Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1898-02-16
A LETTER FROM THE
CITY BY THE SEA.
Ht1antie City has a fire and
lots Of talk about il.
eITrs REAL EsII1E DEAL Still HANGS FIRE.
SUDDEN CONVERSION OF COUNCILMEN-
THE DOMINANT PARTY DIvIDED-THE
POLITICAL 'sHEELERv AND WHY HE
is OPPOSED TO HARMONY.

POLITICAL 'sHEELERv AND WHY HE
is OPPOSED TO HARMONY.
Did you see our big fire last week :?
l reckon you did, or at least the vast
column of smoke that shot skyward
and must have been painfully visible
to everybody living along the Shore.
Well, l want to tell you that, for an
hour or SO, there were some mighty
nervous people around this town
who lived or owned property in the
vicinity of the big blaze. Further
more, want to say, that it was a
close shave for fire of tremendous
proportions that might have easily
destroyed millions of dollars worth
of property if the conditions had
been little different and a good
deal less favorable than they were.
No one who knows Atlantic City
needs to be told that it is a vast
tinder box when q fire gets started.
Wood, paint, piazzas and ginger
bread work made excellent food for
| the flames, and more than once we
have escaped terrible fires by alright
fully narrow margin. 1t was only
by reason of no wind and the heroic
work of the fremen that we escaped
| it last week. / hear much talk and
severe censure because of the mistake
made in sending the fire engine out
in the wrong direction. 1t was a
bad break and valuable time was
lost, and the flames gathered danger
GUS headway which, with a gale of
wind blowing, might have had fearful
consequence. Still, for all of that,
| feel charitable toward the firemen to
whom we owe SO much. Everybody
makes mistakes, and even a driver
can make one by mistaking the signal
i'm the haste and confusion incident
| to an alarm. Certainly no fireman
wants to make mistake, for the
greater fire caused by the delay only
means more work and more danger
to those who fight the flames. But
out of this costly error should come
increased vigilance and care, and, if
needed, better signal apparatus, so
that the error need not be repeated.
The first start of fire is when a
minute saved is an hour gained in
the conquest of the devouring ele-
ment, and that minute should be
utilized by everything within reach
of the Fire Department. ] fear that
| many of our citizens do not realize
how rapidly the City is growing in
houses and houseroom, and do not
stop t0N consider how much more
lumber is piled up subject to the
| flames. 1t seems to me that the fuel
for feeding the flames is gaining upon
the means of subduing the flames,
and it is something worthy of the
consideration of our City Council.
What is ten thousand or ten times
ten thousand dollars compared to a
| fire destroying millions. Narrow
economy is sometimes the sheerest
extravaganza, and a pinch in the
resources for fighting fire may some
time resultin gazing across waste
OF charred and smoking ruins where
now are costly residences and
magnificent hotels.
Council has passed a resolution to
purchase the Schaufier property, but
the deal is not yetfully consummated
as the City Solicitor has been re-
quested to rewrite some of the resol-
utiOns, ordinance or something OF
the kind. 1t is rather more than the
average citizen can do to keep the
run of the whole business in all of it's
past history and it's future hopes
and expectations. Some assert that
the City Hall project has been held
back in order to reopen negotiations
for the purchase of the Schaufier
property upon the argument that
sufficient ground could not be
obtained elsewhere in any suitable or
central location. At any rate it
seems little bit queer to see MEM
bers of Council who were bitterly
opposed to the subject year ago,
now shouting loudly in it's favor. 1t
will be remembered by Biblical
students, however, that Saul's con-
version was rather sudden, and
perhaps the age of miracles is not
yet past. ! believe the advocates
of the deal have discarded their old
chestnut about the ground being
needed for a public park. That yarn
was SO thin that even those who re-
peated it, and affected to believe it,
couldn't keep from smiling. | hope
they will be able to offer a better
reason in exchange for $175, ,000-f
otherwise the City will be inglori-
ously plucked. | understand the
argument advanced is that the place
is wanted as a location for the
County Buildings, and what was be-
fore proclaimed as a pure and unadul-
terated beauty spot-fit only for
flowers and bowers and coOing
doves and lovers-is now declared to
be Just the location for q Jail with all
it's aristocratic occupants and charm
ing memories. / do not believe that
a majority of the taxpayers want
the property either for park or a
jail site, but what the people want
don't seem to be Of much consequence
Just now. Later on it is barely pos
sible that, after all, the people may
count for just little. The fact is
that the ruling Republican party |
here was never before in such
wretched shape as at the present |
time. The leaders are alarmed but
stand as if paralyzed not knowing
which way to move. The rank and
file are disgusted with high taxation
and the arrogance of some of the
office-holders who act as though
they were in for life The Floating
tofore been the rock of Salvation the
who had money to buy it, has at
last become q menace to it's former
owners because of the detection
principle, and who are, it is feared,
going to continue to do so. They
will not vote for the old party hacks
as Of yore. One thing is certain poll
tical revolution is brewing. The de-
leadership, by the political butchers,
has disgusted the business commun-
ity and the rank and file Of the party
b Io4