The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-05

offices OK DIE cOTpoFdtiohs, pionch~o~s firms and banks in the downtown dis- trict was relieved this week when the annual distribution of the yearly po- nuses occurred.
 As a rule, in these offices the clerks. and even the heads of departments re- cesves small salaries, but these are brought up~to very attractive hgure by cash distributions made at the end of the year. One prosperous firm or private bankers for several years has distributed New Year gifts of 100 per cent to all its clerks so that an em- ploye whose salary was nominaiiy $I, 300 really received $3,000 a year. It was feared, on account of the Octo- Der panic and the tightness of the money market which still prevails, that this largess would be entirely cut on or greatly reduced this year.
 When the end of December arrived and the usual bonuses were handed out fin practically all of the offices, there was consequently great relief among the worried ones. The Steel Corpora tion. with its army of clerks and ju- nior officials as usual led the way in the amount disbursed and it is said that S3,000,000 was handed out to the men in the offices of this one concern in recognition of it's successful year.
 The leading hanks and trust com panies have made gifts of from 10 to 50 per cent of the years salary to their clerks, according to the amount Of business shown by the yearly balance taken on December 31. J. P. Morgan & Co.,, conservative in this as in other matters, follow the rule of distrfbut- ing 10 or IS per cent of the yearly salaries, according to the length of service of the employe, and 1t Is un-
 derstood that the usual custom was observed this year. te hat 900 or over has been distributed by offices in the downtown business sec ton to clerks and other employees. The sum is we'll up to the usual figure and this is interpreted as a further sign of | restored confidence among the finan-
 eial and business interests.
 | That New Workers live too fast | worry too much and do not exercise l enough is the conclusion of the Board l of Health in its attempt to account for the great increase in the number of | deaths from heart disease in the me- | tropolis in recent years.
 While Father Knickerbocker is rep resented as staid old gentleman. his | children as indicated by figures are lit- l orally racing toward the grave. Cow ering a period of moro than forty years these figures indicate in a stag | gering and unexpected manner the rate of increase of deaths from nervous | strain of the raclking. rushing life of l the worlds busiest city.
 Nearly 5000 persons have found the | strain of the modern mode of living
 and working in New York too great | and succumbed to heart disease during | 1907, showing an increase of 1.500 over | the year of I906. That this surprising total and appalling increase Is due to l the killing rush of the city Is the yer- dict of practically all the health of | ficars.
 The seriousness of the situation is | indicated by the figures which show | that while deaths from many other dis eases known as mortal against which | preventive measures can be taken have | shown steady decrease, deaths from l organic heart disease, the result of | worry and overwork. have shown ! steady and unprecedented increass. Rushed to death'' would seem to be | rapidly becoming an appropriate New York epitaph
 Every once in a while New Workers. alarmed at the ever-increasing cost or living, rise in up rebellion against one or another monopoly in food stuns' Now 1t is the beef trust that. Is the ob- feet of an attack in which the inde- pendent butchers of the oity arc lead ing the way. Several years ago these independent dealers organized them
 selves into an association known as the New York Butchers Dressed Meat
 Company.
 Now they have awakened to the fact that apparently the big packers of the trust have secured control of this con corn and that if this control is not broken. the trust will have absolute control of the meat situation Tn New York To find out whether this IS the case they have begun suit through
 o1~l, tr
 President of tho company. Frederlck
 Joseph, to reveal the present holder or tha majority of the stock of the com many which he acquired in 1907, a tnlns which he has so far steadily reruseo to do. All sorts of startling allegations are made concerning the metnoos oI the trust in eliminating competltIoh ana absorbing would-be independents evsn against the will of the latter
 If ia alleged. for exafnple. that MT.
 yosenb acouired the majority of the stock of the New York Butchers
 pressed Meat Company merely as an as-ent of inc trust, for the purpose or t,,raino if over, and that he previous iy Jeff at least one other independent cop,naNv elsewhere because It was thought that he was acting III the N"- nacity of trust agent
 The minority stockholders wno are ,,-i1eirg the action because Of thelr Drlss . t LnovU just what MT. Joseph Sas done with his stock, further point ont that this stock which at the time oe his coming to the company nau 1xad value, has now no sale whatever.
 The consuming public or this city Iootrs on the movement with approVaI az if is willing to welcome any plan boldtoq even a faint hope of more req sonabie prices for its meats
 The subway is no longer to pc
 nickel lodging house for persons who' bv having a single fare. have been able to sleep all night in the cars
 while the trains ran up and down the line. ,,
 Early in the history of the subway if was discovered by the underworld that insteaI of shivering on park benches A far more attractive and com fortable manner of passing the win fer nights was to pay a nickel to get into the subway and then ride in light ed and heated cars as long as desired. an arrangement made possible by the system of changing from local to ex- press trains.
 One could literally ride forever for five cents with plenty of newspapers dropped< by other passengers to read and the enticing chance of picking up Pa valuable bundle forgotten by some other messenger. As a result an army of subway sleepers" sprang up. many of whom waited for certain guards with whom they were familiar to in- Ful aiVfnO them in