The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1898-01-20
EXPENSES OF A BUILDING.
A Small Army of Employees, Many O
Whom the Ruhlic Does

A Small Army of Employees Many of |
Whom the Public Does Not See.
1.-THE position of superintendent of a |
big New York building is no sinecure, "
said a man who occupies that position. |
81 watch the building from top to bot
tom, see that the machinery is kept in
order, look out for wear and tear and
look after the wants of all the tenants. -
"Do they want for much?' was asked.
"WelI, about everything under the
sun and a great many things we cannot
supply. There are 800 rooms in the
building, and we burn ON an average
2,500 16 candle power incandescent
lamps. Notwithstanding this fact there
is a constant cry for more light. The
desire for brilliant illumination is a
mania
"And then there are the lost keys 1t
would surprise you to know how many
| keys are required. We buy them by the
| hundreds. When the tenants lose their
outdoor keys, we remove the cylinder
different pattern. The tenants lose their
/ safe keys too / have had to drill and
| open 80 safes this year.
1.-The greatest wear and tear on a
building of this kind is around the
carpenter busy the year round repair
ing window woodwork, replacing ropes
and fixing blinds. One of our greatest
annoyances comes from tenants who do
not keep office boys and who try to use
the porters for errands. The porter is
also the middleman. All complaints
come through him.
"Men and women tenants are about
equally troublesome. We have one
woman tenant, however, who is never
without the services of either the cleo
trician, the porter or the carpenter. The
pay roll of thu engineers departing
has averaged for 1897 $1,113.S3 every
two weeks. That amount pays the chief
engineer, three assistants, three oilers,
three firemen, three electricians, three
men to look after elevators one starter.
ten elevator men, one doorman and two
night watchmen.
I'm the engineers department there
are three watches of eight hours each.
In addition to those men there is a
small army of employees whom the
public seldom sees. They come into the
buildings before the tenants arrive.
They are the last to leave it. Those are
the cleaners and sweepers. The bill for
| sweeping and busting large building
is likely to be interesting to the house
keepers of New York. We pay those
women $537. so every two weeks.
"Here is an elevator rope that from
Jan 1 to Oct. has done IL, 2O3 hours
steady work. The rope has been in u.s.
since May 90, 1895, and is good for
few months yet. The elevator ropes ar
of annealed soft wire. They cost $16t
apiece. The ropes are one and quartz
inches in diameter. Those in use in thi
building are 2,O1O feet in length. Tn
ropes operated by hand on some elevator
and known as tiller ropes are only one
half an inch in diameter. They ar
made of annealed wire also. They cos
$40. We carry our own glass insurance
and it pays US to take the risk. Th
small boy does not find room to pla
ball hereabouts, and our bill for break
age is low. Since Jan. / our expendi
ture for glass has been $50 so only.
1--WE use seven tons of coal every .
hours. The building is heated by ez
haust steam. AS soon as the steam ha
done it's work in the engines it passe
r into the main pipe, whence it is distrit
uted throughout the building. ''-Ne'
= York Commercial
Valencia Oranges.
"Few people are probably aware tina
;, it takes over so, 900, 900 boxes of or
anges to supply the annual demand 70
> this fruit in the United States" said
= wholesale fruit merchant in New York
y "About 90 per cent of the fruit is grow
in California and Florida, and the res
. comes principally from Valencia. Th
domestic fruit is now selling at froI
3 So rs to 81 box, while the foreign al
. ticle is worth from So to 81 per crate.
cone reason why we import SO man
~ Spanish oranges is owing to the lare
yearly exports of our own luscious proc
~ uct to London, where our fruit finds
" ready market and is considered grei
% luxury. Besides there are many Amer
= cans who have cultivated a taste for tt
y fine Valencia fruit, and they will a.
, parently have nothing else. So to plea!
~ both English and American consume
we export and import large quantiti
:. of oranges.
= Valencia exports more oranges tha
10 any other city in the world. 1t large
supplies England sending there annua
!. ly some 40, 900, 600, in boxes holdir
20 500 each. The country in the neighbo
Is Is hood of the city is fiat and has som
~ thing of the aspect Of a market garde
~ ALI semitropical fruits grow there, Al
I. raisin and wine grapes, rice and mu
AZ berry trees flourish especially. But Il
- growing of oranges for expectation
20 the chief industry. So great is the fC
40 eign demand for the fruit that when
was in Valencia in the harvest seas
Of 1896 ! found it next to impossible
al buy first rate orange, the best beil
g. packed for shipment. Those common
Il. eaten by the inhabitants are the smf
a. mandarins. Last year some 400, o
Of boxes of ''Valencias'' came to Americ
Il. and the call for them was brisk. III
al year at least 400, 900 boxes are expect
or to arrive in New York, and the dema
m for the fruit in most of the big citi
n will doubtless be very active during t
rk holidays. ''-Washington Star.
be | How to Treat . Sprain.
cs The first thing to be done is to il