Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1898-08-17
A Letter FROM THE
CITY BY THE SEA.
Mayor Thompson's appoint
ment and how it "sur-
prised' him.
That NILLIoH-DoLLHR HEu HOTEL
PIER AND SEA FRONT IMPROVEMENTS
RAILROAD TRAVEL, OFFICIALS AND
SAFETY.


er with ice cream and cake in anticipation
of the event, and who has serreptitously
authorized her daughter to extend the
invitations, is always the most "sur-
prised" person on earth when the guests
begin to arrive The man who is pre-
sented with gOld-headed cane as a
testimonial to the virtues that he does
not always possess, is always surprised"
that his friends should have been so very
thoughtful. The young lady is also
surprised" as matter of course when
her lover summons enough courage to
pop the question-although she may
have been watching and praying for the
fateful moment for years, and indirectly
encouraging him to reach conclusion
Thepublic speaker is always surprised"
when called upon for STEW remarks" I"
aud the adroit politician is affected in
the same way, when he has been nom-
mated for some office for which he has
labOred long and earnestly to secure.
These remarks are not strictly new and
/ | do not claim any patent on them, but
they occurred to my mind whenI read in
our local papers, last Wednesday morn
ing, that Mayor Thomyson's appoint
ment to the State Board of Taxation, by
Governor Voorhees,, ''came in the man
ner of complete surprise to bim."
Great Scott What kind of greenies
do the newspaper editors think the
people are, to swallow such rot as that
Now / am not saying a single word
against Mayor Thompson. or the Cover
nor for appointing him. Nor do blame
him for getting the office. In fact, I would
like to have it mysnlf, with it's $250O, a
year salary, its $3.50, for travelling ex-
penses, and only a few weeks labor in a
year. 1t is veritable "soft snap," and
man would be fool not to take, or
Use all honorable efforts to secure it.
What do object to, is the statement
that our honorable Mayor did not know
that he was after it, with all his might,
Why it was common talk on the street.
that he was putting his best foot forward
to gobble the plum. Ii had only known
that he wasn't aware of what he was
doing | would have called around at his
office and told him, He is an able man,
and will, without doubt, fill the place all
right, but he should instruct some of his
superserviceable fool friends not to give
us that ancient gag about being
surprised" That is altogether too
much for dog-day weather.
1t is unofficially announced that we are
to have a new million-dollar hotel. be-
lieve this is the fourth successive season
that we have had a new million-dollar
hotel button paper-in Augtst, to be
ready for occupancy the following winter.
They have been built-in your eye-down
at Chelsea, up town, on the LOper lot,
and in other places too numerous to
r.lr
q million dollars. Now in. these days of
cheap construction you can put up con-
siderable of a shanty for a million dollars
providing you have got the million
dollars. So far, however, none OF these
splendid structures have got beyond the
architects plans, or the house-lot boom
ers' hands, and | am just little bit sus-
piciOus that the new enterprise is in the
same class. No names are given, as
sponsors for the project, and no location
stated, except the general one, that it is
to be somewhere "outside of the Board
walk"
If such is the case, should regret to
see it built, for the ocean view from the
Boardwalk is one of the attractions of our
beloved city and should not further be
Obstructed. The Piers can hardly be
classed as distractions, for they are
architecturally beautiful and form one of
the chief attractions to all visitors. But
big solid brick or steel block in the
shape of great hotel, five or six stories
high, is something entirely different, aud
should not be built on the seaward side
of the Boardwalk. There is plenty of
room to be had on the Landslide, and if
some enterprising gentlemen want 10
put up milliOn-dOllar hotel anywhere
between the Inlet and Excursion HOuse,
they have my consent and my blessing.
In the meantime, it has just been On
nouuced that John Young is going to
rebuild his properties between Tennessee
and New York Avenues, in modern style.
and to remove his dance-hall from the
Pier and replace it with larger and
more elegant structure. Ii such is the
case, Atlantic City will soon be able to
boast of the two most elegant amuse-
ment structures in the world, where the
cellar is the Atlantic Ocean.
The first two Sundays of August have
taxed the passenger resources of the
railroads leading here to about their
full capacity, 1t is no small task to
bring down, and carry back fifty or
sixty thousand passengers safely in two
days, yet that is what has been done,
and will be done one or two Sundays
more if the weather is favorable. The
crowds on Saturdays and Sundays have
never been surpassed, and everybody
connected with their transportation have
had all they could do to handle them.
The railroad service was never SO good
as it is now, and the force of men en-
ployed in every department were never
SO efficient. How they all manage to be
SO polite and keep their temper when
dealing with 80 many fools as they are
daily brought in contact with is one of
the remarkable things that ought to
create surprise, suppose they find that
no amount of swearing could do justice
to the,situation, so they just laugh and
take it easy. AS we fly back and forth
with almost lightning speed on the
smOothly-running trains, how few Of us
ever stop to think of what we owe to
the.cool, clear. leveI-headed men whom
we daily and hourly trust with our lives
A mistaken signal, q misp aced switch,
or wrong dispatch means death and
destruction, like that of q battlefield.
have heard men complain of the cast-iron
rules and regulations of railroad, that
are as inf xible as military discipline; ;
but in that rigid discipline lies the
safety Of every human being that
travels by rail. And after all, how safe
it is ! 1t is infinitely safer than carriage
travel, or riding wheel, or even going