St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-19
GOuld,s Royal Train.

New York Journal
If jay Gould was king with pedigree
as long as his telegraph wires his summer
residence at lrvington- n-the-Hudson would
not shame his majesty.
Eight hundred acres, rolling down to the
shining river, surround his mansion there.
One hundred and seventy of the broad acres
are laid out in lawns and rising terraces,
covered with greenhouses, with more hardy
exotics in the open air, with hedges and
shrubbery most carefully pruned and
trained.
Jay Gould, former retailer Of mouse
traps and present catcher OF mice, is care
full of his personal surroundings. Seventy
servants take care of his house at lrvlngton
and of the grounds around it,
Jay Gould knows how to dine. His head
cook is a French chef, Gordon bleu. His
salary-tO call it wages would be an insult
to hinl-is $500 month.
The conductors on Mr.. Gould's elevated
roads, the men who daily have the lives of
thousands of people in their hands while
the head cook is handling chickens and
truffles and terrapins. are paid $2 day, so
that conductor on the elevated road. if he
is in luck, will be paid liz three years lit
Gould's sauces and gravies receives in one
year.
Flowers always grace Mr.. Gould's dinner
table, fol- he is a man of taste. They adorn
his parlors. too, resting in vases of onyx or
malachite, and they scent the Atalanta's
cabin when that magnificent yacht carries
her magnificent owner back from his mouse
catching On Wall street.
hos
whose salary-not wages-is $3.50 month.
First-class telegraph operators, men of re-
markable intelligence and ability, men
whose minds and fingers have been trained
for long years-such operators in the main
broadway office of the Western Union Tele-
graph company are paid from $40 to 800 a
month. If First-class telegraph operator
puts in little extra fine work he may make
half as much in thirty days as does Mr..
Gould's head florist. The engineer who stands
at the throttle of a locomotive on the Wabash
road. who carries his life in his disongaged
hand, who plunges along through the storm
over bridges that may break and over rails
that may spread-that man, stout of heart
and steady of brain. gets about half of the
wages IF the head florist at IrvingtOn.
The head florist has so many gardeners
under him that he cannot look after them
all. so he has an assistant, who is paid $50
a month. SecOnd-class telegraph operators
in the big granite workhouse on Broadway
get from $40 to $50 a month; third-class
operators get S25 to S35 month; lady tele-
graph operators-refined, educated women
get S25 to $40 month.
A man who applies to Supt. Hahn for a
position on the 81" brings letters to prove
that he has all the cardinal virtues and is
made brakeman at S1.50 day. Mr..
Gould's coachman receives $50 month and
his board A brakeman who manages to
sustain life during one year has his salary
raised Is cents a day for the second year,
and if he still survives has it raised again
10 cents day for the third year. On S1.75
a day he must sustain himself and his fam
lily, if he has one, while Mr.. GOuld's coach
lnan bowls merrily along over the good
roads around Irvington at the rate of $50 a
month. certain that when he gets back to
the mansion smOking-hot dinner is wait
ing for him.
The porters around the elevated stations
are paid 81. 20 for days work; the ''check''
girls in the telegraph offices who carry the
messages to the operators are paid 20 cents
for DAYS work. Mr.. Gould's footman, who
Jumps dnwn and bows while he hOlds the
carriage door open for his master, is paid
$50 a month and feeds at the rich mans
table, or at least at his second table.
The president Of the Western Union Tele-
graph Company enjoysa salary of $40, 600 a
year. The messenger boy who delivers the
messages enjoys salary of 81 week. In
fortv-nine years the messenger boy, gray
haired and on crutches, will have earned
$40. 600, provided that. in the meantime he
has lived on wind and clothed himself with
that modesty peculiar to messenger boys.