Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-01-12
ROUND ABOUT NEW YORK.
Ripples on the Current OF Lite IN the
Metropolis.

MetroDous.
The ingenuity with which sm;lii
spaces which in other citleS Wouiu pe
dis,iained as of no particular utiii'H'
are put To profitable use IN New YORK.
has been occasionally remarked upon
but perhaps the best example Is that OF
Il tobacco store in the shopping dis
trict in Fourteenth street. Inc busi-
ness of this store is comprised in the
remarkable dimensions of six by four
feet. 1t may seem somewhat incredi-
bic that in this diminutive space busl-
ness can be carried on. But II ~.
somehow, room is found for IA consid-
cradle stock of goods and by an adroit
arrangement of the interior. there is
sufficient area for two persons at least
the owner of the place and one Gus
toner. Necessarily this is not one OF
those stores where the buyer lights his
cigar and fingers for a chat. business
is brisk. and the customer at once sees
that he must move ON. to give the next
customer Il chance in the TINY place
Ii might be thought that the rent of
such Il Wee store is almost nothing.
Real estate, however. particularly III
this locality, does not come as Il gift or
anything approaching it. Thirty dol
lars rental IL month is what the owner
of the store is asked to give up for his
odd little place. and $50 Il month he
must pay. And he does enough busi-
ness to pay it aud have Il good balance
left.
AS Il development Of New Yorh's
present transportation boom. which
includes plans for the extension of all
the existing systems and for the build
ing of new lines, over head, under
ground and under water. Il great mov-
ing platform now looms up as more
than Il probability. The novelty is part
OF the Pennsylvania railroads. sys-
tenn to handle the thousands of pas
scnGcrs coming from and going to its
new terminal station, and will be oper-
:ltrd HcrOSS town under Thifty-fOurth
street or from First avenue to Ninth
avenue. According To experts. the
moving platform will permit the load
ing ami unloading Of $50 passengers Il
minute. while In" train is in motion, or
the delivering Of 41.2a0 passengers IN
hour at Il given point, which is about
double. the capacity of the lntorborOugh.
Tables compiled by the Insurance
Press show there are several blocks Oh
buildings in New York City worth. with
their contents. $4,000. 900. In all
America there are only three other
cities that have 4 single block holding
anything like this in value. These are
Chicago Philadelphia and Newark. "
j., each of which is shown to have IL
single city block containing property
valued ut $N.U06.0O0. Boston has 4
block whose destrlctihle property Is
worth $7.OoO,000: San Francisco comes
next with a block containing So, 0UO. 900
and PittSburg follows, with it's richest
block worth $1,000. 900.
The tables do not show the Locations
of the $23.00Q.000 block in New York
City. In Philadelphia the block bound
eli by Eighth. Ninth. Market and Arch
streets is found to contain SS.0oO 900.
Newark's richest block is bounded by
..-'rket. Broad. I.dSey and Eank
streets. ana Chicago'S $4,000 900 block
is bounded by Wabash avenue Ran
dolph. Washington and state streets.
That cities learn slowly the lesson of
fire protection is shown by a list of all
The great fir, III American cities dur
ing the las; fifty years. Although Chi
cage WAS Well nigh swept away in 1871.
having $$1a3 100000 Of property
burned. that city had another fire " it'll
in three years which cost 1900 900.
New York tiiys most destructive fire
WAS on Drctnber IL. 1885. when ST.
too.np0 of property WAS burned. Ten
years later there WAS 5000 000 fire
but i'll recent years New YORK Ci.y has
had few cnnhngrations that destroyed
more than $1.OD0.Oo0. the only one be-
ing in january. 1901. when there was a
blaze that swept away $l.O94. 300.
John Il. Mcdonald. the father of the
subway" is ambitious to add further
laurrlS to his crown. He has plan to
air,ile the city with Il vast subway
system ami II" is backed by the Metro
rolitan Securities company. of which
he is Il director and the vice president.
There is no Belmont money in the new
enterprise. Roughly the route of the
new subway is from the Battery north
Oh the east side Of the city. under Will
liam street and the new Howery to
Chatham square and thence directly
north under Third avenue to the Har-
lem. under the Harlem ana through the
Bronx. maintaining as far as possible
the straight line to Il point where con-
ncctiOnS may be made with the pro-
posed Port Chester railroad. From the
end of the main line. which will be in
the vicinity of Woodlawn. a connecting
line is 1" be run southwest to a point
between Van Cortlandt and Yonkcrs.
Falls or voluntary leaps, from the
high bridges over the East river are
not unusual occurrences but the eXne-
ri"Icc of Charles Symmetrical. an iron
worker whe fell from the Williamsburg
bridge into the East river a distance of
Va feet, WAS as remarkable as il was
thrilling. Symmetrical was at work on
girder. when his foot slipped on an
ice-c's,ich plank. lie clutched for the