Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-27

Pittsburg in every particular that it neet
| not be considered as a suburban city at all
| The entire population of Allegheny county
| is 551, $50, which is an increase of 1875, 9Sl
since the last census report. The percent
age ofincrease is 55.07, really remarkable
showing. The population of Allegheny
City is now 1O4, 967, as against 1852 in
1890. When the trade and industrial con
ditions of Allegheny county are considered
it will be seen that the business transacted
in the city of Pittsburg represents the in
dustry of more than half million of peo
pie. The reports and statistics of the Post
office Department bear this out in a strik
ingly conclusive manner. The figures show
that Pittsburg now ranks with Baltimore,
San Francisco and Washington in the mat
ter of postal receipts, and that only siH
cities in the country are ahead of her.
Each Industry Added TO Prosperity.
When Pitts5urg discovered her natural
wealth of coal and iron she set about manu-
featuring most of the iron things that the
pack trains had brought over the mountains.
Stoves and ploughs naturally took prece.
dence, as being most in demand in frontier
country, and stoves aud ploughs still re.
main among the most important articles OF
manufacture in Allegheny county. Other
articles of domestic and agricultural use
were manufactured as soon as there was a
demand for them The subsequent history
of Pittsburg is easily told. The city SIM
ply grew with the growth of its tributary
country. Pittsburg was from the tirst a
city of resources No matter what the de-
mand, or how urgently it was made, Pitts
burg always contrived to meet it. The in.
creased demand for coal and iron opened
new mines, each one of which added to
Pittsburg's prosperity.
Glass manufacture in all its various lines
grew, and became one of the prominent
features of the city's industrial activity.
When the'de1nand came for pine lumber,
Pittsburg sent sawmills into the forests
along the Allegheny and Monongahela
The mills sang merrily during the long win
ter months, and with the first freshets of
spring the huge RATS of pine boards came
drifting in to anchorage at the Pittsburg
levee Here they were made up into still
greater RATS, and sent voyaging down the
Ohio to Wheeling, Cincinnati and beyond.
The rafting season WAS a picturesque one at
Pittsburg.
With the decline of rafting there came a
new industry TO Pittsburg. 1t was petro-
leum. The first oil that was found in the
Allegheny Valley went to Pittsburg in fiat
boats, and later on millions of barrels of the
raw product went there on bosrd of cars to
be refined and sold.
The Dispatch One OF the Greatest Papers.
One need not go to Pittsburg to get a
fairly good idea of the people and their
their ways of life, for the newspapers very
faithfully represent the tone and character
of the public sentiment. As a general
thing, a city is judged more by its news
papers than any other half-dozen things
that might be named. AS applied to Pitts
burg the newspaper test is unusually ap-
propriate. II might be supposed that in a
decidedly Republican community like Allie
ghenv county, which has its ideas of the
tariff pretty well fixed. there would be
first-class Republican paper like the Com
7aercidl- Gazette, which should represent the
party and its ideas, as well as to publish
the news, but the existence here of one of
the leading independent papers not only of
Pennsylvania, but of the United States, in
dicates an intelligence and an independence
in the people that is far beyond party SEN
timent and party action.
As able and influential a paper as THE
DISPATCH could have no place in Pittsburg
were there no Independent sentiment in
Allegheny county to support it. An inde-
pendent paper to large extent creates its
q
foundation of intelligence and broad-minded-
ness to work upon. The remarkable success
of THE DISPATCH. its recognized ability
and influence, and its high place among
American newspapers add undoubted proof
to the growing belief that the greatest
papers of the country are those that have
the most independence of character, broad
and liberality in other direc-
tions, however, and be sure of finding it.
Millions Put Into New Buildings.
OF late years the city has been more than
fortunate in matters of architecture,
as well in the erection of private houses as
in the building of business blocks. In the
of her new City Hall she
showed rare good taste and excellent judg-
ment in securing what is probably the best
example of the work of the late H. II. Rich
ardson This is distinction that New
York or Boston would be justly proud Of
1t is to be expected that judgment as good
as this will be shown in the erection of the
library and art gallery which Mr.. Andrew
Carnegie has made possible by the generous
offer of 81, 100000 for that purpose. The
new building will stand at the entrance to
the new 400-acre park that was given to the
city short time ago
The advancement of the city in material
way is clearly shown by the permits taken
out at the Building Inspectors Office, which
average several millions OF dollars yearly,
which is an excellent record for city of
this size. The suburban growth has also
been rapid Of late years, owing to the i'm
proved facilities for rapid transit The
building outlook is said to be very bright,
which may be taken as an indication of the
prosperous condition of other branches of
business. Taking into consideration all of
present circumstances, the I'M
partial observer must acknowledge that the
city has good reason to be satisfied with her
and hopeful for the future.