Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-21

ING IN THE PARKS
Special Correspondence of The EVENING srsn
NEW YoRK, June 20.
Again in this boss-ridden town we are prom
ised a citizens movement. aud this time the
initiative and the direction are taken by the
clergy. The leaders thus far, at least, are
Bishop Potter. DIR. Parkhurst and DIR. Heber
Newton And this raises the question Of the
expediency OF putting the management into
the hands Of ecclesiastics. The question is an
interesting one, and it is one that long ages Of
experiment have not been able to settle. We
recently had hopeful attempt to engineer po-
htical reform from the pulpit in the DIR. Nc
Glynn campaign, but this ended in collapse
and SO have most other efforts OF the same
class
Time out Of mind ecclesiastics have tried a
hand at practical politics and We all know how,
IN many instances, they have succeeded Some
OF the most astute and successful politicians of
the world have worn the vestments of priest
mood. We need only recall such names as
Luther and Knox to show that dissent can also
FURNISH men who have ruled IN politics az well
as IN DIVINITY. Those were very hard-headed
preachers who fought under Cromwell when
Pulpit. drum ecclesiastic,
Was beat with fist instead of u stick"
But generally, though they themselves are not
prone TO admit 1t, clergymen make poor poll
tlcians. In the present case for example the
doctors OF divinity led off with two blunders-
nrstpy opening the campaign prematurely, and
second, by addressing the great exchanges in
their oihciai capacity, and hence getting po-
htely snubbed. This is not a fourishing be-
ginning, but for all that the movement may
gather force and lead to great results. There is
no question that the city needs the energy of all
us doctors OF divinity and its plain laymen, too
TO CLEAN THE STREETS
One would naturally suppose that the most
ardent female lover of cleanliness could
at this season of the year satiate her
desire for that luxury within the bound
aries OF her own home. Some women
ind even that too wide q field for their
abilities and give it up in despair, convinced
that since Methuselah's epoch life has been too
short to teach the New York Bridget to sweep
IN the corners and dust brc-a-bric But there
are women here whose ambitions in that direc-
ton can be confined by no pent-up Utica OF a
nat or even of a four-story brownstone house
NO less field of warfare than the city's streets
contents them. and each successive street
cleaning commissioner has learned TO dread
the battle cry of the Ladies Health Protective
Association, which usually takes the form of a
petition. 1t is true he has usually found it
the simplest course of action quietly TO ignore
these unreasonable requests to remove in less
*
tiers III the hot summer sun under our windows
III the picturesque ash barrel or to detail
FORCES OF sappers and miners to reduce the
Dreastworks of mud and refuse that embelIish
the downtown cutters. The present commits
sloner, Mr. Beattie. is like his predecessors n
man of far-reaching theories and very con-
tracted practice and though he has skillfully
caused to be circulated rumors OF vast in
tended reforms by which the city streets
would be uniformly sandpapered and pol
\ no. fh.sG.a a
headed on with rumors. Politely but firmly
they have interrupted his visions of future
Cleanliness with petition apropos of ash bar
rels and have followed il up with fell resoIu-
ton that If this petition is ignored they will in
person take to the mayor. As they took the
precauuon or sending 1t to the commissioner
by messenger, who doubtless demanded a re-
celpt, there would seem to be no loophole of
escape Tor MIR. Beattie and he might as we'll
take his broom and dust pan and go to work
CABLE FOR HORSE POWER.
After protracted contest, lasting between
two and three years, the Third Avenue railroad
has at last won the right to substitute cable for
horse power, and within short time the old.
slow, dirty and unsatisfactory method of pro-
erosion will be superseded by two hundred
new, clean and swift cable cars Ii seems
strange that SO manifest an Improvement
should be opposed by any one, but human in
genuity is often bafied in the attempt TO solve
the intricate problem OF the wheels within
wheels OF city government methods. The origi-
nal charter Of this line was to allow the run
ming OF stages, and when the law was passed in
1889 allowing street railroad companies to
change from animal to electric or cable power
there was an inscrutable decree Of the lower
courts that the charter of this road
would not permit it to make the
change. Since that time the Third Avenue
railroad has never grounded its arms, but has
fought persistently and systematically through
court after court until finally victory has
perched upon its banners. and the court of
appeals has overruled the lower courts and
granted the company's application for a writ
to compel the commissioner of public works TO
permit the opening of the streets along it's
route for the laying of cables. All the other
street-car companies will lose no time in fol-
lowing this example, and it will not be long
now before the jingle Of the horse-car bell will
be entirely superseded bv the startling gong of
the cable cars, and it is hoped that those relics
OF barbarism, the great squares of car stables
with their noise and dirt and generally disa-
greeable odors and surroundings, will also be
superseded By something more in keeping with
the progress of civilization.
UNDERGROUND RAPID TRANSIT
Real rapid transit seems also to have taken a
fresh impetus from this stimulating circum-
stance, the natural and almost inevitable route
from down town to AID street having been
Had it not been for the popular jealousy of the
power of the Vanderbilts this line would have
been decided upon long ago, as it is the natural
axis of the island; but the mere fact that il was
desired by the Vanderbilts and the New York
Central made it undesirable to the rest of the
world
PHOTOGRAPHIC IN THE PARKS
Strange and subtle are the vagaries of the
official mind and its ways are past finding out
For some inscrutable reason, whose mysterious
depths no scientific research can sound. the
professional photographer is not allowed to
take and sell scenes in the parks though the
amateur may do so If armed with a permit
superintendent Jones. who has authority over
the wild and beautiful grounds of Prospect
Park In brooklyn, takes the lofty ground that
this rule includes all artists of whatever grade
who are successful enough to be classed as s.pro-
fessionals." 1t is probably fortunate that this
little eccentrlcity of Superintendent Jones ran
across the plans Of two professionals as well
known AS Hamilton Gibson and William NJ
Chase, for their Indignation at being refused a
yearly permit to use the natural beauties of this
park for their sketches, though they might be
allowed to sketch q specifically named object
under definite permit carefully limited, has
called public attention to this absurd use of au-
thorlty, and 1t is more than probable that either
Mr. Jones or his regulation will have to 20.
The artist naturally fumes q little at being |
classed with the photographer, and the whole |
incident Ii rather suggestive of the sign some
OF the ferry boats which broadly states that |
musicians, peddlers and other beggars are |
not allowed on this boat" |
THREE EXPLOSIONS IN WEEK.
For the third time within a week the mines