Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-28
ROUND ABOUT NEW YORK.
RippIes on the Current of Life In
the Metropolis.

Ripple on the Current of Life in
the Metropolis.
over 10000 men usually engaged in the
various building trades In Greater New
York are idle. { Strikes by the workmen
or lockouts on the part Of the contractors
or material men have brought about a
practical suspension Of all kinds OF con-
struction work and the abandonment of
many projected improvements. Averaging
the earnings OF the idle men at 50 each the
loss of workmen Is at least 100000 a day.
The loss 70 those indirectly affected is es-
timated at half that sum. Contractors and
material men are losers to an equal amount.
The total losses to the warning elements
and the innocent spectators easily aggre-
gate $500, 900, and In all probability APP
proximate 100000 a day. Jus now"
writes Joe Howard in the Boston Globe.
I'VE are in an extraordinary condition, with
more work to be done than ever, and with
less men to do It than ever. Great office
structures, big city works, public schools
and libraries, a $50, Ooo,O0 o subway half done,
tunnels, bridges and private residences, in
all 800, 900, 900, wages for somebody, stand
idle. Armies of men walk the streets,
crowd the gin mills, attend meetings, listen
to reports, confer-and make no money.
Capital, anxious to pay for work. can get
no work done. and intelligent labor, need
ing money and anxious TO earn 1t, is now
crushed between the strike on the one
hand and the lockout on the other. Truly
this Is a tremendous problem. Capital lie
losing its interest and labor is losing its
wages. 1 see II estimated that Mr.. Stokes,
owner Of the largest, most magnificent
and most expensive apartment house in the
world, has lost more than 100000 by
strikes and as much more by disappointed
would-be tenants, whose suites were not
ready at the appointed and engaged time.
Aside from this particular kind OF idle
ness. there is a lamentable idleness of an
other sort, an idleness which Expresses men
who search but cannot find, whose per-
sistent knock finds no open door. They
sleep in the parks, on the docks, in the
cheaper lodging houses, and begin each
day anew, unshaven, unwashed, unfed.
How long can any city be prosperous while
its working classes live in idleness? Capital
needs active cooperation with labor. Ditto
labor with capital"
There is one clever New York shop man
who has made a study of the type feminine.
His show window is a triumph of art and
a~rtilce. This Solomon is a vendor Of shoes.
He employs the looking glass as a bait
for the feminine shopper, who, he declares,
cannot pass one, even though she may
have Just passed n DOZEN" But he Is
sharper than the ordinary shopkeeper and
has observed that, while a woman stares
into a mirror-decked window, she does not
necessarily observe the goods therein. In
deed, usually she Is so taken with her own
reflection that the mirror Is thus a dis
traction as well as an attraction. There
fore he has ounningly arranged a group Of
mirrors behind his wares so deftly that,
no matter where she may stand, she can
not catch sight Of her face in any one Of
them. Any position she assumes a long
vista of dainty shoes is reflected, but no
counterfeit presentment of herself.
"Oh, I'm getting along all right" said a
bright-faced, middle-aged woman as she
sat on a bench In City park. fondly passing
her hand over the bushy brown hair Of a g.
year-old boy. relates the Brooklyn Eagle.
Don't worry about me. Look for some
body who Is in real need" That woman
lives not six blocks from the Brooklyn
bridge. She washes dishes In a downtown
Manhattan restaurant. Her wages are "a
a week. She has one room, for which she
pay IS a month. Every morning, rain or
shine, she trudges over the bridge to her
work. Every evening, pleasant or unpieas-
ant, she trudges back. There is no money
for car fares. 1t costs 5 cents a day, or so
cents a week, to put her boy in q day
nursery, where he gets a midday meal. She
herself gets something in the afternoon
from the restaurant leavings. For break
fast" she explained to a friend, I'VE spend
S cents for milk and 5 cents for d~oughnuts.
There may be folks who can enjoy cereals.
Wa ,optf Uyas,ya fri.d a,y-r,ytba,- 90
%doughnuts and milk go farther than any
thing else" Her washing costs so cents a
week. She says she must be clean and
have her boy clean. regardless Of expense.
and there's no way for her to dry her
clothes in her one room. So her weekly in
come is thus used up: Rent, H.25; nursery,
60 cents; breakfast. n.05; washing, 80 cents
Sunday dinner and incidentals, 60 cents;
total, a. II she breaks a plate 10 cents
comes off the Sunday dinner. Some women
who know her send her old clothes. She
makes them over evenings for her boy and
herself. Shoes are a great puzzle. Coal in
winter is got along without. The room IL
partially warmed from the hallway. And
yet-well you couldn't find a more cheerful
face in all Greater New York. The park IL
free, and Sunday afternoon is the delight OF
the week. Traly, poverty. Of which We al
complain, does not shut out the sunshine
II our natures are genuinely sunny!
There are many peculiar occupations fol,
lowed by those engaged in gaining a liveli,
hood In and around New York. A look int
the junk shops along the river front viii
give one a little idea of the thousand anC
one things that have found their way
thlther after being discarded by their own
ers. Among the many unknown ways by
which a subsistence is gained is one fol
lowed by two men who may be seen almos
! any day rowing about in the North river
While one keeps the small boat in position
the other, with graphing hook and poles
drags the bottom Of the stream for what
ever Of value may be pulled from tn
: depths. Pieces Of rope or machinery and
; variety of stun, good or bad. are grist L
them. Several years ago they came acros
a water-tight box, containing valuabl
5 papers and jewelry, which had been los
Z overheard In a collision betw cen two steam