Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1897-10-06
AkIZONAJOUANAL-MINER
WEDNESDAY Oct. 6. 1897
MAY DAY MOVING.
What It Was Like In New York Fift5
 Years Ago.

What It Was Lfke In New York Fifty !
 Years Ago.
 The real estate custom of making | yearly leases to date from May is not general throughout the United | States, and is, in fact, rather to be i regarded as a local custom i'll New | York, for in many other cities the 1 real estate year and the calendar year are the same, beginning on Jan. 1. In New York, however, the l custom of dating from May has been so long observed that it has now the sanction of law, and in de fault of other date a lease is gener- ally supposed to begin on May and to conclude at noon on May l fol lowing. Before the era of flats and tenement houses the number of yearly tenants in New York was larger relatively than it Is now, when the ordinary rule Is of a monthly tenancy, and May 1, there fore, was a more important occasion than Is now the case, for the changes of domicile were many and the dis comfort and inconvenience arising therefrom greater
 In commenting upon May day 50 years ago one of the newspapers of that time described it as ''the annl- versary of confusion, trouble, dust and dirt and noise, which took place last Saturday." and was celebrated by the "tax ridden, compelled to move citizens of Gotham From the rising to the setting of sun, says this narrative, every street, lane. alley, highway and byway of New York was the scene of as much con fusion, disorder and trouble as pre- vailed at Babel when the inhabitants of the earth were suddenly deprived of the power of conversing with one another. We doubt very much, declared the writer, whether the confusion which was exhibited in our city was not even greater than that of Babel, " and in order to show the extent of the injury to business one of the daily papers published 3 statement of the expenditures en- tailed upon citizens of the city by May moving.
 The figures may seem almost in significant now, but at that time they were formidable, though the computer seems to have sought ac- curacy at the sacrifice of round numbers, which are usually accept ed as the best sort of guide for esti- mates Here Is his table:
 The carriage of 5000 families at s7 per
 family Ss-5.UlO ty The amount of damage to furniture,
 say S5 to each family. -..------------- 25,Oo0 co The damage to crockery and looking
 glasses c-zu9 t- Wear and tear of body.--..------..---- 2.Cs es Wear and tear of conscience, 760OO
 oaths at the price charged by mag1s-
 trates l shilling g------.--------------- $500 @ Five thousand rents in breeches------ 2,5oo ol Articles lost from the carts-..---..--- 2,500 eO Total s85,ss4 5e
 This sum, says the chronicler of 50 years ago, cannot, we ac- knowledge, be relied upon for exact accuracy-it may be a few cents over or a few cents under the mark but 1t IS near enough for all pur poses. This is a tremendous sum, and where is such expenditure tC stop5" Then he added, Who shall describe the noise-from the squall ing of the infant in arms to the crack voiced scolding of the matroI of 50 years-the confusion of fUrni ture, of sofa bedsteads, chairs, ta bles, crockery, fddles, fiddlestrings glassware, stovepipes. Boston rock ing chairs, kettles and pansl''
 May day 50 years ago was regard ed as a sort of general holiday, anC all work except moving was for tht time suspended It would appea- that the chronicler whose testimOn! The Sun quotes was a single man or a resident in bachelor apart ments, for he makes no allOwanc for the demand on the fOrtitude o housewives. He reckOns only tn oaths of men at a shilling apiec and the re1ts in brooches. .-Ney York Sun.