The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-07
ddsf a Word or Two
of Casual Mention

Select Councilman Lansing Is an enth'l-
siastic believer in Scrantons future. ana
yet he is not blind to certain difficulties III
the way of it's complete realization. Ihc
question What will become OF Scranton
after her coal gives out?' does not bother
me a bit," said he in the course OF cas-
ual conversation the other day. 1T Is
the history of American cities that their
transition from pioneer to varied ana Ill
versitied industries is accomplished almost
imperceptibly. Syracuse, for instance.
was reared on salt: Rochester on flour ana
Buffalo on her lake water, yet To-Day s"t
evaporation Is only an incident OF oyia-
cuse's commerce. tiour-grinding OF Rocn-
essters and Buffalo. in addition 10 us
lake traffic. has become the lars-
est railroad center in the east. Wnen u
comes time for Scra nton to fall back on
other Industries besides rail-making and
coal-mining, | dare say she Will Tin / the
new industries ready at hand; that Is. II
one objection can be overcome IN the
meantime. 1t Is fact that In compari'
son with many competitive places the
prices asked here for factory sites are
hiSh--in some cases disastrously hign.
know of at least four manufacturing eh-
terprises that within Il relatively brief pc
riod have been ,.etected elsewhere by
wv
unoccupied land in Scranton under the
control of agencies that hold II at fancy
figure and yet fail to pay taxes in pro-
portion"
The annual meeting of the steel rail
pool in New York on the 10th Is of greater
interest to Scranton than most persons
ina gine, since 1t will have not little to
do with determining the course of indus
s,.x. To- .
naces of the Lackawanna Iron and Steel
company. There Is talk of the price of
rails dropping from S2S to $26 Il ton. or
course the Lackawanna people would pre-
fer SIS to SIG. but even al S26 they can
keep the wolf from the door If successful
In securing a good percentage OF the or
ders With President Walter Scranton
looking after that part of II and General
Manager Wehrum seeing that no point
is lost in the filling of the orders, from ore
bank to finished rails. the local concern
ought certainly to fare as we'll as theoav-
erage plant, and perhaps a shade better.
This is specimen OF what we receive
almost daily" remarked Assistant POST
master Osthaus to Tribune man the
other day, as he showed the contents Of
a letter just opened without revealing the
signature. The letter read: "Postmaster
Scranton, Dear Sir:-Will you please send
me the name of an attorney who Is Il
good liar?" "How will you answer that?'
was asked. II do not know" said the
colonel as he glanced dreamily out of the
window "Now that the campaign Is over
am afraid that none can be found in the
city who will fill the bill"
o
A Hyde Park husband has devised n
novel way in which to outwit his wife.
She had formed the habit of smelling his
breath when he came in late, to see If he
had been indulging in the bottle. 1t is his
custom now to provide himself with an
ounce or SO of cologne and to swallow u
portion of 1t when he gets within a block
of the house on his homeward journey
after being out with the boys.
o
The University of Pennsylvania desired
to honor a clergyman of Pittsburg by the
name of Fiddle with the degree of doctor
of divinity. and a letter of notification TO
that effect was sent to him. He declined
to accept 1t and gave as his reason that he
did not want to be known as the Rev. Mr..
Fiddle, ID. ID.
Kirk LaShelle and Arthur Clark, pro-
prietors and managers of THE Wizard of
the Nile" are both newspaper men and
have known in past what it Is to receive
the "cold hand" Much of the success of
this operate venture has doubtless been
due to the journalistic experience of these
affable managers