Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-03-20

"uN sh"' ~ :" AA''y PS'SS"S o.s
than in 1886, with population
of only one.third more. What
are the facts? The total num-
Der of magistrates' cases dur.
ing the year ending October 81, 1896,
was 112, l69. In 1886 they numbered
rs, 744. This is an increase Of so per
cent in cases, not in crime. 1t proves
only that the police have been more
vigilant and less in league with crim''
nails; that there has been decrease in
exemption from punishment through
political influence and the argument OF
bribery. That this is true is made evi.
dent by the fnct that life and property
are far safer today in the city than
they were in 1885, The number OF
arrests of women in 1895 was 1902,
against 10, 213 in 1886. indicating the
good work done in the destruc.
tion of disorderly houses and the
driving OF a considerable percentage OF
their inmates from the city. The com.
plants of burglary lodged during 1895
showed no greater increase over those
of 1886 than is accounted for by the
increase in population, yet the mum.
Der of arrests for this crime was nearly
double that of ten years ago. The
same is true of felonies as whole.
There was also great increase in
suicides-which are due to economic
conditions rather than to crimi-
nal bias-and in homicides, which
are not, as to majority, preventable
by police vigilance. II view OF the
general conditions surrounding life in
this city at present, cannot con-
clude from this report that men have
become proportionately worse since
1886; I conclude that criminals nre
more generally paying the penalty OF
their misdeeds.
A rare combination of the business
and literary man was David L. Proud
fit, who has Just died from apoplexy at
his home in this city. He was little
more than "a years old, had been
magazine contributor in his teens, land
was soldier of the war for tho Union
during four years OF active service,
entering as aprivnte, and coming out as
major. After the war he was assistant |
Acknowledgement in Texas, and pleased
General Sheridan so that the general
objected to receiving his resignation
in 1866. >Proudtit had q successful
business life, was connected with sew
eral important manufacturing compa-
MES and president of two or three.
But he kept up his writing for maga.
zines and newspapers, and published
two volumes of verse: "Masque and
Domino" and Glove Among the GA.
mins," and one small book of prose,
"The Man from the West" His
"Love Among the Gamins" had no
little cleverness and sympathy in it;
be dedicated it to John Boyle O'Reilly,
whose warm friend lie was. Mr..
Proudft had a social leaning and
was an active member Of the Authors
club.
It is not often that clergyman in
this country accumnlates fortune
estimated at from $40, 900, 900 to $780,
900, 900; but this is the estimated size
of the estate left by the late Rev. DR..
Charles F. Hoffman. His great wealth
was made by shrewd Investments in
real estate in New York city.
the Hoffman House and tho
ground on which some of the
other great hotels stand being
part of the estate. While tho
late DR.. Hoffman's good fortune was
somewhat exceptional among the men
of his cloth, he was by no means the
only clergyman whose wise. invest
ments in real estate brought handsome
returns. The venerable DR.. Bartol OF
Boston has achieved similar distinc-
ton as shrewd investor in real es-
tate, and although his fortune, ac-
auired largely through Investments on
the North Shore, is by no means so
large as that of the late DR.. Hoffman,
it is very handsome one indeed.
While it is only east of the Hudson
that the fact of Greater New York
can be recognized in political forms,
it would be narrow view OF the
metropolis not to appreciate the i'm
portance of it's New Jersey adjuncts
closely related as they are to the ac-
tivities that centre on Manhattan
Island. Iu small matters as in large,
oil our neighboring towns take
their impulses from our own ambi.
tions, and it is gratifying to note that
even in Hoboken there has arisen
desire for sweetness and light-more
especially for new and ceutral park.
The proposition to lay out breath.
ing space of six or eight acres in the
neighborhood of Eighth street, where
land can now be secured cheaply but
population will soon be dense, is an
excellent one, and the New Jersey
legislature should pass the bill author
izing the improvement at once.
It is hoped, but hardly expected,
that the stockholders in the Madison
Square garden will not abandon that
institution, even if it does not yield
them dividends. The garden has per.
I formed municipal function, not less
admirable and useful in its way than
that OF the Metropolitan Opera house.
and Us the stockholders are rich men,
and not dependent upon this particu-
lar investment, it is suggested that
they allow the consciousness OF having
supplied public need to stand in the
place of dividends, after the manner
of the Metropolitan Opera house
stockholders. KNIcKERBoCKER
Donald G. Mitchell, who is known to
the reading public as "Ik Marvel,
author of the delightful "Reverles Of q
Bachelor" and Dream Life" spends
his declining years quietly at Edge
wood, near New Haven, Conn. Sur