The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-02-26

.
eral western passenger agent of the Le-
| high Valley railroad, with office at Kan
! sas City, Mo. He will have charge of all
! business of the company west of the
| Mississippi. He will move his family
there in the near future.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
: ONE WOMAN'S VIEWS. :
SgIviepN Ne,.e,N.s,N& ~.
There isn't a doubt but that if
troubles arose to menace life and prop
| erty in this vicinity many persons VINO
! live in distant cities, but who control
| large business interests here would de-
| eide that the Thirteenth regiment
might be handy to have around ana
that the hanlsOmeSt armory Whlcn
| could be built woull be small enough
| compensation for services rendered
| Yet generally speaking these out OF
| town corporation men are very apatn-
| etic regarding our local institutions.
| our home for the frlendless the city
| hospitals. with one exception. our asy-
! lums and various organizations Tor re-
| lief of the poor, often in need OF as
| sistance through accidents received IN
| the vast interests owned by these non
| residents seem to appeal in vain for
| recognition. Perhaps the Thirteenth
regiment may be more successful, rep
resenting as it does the best sort or
! insurance policy for life, fire or acci-
dent as regards the valuable property
of the great corporations in this re-
gion.
Somebody said to a brave and etllci-
| ent officer Of the Thirteenth yesterday:
| But YOU went need an armory If you
have to go to war with Spain. AT
! least not for some time" No he an
swered little ruefully. 81 don't sup
| pose we shall in that case; but it does
| seem that while we are gone the folks
at home ought to begin to appreciate
us enough to have one ready when we
| come back" which was rather sound
| logic.
However there is one thing to be
devoutly hoped which is that no more
| calamities will come along to affect the
completion of projects already begun.
| There is the Home for the F'riendless
heavily burdened with debt, and no
help forthcoming to a degree great
enough to avert the much dreaded pros
pect of a mortgage on the new build
ing There is the Young Mems Chris
tian ass ocation in ashes sending up
powerful plea for the salvation OF
Young men-and for money. There is
the long desired and much needed
| Founding Home, which must make ap-
peals to the public for assistance in
building The Rescue Mission feebly
| e., owls tho Np1ln
Women's Christian association ardently
hoping for a shelter the Associated
Charities .hampered for funds, the hes
pitals limited in their blessed work,
and baffied at every turn because of
inadequate support-these are in part
the claims that are justly made upon
the people of this city. While always,
and perhaps at this time to an eXcep-
tional degree, the absolute necessity Of
| a new armory strongly touches all pat
riotic hearts. Isn't il pity that all
or at least some Of these enterprises
cannot be completed and off our minds? ?
| About the only thing that remains is
to do. might be suggested according
| to the custom in some churches, where
they bunch the entire lot of benevo-
lences and call it an omnibus collec-
Iion," only satisfying the scruples of
certain members of the congregation by
distributing cards containing the diff
ferent objects to which the fund is to
be devoted and giving each member
an opportunity to designate his rartic-
ular fad, where his contribution is
| to go.
The great difficulty in the way of
lifting the colossal burden which sup
presses our city is that it falls almost
exclusively upon few whose wide gen.
erosity is SO thoroughly understood
that we have all grown accustomed to
having them assume the load. When
ever a sum Of money is to be secured
!" from raising the debt on a church any
where in Lackawanna county or the
state of Pennsylvania, to giving a tes-
timonial, or assisting a poor widow to
| dispose Of a COW by means of an hon.
est little rattle, certain names are eX-
pected to head the list. You can read
ily count them for thev are not many
but they are the names of noble mer
and women whose hearts and purses
are ever open to the demands of the
needy, and because Of their generosity
they are constantly imposed upon and
burdenei to an extreme degree, and Of
ten reViled because they do not give
more. Not irfreQuently subscription
books are placed before them with the
amount they are expected to contribute
opposite their names and they are
harshly judged If they demur at teing
thus mortgaged without leave. There
are no residents of any city more gen
erous than those composing a list o.
wealthy men in Scranton, but there Is
a limit even to their endurance ant
possibly the time has come when rath
er more generally than heretofore th'
burden will have to be distributed.
The great difficulty is that Scranton
| contains rather too many elements o.
the W Western boomtown and we may al
well admit the dsagreeable truth. We
/ have grown so accustomed TO booming
our city that we have overestimatet
1 our own abilities. We are not content
with doing anything on a moderate
I scale. If one fine office and store
building is erected, Immediately every
body with any capital to invest mus
I erect a town full of Office and store
buildings whether they may ever ht
I | rented or not. We are not conteni
with having our charitable, philan
: thropic and educational institution:
comfortably and commodiously housed
q No, we must have the finest struc
! lures with the most eNtravagan
appliances and the latest frills
e | Then we start number o
D these with the result that an incubus
of debt is incurred or the limit of eX
> pendture is reached so that furthe
progress is impeded by lack of funds
6 Then we expect a few rich men to com,
. to the rescue and assume the respon