Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-29
MURRAYS MUSINGS.

mUnnhFo Muolsuo,
How Underground Operations Embarrnss
All the Large Cities and the Cause-Re-
ception Of LIveries By Mixed American
AudIences-Rebe Flags In the South.
rrRoM 4 STAFF CORRESPONDENT
IF any other city in the Union would have to
90 through what New York has suffered
from certain corporations. the steam heating
companies, the electric light companies and
the subway companies. its people would rise
up en- masse and blot some of them from the
face of the earth. We had a half dozen ex-
plosions In the public streets within the last
two weeks tearing up pavements, destroying
sidewalks, running private places Of business,
blocking the principal arteries of trade for days
together, and yet no adequate remedy is pro-
posed that seems practicable. and the authori.
ties of the city have taken no steps looking to
the prompt and permanent abatement of these
evils.
The great lack Of comprehensive system of
underground operations Is characteristic of
every large city. What is needed here Is the
Inauguration of an underground system siml-
lar to that of London and Paris. 1t Is a neces-
sity which must be met sooner or later and the
sooner the better. The whole business must be
gone over again. 1t is exactly parallel case
10 the systems Of sewerage. or rather the want
OF system. in every large city. The work Is be-
gun before the city has achieved Its nrSt
growth, Is enlarged and changed and patched
up as It becomes necessary by the increased
population and business requirements, until
when the city is fully grown all of these make
snilts are proven inadequate. That Is just the
point New York has reached now. The trouble
is in .aa1 NAV we % culd only for the time ard nothing
complicated by local politics and the increased
cost which comes from political robbery. In
Mayor Grant the city has the first executive
VINO seems disposed to undertake the fight and
carry it to happy conclusion. There will be
some fun here before long and our Mayor will
take good care that it is not wholly at the citys
expense.
The Proper Cnper In Liveries.
THERE is lots Of fun being poked at the ushers
at the new Madison Square Garden on
account Of the gorgeous liveries they are re-
quired to wear. The opening of the Garden
itself has been the event of the season in its
way. AS 1t has been rebuilt and finished this
place of amusement is one of the loveliest and
largest of any in the United States, not except
ing the new Auditorium of Chicago. 1t will
seat comfortably twice as many people as the
Chicago place. 1t is not as large as the Hippo
drome in Paris, but as an architectural creation
and as to interior effect, the new Madison
Square Garden Is superior. The conspicuous
feature of the ushers attracts more attention
than the Strauss Orchestra, the ballet or the
Garden itself. There are good many Ameri-
cans in livery, nowadays, in one form OF an
other, but these fellows take the cake. The
uniform consists of a swallow-tailed coat and
trousers of orange chrome and high cut
waistcoat of scarlet cloth. The trousers bave
narrow bar of scarlet running down the legs
and the coat and waistcoat are ornamented
with large brass buttons. Like the idea Of the
Garden itself, this livery was taken from the
Artistically speaking, the uniferm Is an ex-
qufsttely tasteful one, especially under the
glare of thousands Of electric lights. The mis-
cellaneous American audience, however, is not
yet worked up to this sort of thing. There was
good deal of guying of these servitors, and
some of them have borne it very impatiently
The theater usher of New York has never
placed himself on a level with the coachmen,
footmen and buffers. They are largely COM
posed Of young gentlemen who are engaged in
commercial business during the day. 1t natu-
rally pains one OF these youths to be addressed
In public place as "red and yaller" or ordered
about as salmon or Rainbow" aud several
of them have resigned rather than stand the
racket.
Aside from the disagreeable personal aspect
of the matter, the innovation is . very good
one, since the ushers, to be of any value or
convenience in such an immense crowd, must
forms Of various sorts worn in New York that
you can't tell one from another without q
schedule. AS for distinguishing man in New
ork by reason OF q dress suit, that is sbso-
usual distinctive dress of theater ushers. wait
ers and gentlemen. From all Of this .t Is evl-
dent that America, whose every citizen con-
siders himself just 'as good as another, and q |
state of European classifcations. All we want |
now is the Partisan blouse to distinguish the |
and then even the Anglomaniacs
Of New York will be satisfied
Facts rs TO Confederate Flags.
AN ex-Confederate Colonel tof course he Is
-. Colonel for that matter) called my atten-
ton the other day to a controversy started by |
the Rev. ]. Dixon, Jr., of New York, in regard |
to Confederate flags In a recent sermon this |
preacher declared that he was born in the |
South and had lived there % years and never !
saw a Confederate flag. A New England jour-
nal hauls the Rev. Mr.. Dixon over the Goals |
for this assertion and virtually pronounces him |
4 liar. My ex-Confederate friend says that as
dag from the time he was taken from the hos |
Dtal, where he was placed because of gunshot |
wounds received in a general engagement, to |
this day, except a miniature preserved as q |
mems of Northern scrip issued during the war. |
He was born and raised In South Caro- |
ina and knows the Southern people pretty |
we'll and have no doubt Of his yeracity. Ac- |
cording to his statement about the only flags |
extant in the South to remind Southerners OF |
the war are those preserved by mothers who |
lost their sons in battle or by veterans who |
keep these small miniature flags as souvenirs /
Of military service He says three-fourths of |
the people in the South to-day never saw a /
Confederate flag at all. think his statement |
Is about correct, and doubt very much myself
whether would know one well enough to
notice it particularly, although had occasion
between 81 and '65 to notice it quite frequent
y. Perhaps l ought TO mention that the editor
Of the New Hampshire paper, which thus criti-
cised the Rev. Mr.. Dixon, Is Hon. o. Z. Moore,
the radical Republican Congressman. He
never saw a Confederate flag in his
life unless in the War Department at Wash
ngton.
Veterans of the BIue and Gray.
r oLoNEL HAYWARD, who, as Major, COM
manded the First South Carolina Regi-
nent at the second battle of Bull Run, Is q
rraat friend nf Cantain Fits who in the sama |