Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-01-22
OUR NEW YORK 1 ETTER.

feneciai correspond.en I Il

u
NJ Impossibls- Other Danssrs.
Especial Correspondence. ] $3s
Tho New York newspapers especially
those which consider themselves the
.leaders-and that dIassii ioation. IL might
be added, includes nearly all Of them,
are wonderfully amusing. They ars
constantly doing things which would
cause them to sneer were they done BY
the papers Of some small city. "A short
time ago very valuable franchise was
granted to fuel SIS company under
circumstances which most Of our editors
considered somewhat suspicious. I'm.
mediately there arose 8 howl and the
whole affair was denounced a. q colossal
steal. Pictures were printed showing
how close the city hall here il to tho
state prison It Sing Sing. Parallels
were drawn between the present board
of aldermen and the doodle board" Of
1884. Finally the resolution granting
the franchise was. recalled from the
mayor, and then the startling fact was
revealed that each newspaper of the city
had been solely responsible for this ac.
ton. Blatant editorial and local notices
heralded these statements to the world,
and in the press of business these trib.
unes Of the times found the opportunity
to advertise the journalistic achieve.
ment. rss .g 4. s@5 4: n i..> w W
Needed Something to Kick About.
At about the same time that all this
was going on the aquarium. which 10
tho old Castle Garden, was opened. The
place was not really ready. but those il.
charge forced matters little and ad.
mitted the public The place was closed
Sunday, however. and again the jealous
newspaper guardians Of the rights of the
Door workingman and his family set up
their old stereotyped howl. 1t was such
an outrage to close this educational ex-.
hibit on the only day when the poor,
could visit it, and q. lot more in the same
demagogic strain. OF course the papers
knew, or might have known had they
cared to take the pains to investigate
the matter, that it was the intention Of
the department to open the aquarium
every Sunday after the commencement
of the new year. But they did not in
vestigate. It would not have suited
their purpose to have done SO. and the
screech went on merrily. The facts had
to come out in the end, and again, the
modest crew proceeded to take the cred,
it, each to himself, for having worked q
mighty reform. In other words, they
had brought about something which the
only persons who have any authority in
the matter had decided upon months be-
fore .-.5-4 s-i!- ..ss* - =;
T.. 70 Stop the skyscraper Craze.
The board of trade and transportation
has been investigating the dangers Of
the high building craze and will ask the
legislature TO limit the height Of future
The testimony Of several
Iarchitects already taken favors the linn.
htation of height 20 from IL 70 Is sto-s
;sies. ..5 "a
James r. Sheffield, president Of the
DIRE department., was o witness called by
TIL, committee recently. His testimony
49, against "skysnrapers. . He said:
a. Chief Bonner has already told you,
Il 80 almost impossible for us to fight
ores successfully in buildings more than
1875 feet high. Our best engines only
throw = stream to that height. ] believe
that buildings higher than this are
menace to life and health a. we'll a. to
other property. - s....,= 4
eft is all well enough to talk about
dreproof buildings; but there are no alb
solutely flreproof buildings, and expert
ence has taught Us that it is much hard
q, than, ordinary to fight fires in these
90 called 1reproof buildings. !" # z#@
Tho Fifteen Story Limit. <, IA I
a MI. Sheffield favored a Limitation to
histories. He also suggested the pas
sage Of q law making it compulsory to
make stairways wide and build them
away from the elevator shafts. He also
thought that the law should restrict the
storing Of any combustible or inflam,
mable material in the upper stories Of
buildings more than six stories high. h
Charles Z. Wilson, president Of the
board Of health, then gave his views on
tie subject, taking . health standpoint.
II ind, . said he, THAT above q height
TO feet the air in big cities is full Of
smoke and gas and necessarily nm
healthy. Then it is difficult to get good
water up to the higher floors Of the big
buildings, to say nothing Of the dangers
BY fire and collapse. s.s= :5.
Mr.. Wilson then read list If statis-
tics taken from buildings in European
cities. In many Of the large cities on 1
the other side buildings are not to ex-
coed in height the width Of the street
on which they front, in most cases not
more than 70 feet. In all cities the limit
il under 100 feet. X H. s 81 y, .
Nj. Wilson, during his testimony,
aaid that the sewerage condition in low: 4
er Broadway was far from perfect. and
if many more skyscrapers are put up
it will necessitate the construction of an
entire new sewerage system in Broad
way s 5s..i. 3 -5fs Y, s; I'm