The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-10
THAW.TRIAL CROWDS
 THE NEW YORK HOTELS

ago when he wrested the champion
 ship from the late Justice Patrick Div
 yer, who had a celebrated capacity for
 beefsteak. The feat which has caused
 such rejoicing in the ranks of the Sul-
 livanites was performed at the famous old Atlantic Garden on the Bowery, at
 g banquet given by the proprietors,
 William and Alfred Kramer. who are
 Irish chiefly In their political sympa-
 thies. All the elite of the East Side
 were at the feast. and Corporation
 Counsel Ellison rubbed elbows with
 Count Sparenberg. king of the East
 Side pawnbrekers, while Mayors Sec
 retary o'Brien sat cheek by jowl with
 Jim" Villepigne the caterer. But Col.
 Mike Padden was barred because he's
 the water register.
 The delegates of the various com
 mercial bodies of the city who attend
 ed the convention of the National Riv-,
 CTS and Harbors Congress In Wash
 ington in December i.ave effected
 permanent organization for the purpose
 of more effectively assisting the Con- gress in it's effort to secure adequate
 annual appropriations for river and
 harbor improvement. The bill which
 has been introduced in the present ses-
 sion of Congress at Washington carries
 appropriations for the improvement of
 New York's waterways which aggre-
 gate approximately s1,9o0,0o0. This
 amount, while scarcely In proportion
 to the importance of the metropolis
 in the commerce of the country or the
 congested condition of her rivers and harbors, is, nevertheless so we'll dis
 tributed as to afford the prospect of
 substantial benefit. Commercial men
 are encouraged, moreover, by the pros
 pect that flenceforth as result of the campaign of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress appropriation will be
 based upon a systematic plan follow ing careful study of the requirements
 of different localities.
 During 1906, according to the last report of the Irish Emigrant Society,
 26,922 natives of the Emerald Isle land ed att the port of New York In the number there were 14.917 males and 12005 females. One thousand. two htsh- dred and eighteen were under 14 years
 of age, 14,994 between the ages of 14
 and AS, and TIP over AS years old. The
 influx has raised in certain quarters the
 year that Ireland Is about to be de-
 populated in favor of the United States, and has revived the scheme for pre- venting such a calamity by towing the island across the Atlantic and an- choring 1t in New York harbor, a scheme which was first put forward
 by an contemplating individual in the
 era when immigrant ships were smaller than they are now and before Ireland
 handle in favor of American politics.
 But the fact that the Irish immigrants
 of 1906 brought with them $641,69s in
 good British gold and banknotes goes far to disprove the poverty of "the
 old sod."
 The demand for New York real es- been productive of so many peculiar transactions that few of them attract more than passing notice. Usually in the purchase of building plots only two dimensions of width and depth are considered, the purchaser buying clear up to the skies and down as far as he cares to go: but the site for the new postoffice building in Eighth Avenue, to which the United States Government has just taken title, has introduced the third dimension of thickness. Beneath the surface is one of the big railroad tunnels which cross under the Hudson River. and 1t is an interesting depar- ture in realty operations that the title of the Government is limited to slice
 of earth twenty feet thick.
 Just across the North River from New York is the alien territory of New Jer- | sey, land of commuters and old wives tales, where dreams come true and the wise sayings of all ages find their proof. In this enchanted region lives a worthy farmer. one Isaac Wander
 hoof. who for years. instead of pur-
 suing the confiding little woodchucks with dog and gun as an agricultural pest, has pampered and fed them un- til they form the largest proportion of livestock on the place. When the army of North Jersey commuters cross
 ed the river to Manhattan last Monday morning under a leaden sky from which a few powdery white flakes of snow were falling, this is the veracious tale they told: On Candlemas morn ing, cold, still and cloudy, Vanderhoof spread feast of chopped cabbage and potato parIngs In the field where the Igroundhogs usually cougregate and then sat down to watch for results. Soon a troop of thirty-two of the little weather prophets had made their ap- pearance, and after partaking of the feast, proceeded to indulge themselves In a midwinter frolic on the snow crust which covered the field. Sud- denly the sun came out, the little an-
 imals saw their shadows and, without pausing for Q moment, they darted for their holes and disappeared. Not
 sign of spring for another six weeks
 to come, said the wise ones, with om- inous shakes ot the head. By Tuesday morning the city was buried beneath one of the worst snowstorm@ since the famous blizzard of 'SS. Now, as the Jersey commuters wade through rivers of slush which flow where streets ought to be. they wear the sad, superior smile of prophets of evil whose pRe- dictions have come true.
 Longacre. A SERIOUS OBJECTION.