Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1906-10-24

and inc growing number of automobile
 nrages iu tho heart of Manhattan
 Island. have brought with them prob.
 km which already is one of the most
 serious that the city has to face. That
 . the gasoline problem, and the per.
 sen,agc of danger to buildings and citi.
 uns which accompanies it's wholesale
 see From three thousand to five
 thousand gallons of the fluid are used
 ver day by the largest of the several
 lundrcd garages and the total amount
 vsd by all reaches enormous figures
 The fluid not only furnishes power but
 s necessary for the purposes of clean
 lrg also, and the drippings and wastnge
 oi gasoline pcrvades the sewers now
 forming serious menace to health and
 property. The danger probably would
 have gone undiscovered but for an in-
 ve-tigation following series of ex.
 plOsions. accompanied by loss of life
 and the serous injury of number of
 persons. carly last spring. The first
 explosions occurred within the zone DC.
 suped by the great number of auto.
 mobile garages on or adjacent to Long.
 acre Square. Almost immediately fol
 lowed series of accidents in cellars of tenement and business houses at q
 distance uf two or three thousand feet
 from Longacrc Square. At the outset
 ihe accidents were attributed to the ieakagc of Illuminating gases. The city authorities set about an investigation
 and an expert was retained by the city io find the character and source of the gases. The result Of his work came as note of alarm to the public when be announced that the amount of waste gasoline and the vapor from it exist. lng in the sewers and cellars was enough to blow up half the district. considerable portion of the residents of that part of the city awakened to ihe fact that they had been sleeping over vcritablc mine for months. The sewer, fire, police, health and tenement house departments established emer- gency offices in the ncighborhood of Longacre Square. Experts found it necessary to remove maAholes over the entire area within three thousand feet, north, south. east and west of the cen fer ot danger. and substitute for the old covers others containing ventilat
 ing pipes permitting the escape of gas olene 'apor, owing to the fact that no care was exercised by the employees "i the garages in disposing of the waste sasolene and that great quantities of the fluid were habitually permitted to mn to the sewers through sink and waste pipes and only the prompt ac- ton of the authorities prevented whole. sale explosions with greater damage.
 The troubles in Cuba, now subsiding, as the result of intervention by the united States government, arc rccog niled m this city to involve interests of Tar more importance than the politics or inc island. From the New York point of view, the accession of Cuba oy The United States Is perhaps only a question of time; and as New York "' and will remain, the center of Gu pan trade and commerce, the impor 'hnce of affairs upon the island are of 'onble significance. IL has recently be come known that attempts have been made in Cuba, more than once since 'ne accession to power of former Pres hent Palma, to foment revolution 'o'ieiently serious to warrant pcrman- 'h' ocenpation of Cuba by the Amori' 'hh forces, with view to annexation, "nu that former Minister Squires, upon '' least one occasion, by his personal 'nor's, prevented an uprising which 'h'n promised to be even more serious 'han the revolution now ended. What ever the result of the efforts of the evolutionary party may be, American enterprise is surely drawing Cnba closer to The commercial and financial centers 0' 'his country. Henry M. Flaglcr's ~a'g going railroad, which is to connect Florida proper with Key West, by nestie' and embankments across the Keys, win bring Havana within about TWO days of New York, as well as Chi sago and the Middle West, by ferry rom tho Cuban capital to Florida and thence by rail. Fast freight from New