New-York tribune., 1905-08-26
THE AIRsHIP. PALLAs AND CENTRAL PARK.

THE AIRSHIP, PALLAS AND CENTRAL PARK.
Our ever vigilant and thoughtful Park Com
missioner. who so worthily wears the appella-
ton of the goddess of wisdom, has again en-
deared himself and the great Tammany organ
iZation he represents to the people of the city.
The latter it must be admitted are sometimes
thoughtless, but Commissioner Pallas as to his
brow is always serene, and on it sits enthroned
that public care which has made his admins
tration of the parks so renowned In the annals
of Manhattan. Thus, while the needless popu-
lace on two occasions the last week were cram
ing their necks looking upward at the air.
ship which scared aloft a mile above the sky
scrapers of Broadway, and were thinking. per-
haps, of the time when airy navies might
"grapple in the central blue" above them, Com
missioner Pallas kept his feet and his thoughts
firmly planted upon solid earth and never for
a moment forgot that he was the guardian of
the peoples parks.
The event proved the wisdom and stability
of Commissioner Pallas for, while the sight of
an airship grandly sailing on high and lacking
and fighting the whirlpools of air over the Flat
iron might amuse the thousands ON the streets
who admired the novel spectacle offered to
them free of cost-with an occasional check to
reward them for their trouble-COmmissiOn
Pallas, with thoughts bent solely upon his du-
ties to these same careless sightseers, foresaw
that the daring aeronaut would probably prefer
to descend in Central Park, rather than on
the top of the FlatirOn or the Hotel Astor The
event proved his surmise correct and this at
once made his duty clear. In landing In the
peoples park the airship naturally disarranged
several hundreds of blades of the peoples grass
of which Park Commissioner Pallas is guardian.
Moreover, the eager populace, with eyes fixed
upon the descending ship OF the SKIES naturally
only wearing out their shoeleather, but also
temporarily crushing to the earth thousands of
blades of grass, each one OF which is Mr. Pal
lass own particular care The people. intent
upon n novel and thought suggesting spectacle
forgot about park rules, and possibly for the
moment did not see the signs bidding trespass-
ers to keep off the grass" But Park Commits
siOner Pallas never for a moment forgot
and accordingly Mr.. Strobel, manager of Mr.
Knabenshue has been warned that if any more
flights OF the airship are made into Central
Park, thereby inducing the people in somewhat
unceremonious fashion to visit their own pre-
serve, there will be arrests.
The majesty OF the law, and especially of
Tammany and Commissioner PaIlas. has been
vindicated. The people may grumbIe, like the
boy who is assured as his mother WieIds the
slipper that it hurts her more than it does him
but Pallas is inexorable. The people must not
injure their grass his feelings. Besides does
not every one know that 1t is bad for Tammany
that the needless popuace should get into the
habit of chasing after checks thrown out of an
airship at the expense of a Democrat who has
forsworn fellowship with Tammany and the
Park Commissioner? That is a role Tammanv
reserves for ITSELF though its checks take the
form Of clambakes, trolley rides, excursions.
bail in criminal courts and various other dom
ceurs to the faithful not involving an awkward
craning of the neck or the displacement Of
blade of park grass Hence New-York will
witness no more flights of the airship which
suggests that Henry Hudson and his compan-
their ascent of the Hudson before the nresant
era. Otherwise the whole outfit would nroha-
bly, have been arrested for disturbing canoe
navigation Oh the great river which derives ,ts