Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-30

ment for the period ending June ~ lesN'
presents imposing columns Of figures on
the taxable valuation Of Greater New
York. and the transactions Of the depart
ment for the fiscal year. A few Of these
figures will give a fair idea of the i'm
mensity of the city's resources sor dtigent
tax gathering, which are not neglected to
an extent noticeable by the taxpayer.
Total assessed valuation of real estate
and personal property for 1909 was given as
follows: Real, Ss,sOI, 17s,q04; personal, s43,
900. $50; total, 81, $50. 500. $50. The net in
crease in the assessed value Of all real es-
tate was So, 7ss, si5. The increase in the
assessed value Of ordinary real estate was
Sis, S52. 2eO. The aggregate assessment of
the real estate Of corporations was $751;
S25. 425, a decrease Of Sl2,5ss,T 5.
Assessments of special franchises amounts
to S4I4.O O1, 800, which is a net decrease Of
SIS, ASSIST. The decrease is mainly ac-
counted for by the reduction in the price Of
gas and electricity, which has reduced the
value Of the franchise of lighting com
panies.
Seventy-five per cent of the assessment
for personal taxes is made in the borough
of Manhattan. Collections Of the 1908 tax
in Manhattan were over 80 per cent more
than the tax for 1906. The collections in
the other boroughs do not show as great
a gain. In me boroughs not formerly a
part of the city OF New York the people
were not educated to pay personal taxes.
In the old city of Brooklyn ;or many years
there was no law by which collections could
be forced.
The gain in the assessment of domestic
corporations has been more than 20 per
cent.
Lewis Schrlver, a steeplejack, was en-
ployed recently to paint the new flagstaff
Of the fire headquarters building In Ho-
boken. He started up the pole with his
rope stirrups and reached the top safely.
A crowd Of perhaps 200 was watching him
when he suddenly threw up his hands and
toppled over backward. Fortunately for
the steeplejack his rope stirrups held, and
the crowd below saw him dangling head
downward, his limp body swaying against
the pole. 1t was easy to see that he was
unconscious.
Chief Dunn of the fire department called
John Reagan, the superintendent of the
line department, and although Reagan
would not have climbed the pole to paint
it, he was quite willing to make the ascent
to save the man swinging from its top.
He, too, used rope stirrups and reached the
top safely.
Lieutenant Graves and his men stretched
a life net under the pole and when Graves
gave the word Regain cut the rope stir
rups that were holding Schrlver and he
fell headlong into the net. He was not
injured and was taken to St. Mary's hos
pital. He was seized with an attack OF
vertigo.
A Columbia student was ''suping' in
The Canterbury Pilgrims recently pro-
duced in the grove behind University
hall His role was thatNof an archer and
he wore a pair of green tights, a heavy
red coat and a cap with a jRunty feather.
The night was warm and as there was no
immediate call for archers on the stage
the "supe'' strolled down behind the scenes
to the stone wall that borders the grove
to enjoy a smoke. The grove is separated
from Amsterdam avenue by a high iron
fence, through which pedestrians gaze at
the students. There came one to the
fence and gaped at the archer and his
weird costume. Then:
Say, Mickey, come here quick. Here's
one Of the bugs takin' an airing"
A new street sweeping machine being
tried out in New York il considered a
great Improvement over former devices
Of this class. The machine is a picker
up" and does the laborious work of a
dozen hand sweepers in one-fourth the
time. With 1t the street cleaning prob
lem is reduced to its simplest terms. With
the sweeper in the lead removing the
heavier dirt and rubbish, and the flusher
following, cleanliness, even immaculacy,
may become e fact. The new machine is
simplicity itself. 1t is a af-
fair drawn by horses. On either side be-
low the frame are rotary brooms set at
convergtng angles and twenty inches
apart at the inner ends. The dirt is
thrown up between these brooms In a
row twenty inches wide. A third broom
In the rear sweeps the dirt thus placed
in position for It into a broad shoe hang
Ing between it and the forward sweepers.
From the shoe the dirt is carried by an
endless chain arrangement to the cans
above waiting to receive 1t. Eight of
these cans are accommodated on the
wagon. The entire length of the wagon
is less than that OF a sightseeing auto
mobile. Its bulk is Of course much less.
There are two other machines on the mar
ket designed to do the same work, but
they are high priced and do not do as
much work as the Merritt machine.
A great bunch Of wolves pounced on
the beneficiaries Of the gas rebate fund
as soon as the courts held the SO-cent
rate valid, and had no scruples about
means Of reaching the spoil. Agents,
swarmed around the disbursing bureaus,
men who said they were notaries, and
who competed, with low fees, for the