemed as if
the whole neighborhood was quickened
by new and wonderful life. The Old
time gloom had gone-the interior was
AS bright as day, there was hardly
part OF the vast structure that you could
not have picked up pin upon the floor
1t was not the magnificent electric
lights alonc-electricity was everywhere
there was no bawling or shouting or
noise; everything seemed to move with
the absolute certainty of fate. Electric
calls summoned porters and navvies to
their work; solemn sounding gongs
warned the departing trains. The in
stant the hand was on the dial the mon
ster began to move, and almost appar-
emily without warning it dashed into
the gloom ofthe night. Even the hack.
driver OF 1855 is a different animal from
the hackman OF 1915. In forty-fvo he
took you by the lapel OF your coat and
dragged you into his carriage, and if
You made any resistance he punched
your head and taught YOU better man
ners, Now, Jehu stands at the gate,
cap In hand, and asks you respectfully,
If your honor wants carriage A
wholesome dread of a policeman's club,
or perhaps the forfeiture Of his license,
has made him, if not a more civilized
being, az least more tolerable.
l thought some few years since that
the craze for Cats was over; instead of
which, they are going up at such a rate
that in very few years the old fash
loned home will be but thing Of the
past, unless rapid transit shall solve the
problem by carrying our wage workers
for nominal rate ont into the country
where land is cheap. See what thou.
sands are doing in New York to-day.
All OF our great manufacturing houses
are down town; $4,000 of their opera
tlyes use the elevated roads. From
Harlem to the lower part of the city is
seven miles; nearly thirty thousand of
the down town workers live in Harlem
aud Yo7kyille. II costs them ten cents
day to make the trip of twelve or
fourteen miles, and the sixty cents for
railroad fare is heavy tax on girls
making three or four dollars week.
Perhaps electricity mayye help to solve
the problem. Already we have sue
cessiul electric motor on one uptown
railroad, and if they can only now re-
duce the cost OF the power, we may con-
slider ourselves on the threshold of the
Golden Age Many Of our streets are
blaze OF glory at night. One side of
Grand Street is Illuminated with the
electric light for half a mile, and all
through the Bowery night is turned into
day;the same may be said of Fourteenth
Street, and many Of the Avenues; It