Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-26
PITTSBURG'S FUTURE.
An Optimistic View of the City's
Needs in Coming Years.
A BRIDGE OF STONE SUGGESTED
To Join the Court House and the South
Side of Diamond Street.
CABLE CARS WON'T BANISH HORSES.

OFFICE OF THE PITTsBURG DIsPATCH,l
TUESDAY. March %. 1890. {
County Commissioner Mckee is an optim.
list as regards Pittsburg's future. Said he tc
q representative of THE DISPATCH yester
day: 81 can remember when the second
Court House of Allegheny county was first
occupied in 1S42. There were four room,
provided for courts, and for a number oI
years only two OF them were needed for court
purposes. There were people in those days
who thought the Court House was too large
and that the County Commissioners OF that
time we're extravagant in their ideas, and were
building for far-of, future generations When
the Court House was burned in lSS2-4O years
after its occupation-it was small enough for
the county's needs.
The commissioners of half century ago
Dulded better than they knew. When the
present structure was first proposed there was
opposition, just as there had been to the former
Court House. 1t now looks as though in the
next 70 years the present building will be too
small. If Pittsburg grows in the next 20 years
as II has done the past 20 years. there will be
need for the space now occupied by the Uni
VerSlty building, and another stone
bridge corresponding to the Bridge of
Sighs across Ross street may connect the
present Court House with a building on the
Diamond street side. 1t is my view that the
county will do well TO hold on TO this property
now in Its possession, for l discovered that
when we were forced to condemn the site for
the present Jail We had TO pay about two prices
for the property necessary for this purpose.
While do not believe in the county going into
the real estate business, am confident that the
best thing TO do at this time is TO hold on TO the
University property and lease It. as the time
will come when it will be needed by the
courts"
Various Industries Considered.
The canned meat trade OF this city, according
to the testimony of one of the leading repre-
sentatives, has been 25 per cent larger in vol
ume this month than for the corresponding
month of last year. This, too, in face of a 80
per cent advance on corned beef and more than
l0per cent advance on chipped beef. A year
ago competition was sharp, and there was
great deal of cutting. BY reason of this cutting
two-pound cans of corned beef were sold at
81 so per dozen, and Clipped beef at 81 20 per
dozen. The leading producers in this line re-
solved TO come together and dwell together in
unity, and, as a result, canned corned beef is
now selling at s. per dozen for two-pound cans,
and chipped beef has advanced from 81 70 to
81 80 per dozen. Canned tongue did not join in
the upward movement and sells at the same
price as il did a year ago.
A leading retailer of grain and hay upon
being interviewed to-day as to the effect of
cable cars on his trade, said: when the street
cars on the main thoroughfares we're pulled by
horses we had of course large trade from that
source, particularly in prairie hay and shell
with oats or choice timothy hay. When the
cable car era was inaugurated we had our fears
that our business would be curtailed to some
degree. But results have proved that our fears
were groundless
New avenues for trade seem to open up as
old ones close. The city is steadily growing
and the growth is sufficient to make up for the
falling of of trade by reason of the abandon
ment OF horsefesh in the matter of transport
ing passengers from the city to the suburbs.
Trade Improyed.
AT all events our firm is selling more horse
and cow feed this spring than ever before.
Every time something new becomes popular.
The croakers, whose name is legion, bewail the
eclipse of old industries and tell us that old
trades are going to the wall. In our line there
is no sign of eclipse. With all the new meth
ods of locomotion and transportation intro
duced of late years. the demand for grain and
hay gives no signs of dimInution"
In the interview with this retailer of grain
and hay it was developed that the quality of
hay on the market the past few months has
been as rule much below the average in
quality. Said he: THE quality of hay coming
TO our markets this season from the West has
as much to do with quietness of trade as any,
thing else. We have no trouble selling a
tain 1t. In the past few weeks loose timothy
hay has been at premium, for the reason that
1t has been nextto impossible for farmers in
this section TO get it to market on account of
the Wretched condition of roads,"