St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-03
GARDEN CITY GOSSIP.
Prophecies Of Plaques and Pestilencs for
the Coming Year.
Recent Decadence of the Board Of
Trade.
Frank LAWYERS Love of Literature.
Journalistic Gossip,
Special Correspondence of the Globe.

ing their sweet sounds TO my open window
through an atmosphere as humid as April
and temperate as June. Christmas came
and went without the usual outward winter
signs, and the new year is ushered in with
mild, moist weather, and only the almanac
can convince one of the recurrence of that
season of which poets write so eloquently.
Tennyson's Ring Out Wild Bells was surely
never inspired by such a night as this;
those pathetic lines on the Death of the
Old Year
I've half mind to die with you.
Old year, if you must die"
were certainly not inspired by such an at
mOsphere as now prevails in this city. Good
sleighing, splendid skating ice and winter
weather such as all hoped would post date
the holidays came early, but to-day the
ponds are free from the icy fetters that
poetry Is wont to aScribe to ChrStmastide,
! the streets are pools of slime and Slush and
| the atmosphere would do credit to New Or
leans or some of the gulf cities if the sun
would condescend to show his face. OF
course the 'hoodoos' are getting in their
work. One can hardly read a paper that
does not contain communication from
| 'Civis" or PRO Bono Publiec," or some
other well-Known citizen who gratuitously
furnishes information about green Christ
masses making fat graveyards. One cor
respondent to a morning paper, evidently
the victim of superstition, processes to be
badly frightened. and affirmS that 1886 will
be year of disasters and epdemics; that
the population of the New World will de-
crease 20 per cent, and that plague SINH
| lar TO that which overlook the children Of
| Israel Will proceed to get its work in on the
inhabitants of this ''God-forsaken conn
try" But prophecies count for little in a
big city. Everybody in Chicago is too busy
looking after his individual interests to
be annoyed or even interested by
such yarns as this. The world do move"
or, as the Chcagoan would say, 'Chicago
moves, and the world must hustle to keep
up with u.s."
~
The majority of Chicagoans, aud nom
residents as well, think the axis on which
the great Northwestern metropolis revolves
Is the board of trade-an altogether erro-
| neOuS idea. In fact our board of trade
once our delight and pointed to with pride,
is degenerating to st. Louis standard,
where small money buys membership and
scalpers find bonanza. Not many moons
since and the Chicago board of trade was a
populOus and influential organization Oc-
cupying reasonably commOdiOus quarters at
a nominal rental. The annual dues were
low enough TO suit the most misery mem
| Der, and beyond the wear and tear Of
threats, lungs and shoulders in the pit,
there was no room for complaint On an
evil day proposition to erect q new build
ing was considered and passed, the contract
let, funds expended and nearly 81, 000 900
| in cash and bonds devoted to the erection of
| of the handSomest and most commodious
exchange in the world But, alas! there
was nOsinkin g fund; interest on the bonds
is due; rental of the lease on the old hall,
as yet undispoSed Of, is thorn in the direc-
torate side; the income is many thousands
short of actual expenses. The an
nual dues of members have been
increased so per cent; membership certit-
Gates have decreased in value until to-day
! 81, 900 will purchase seat valued at $4, 500
six months since. Country trade has fallen
off to an extent that regular brokers are
inclined to withdraw entirely from the mar
ket and await developments. Conservative
| brokers say that business is dull and win
continue so indefinitely. That there is
| truth IN this latter statement may be OBJ.
served from the daily market reports.
~
The ante-New Years edition of the Chi.
cago Mail possessed some features that ara
worthy of mention. Six months since the
Mail was bit of white paper with black
marks on it. Its news columns were relia-
! Bile, as it was in possession of the United
Press franchise. But the local, advertising
and editorial columns were commendable in
the order mentioned, and no especial credit
! due in any department. An evening
paper, selling for l cent there were
few who thought the Mail could be
put on basis to compete with
/ the Evening News. But Frank HattOn and
! Clinton A. Snowden solved the problem.
| HattOn, everybody knows. 1t was he who
put the Burlington Hawkeye on paying
| basis and gave Bob Burdette the lease OF
| life which he still enjoys. Readers of cam
| paign literature Of 1891 are familiar with
| the features of the postmaster general
| editor, who, though the avowed champion
| of Republican principles, is the warmest
friend Postmaster General Villas has in
| journalistic circles. The fact Is. Mr.. Hat
| ton is a gentleman of sense, as well as the
editor of partisan newspaper. Having
had taste of public life. Mr.. Hatton APP
| preciates the value of editorial criticism. and
weights his pen accordingly. Though an
avowed Republican, Mr.. HattOn has been
| the most liberal editor on all public matters
| where editorial discussion has been invoked.
~
My pen has inveigled me into discus
sion not sought for. l wish to call your
attention TO the peculiar aptness to journal
| ism and to some of the bright boys (all
newspaper men are 'bOys') who do the
work. l shall speak of Sunday editions
only.
| The Herald is unquestionably the best
newspaper published in Chicago on Sunday
mornings. Its news departments are al
ways covered, while its extra thirty-two
| columns fairly bristle with clean-cut articles
| and items that one cannot pass over. The
| Tribune is mammoth Sheet filled mainly
with lads and ''chestnuts" from railroad
centers of size, received by mail and cred
tied to telegraph. by special cable to the
! Tribune" comes from New York by mail
and wire and is the result of garrett work By
| a clever chap who makes a business Of
writing cablegrams for a syndicate Of pa
pers of which the Tribune is a member.
| The Inter Ocean is a conservative Republi-
can sheet of which one hears little and for
which influence is not boosted. The sue
cess of the News, with its morn
| ing and evening editions, amounting
to more than one hundred thousand,
is well known. The Times remains old
fashioned and somewhat pokey-except
that special at the head of their articles
means fresh telegraphc matter. The
! Times is hardly in a position to make
| splurge, but its specials to-day are mora
genuine than those of any other paper 10
| the city.
-
Readers of the GLOBE have heard Of
| Congressman Frank Lawler of Chicago,
the illiterate chap who proposes to revolu-
! tioniZe the system of photography of the
| country. Not long since Judge Lambert