The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-04-23
FIFTH AVENUE NO
 LONGER A RICH STREET
GLORY OF FAMOUS AMERICAN BOULEVARD CONSTANTLY
 DECREASING.

Old Institutions Must Bear With What
 Grace They Can Arrival of New
 cOmers-Traffic on Street Has In
 creased Enormously Since Advent of
 Fifth avenue is gradually losing it's glory. It is no longer possible to ig- nore the fact that New Yorks proudest street has become a street of trade. Art galleries, antique dealers and Pari- sian costumers were the first to invade it from the southern end. Residents moved further up, but hotels and great business houses left them no peace The skyscraper apartment house hob nobs with the exclusive club, and the private houses of wealthy men, lordly | chateaux and marble villas must bear with what grace they may the intrl- sion of newcomers.
 The traffic In the street has increased | enormously since the automobile has | become the rival of the horsed car riage, and congestion is a common oc- l currence in spite of the endeavor to re- strict the use of the roadway to pleas ure vehicles and light carts. To widen | the forty-foot street so as to accommo- | date three parallel lines of vehicles go- ing In opposite directions the city has decided it is necessary to take six feet | from the side pavements, and, to give the necessary room for foot passengers, is about to order property owners to remove any structures jutting fom the building line. Courtyards, steps, porti- cos and awnings constructed under old privileges granted years ago by the aldermen are to be compulsoriy aboi- ished under the decision of the su- preme court just given that such im- provements have been illigally made,
 One splendid building of trust com pany has great columns and marble | steps which it may be compelled to de- l strop as an encroachment upon the avenue. If the alterations are carried out as intended, changes must be made 1 in dozens of private houses that must impair the architectural character of the street When Fifth avenues char acter Is entirely changed, 1t is difff- cult to see what other street of the city can take the place of the richest resi- dential street in the world.
 Canned" election speeches used in
 the recent New York campaign were quite minor adaptation of the phono- graph compared with the multitude of | ingenious uses to which Americans are now putting it. There Is constant ri-
 valry to get something novel or unique | in the way of music or noise records. l Babies laughs and cries are obtained l through the whole gamut, the barks of pet dogs, and news of kittens are pre- served for the delight of their mistress es and the edification of their friends. 1 One club of women recently gave an entertainment at which the members caught the voices of their canaries on
 the wax records and passing them | through machine, took vote as to 1 which bird gave the sweetest song
 l Modern languages can be stuaied by 1 the phonograph method, and records oi
 what one says In sleep have been pro- duced in the law courts as evidence oi
 guilt. Another curious device is q pho.
 nograph dinner, at which canned
 music and photographic toasts figure
 on the menu. Those who are on tht dinner programme for a speech or sonf
 prepare it in advance by storing I
 away on little wax cylinder made t
 serve as a napkin ring and sound con
 denser. At appropriate times the ring
 are put on a photograph and the song
 and speeches find mechanical utteranc
 without causing embarrassment to tn
 persons called upon.