Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-07

LONDON'S FIRE BRIGADE.
piled by the Thames and Lea rivers, but II
already uses 2O5, 900, 900 gallons a day, and
it is stimate that the demand will soon
be such as to impair the navigation of the
Thames. Birmingham is getting it's water
from Wales and so are other cities, and
London will in all probability have to do
likewise. The water works are now in the
hands of private companies whose gross in
come last year amounted to something like
$40, 900, 900, and whose profits were over
5000, 900. The London county council pro-
poses to buy out these parties and run the
water works as a city institution.
This would undoubtedly be better for
London in a sanitary way and also for it's
fire department. This city has ten fires
every day the year through. 1t has more
than $500 fires a year, and the fire brigade
is a very important part of the metropolis.
Tails now consists of 1900 men, and it is
equipped with seventy steam engines, of
which eight are river engines to protect the
shipping of the Thames. In most of the
towns of England the fire departments are
not as we'll organized as in our own, and
the machinery here is far behind the times.
They Have Better Mails.
There is one thing, however, which l find
much better hero than in the United States.
l refer to the postal and telegraph services.
These are under the general government,
and are excellently we'll managed. II re-
member correctly our postal service is run
at a loss. The English postal service makes
a profit Of about SIS, 900, 900 a year, and
gives better mails at lower rates. You can
send a letter weighing four ounces to any
part of the united kingdom for a penny or
2 cents, and overweight costs a half penny,
or 1 cent for two ounces. You can send
parcels which weigh as much as eleven
pounds for 6 cents for the first pound
and z cents for each additional pound, and
the DOCK post is about the same as ours.
the Geographic service is lower than in
America. The cost of a dispatch to any
part OF Great Britain and Ireland is 1 cent
a WORD the lowest charge being IL cents,
ana both address and signature being paid
Tor. In the general postofice in East
London there is a telegraph room where
900 men are employed receiving and senr
Ing dispatches, while in the basement there
are four steam engines which supply the
pneumatic tubes by which the kilograms
are forwarded for delivery to the various
parts Of the city.
l like the postal savings bank system
Mnlch Is In use all over Great Britain, so
mat every little village has its savings
bank. You can deposit money wherever
there is a postofhce and the savings banks
are so well patronized that they now have
more than 5000, OOO, 900 on deposit. Such an
institution would be Of the greatest good
TO the United States, and If properly or
ganized would result in our holding every
cent Of our own national debt.
American-LOndOn Exposition.
During my stay in London I have been TO
americas exposition at the Crystal Palace.
II Is not a success either in the number Of
lts exhibitors nor the number Of its Wis
ltors' Indeed, you can see more American
goods In a walk along PlcadiIly or the
strand than you can at the Crystal Palace.
many or the exhibitors complain that they
nave been brought here under false pre-
lenses and 1t would have been much better
ior them and for the reputation Of the
united states II there had been no exposi-
tlon at all. AS far as l can see, the whole
snow consists Of a fair display of American
typewrlters, a few machinery exhibits, an
american soda water fountain, a carpet
sweeper or so from Grand Rapids, a lawn
mower from New York, a patent beer bot
tie washer from Philadelphia, a kodak or
so and a half dozen spectacle sellers. The
spectacle sellers have boxes Of spectacles