El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-06

More Than 100000 a Day
Left in City by Gotham
Visitors.
OLD ASSAY BUILDING
is TO BE TORN DOWN
- YORK So. 6.-Out- o own

EW YORK. Sept 6.-Out- of-town
~ visitors are contributing to the
i wealth of New York at the rate
OF more than S2.OOO,0OO day, or the
enormous sum of s750,OOO,OOO a year.
These are the remarkable figures which
have just been compiled as the result
Of 9. special investigation here.
The daily population Of out-of-town
visitors is now over 100000, or about
equal to the population of st. Paul or
Denver. The average expenditure 1oots
up to about SO each per day Ihelr
dinners cost $500. 600 Their hotel or
boarding house rooms with breakfast
and luncheon cost 100000 They are
spending $SzOOOO IN the SHOPS LOT
clothes. furniture. jewelry, antiques and
novelties, 100000 in the theaters. $780,
600 on water trips, beach excursions,
baths. and other amusements. New
York now has 700 hotels, with more
than $4,000 rooms, about 10000 OF
which are available for transients- On
a basis Of two in a room, the number
Of visitors becomes 10000. More than
half as many find accommodations in
boarding houses. The others are the
visitors for the day who depart before
night.
pointed out. approaches this record for
visiting population and its enormous
expenditures.
Eats 80 HOLSTERS.
A worthy successor to the crown so
long worn by Diamond jim" Brady
as king of gOurmandy," seems to have
arisen here in the person of Chris
Granger, of Brooklyn, who IS engaged
as yacht steward when he can connect
with yacht large enough to carry pro-
visions necessary for a crew that in
cludes himself. The other night, on
SO wager, he put away no less than SO
Holsters. averaging over a pound each
IN mention the necessary accom-
paniment of bread. salads, condiments
and many quarts OF beer to wash IL all
down That this was merely a Tight
lunch for Granger is evident from his
after-remark that he could have taken
equally good care Of SO more Holsters
had it been necessary in order to dis
lance his competitor. On a former oc-
casiOn Granger is credited with deVour-
ing a 15-pOund bluefish. along with
nine large potatoes, two lOaves of bread
and six green peppers, washed down by
10 bottles of beer
Hard Times Get Harder.
The hard times in the "wildcatters'
row" grows harder in spite Of the up
turn in stocks, for speculative New
York is awakening to the grim realiz-
alton that Americans slowly but surely
are becoming investors instead OF
gamblers. With the pOstOffice depart.
ment keeping the lid clamped down
, tight upon their operations, the vendors
of flambOyant shares in mining, oil or
patent enterprises find the going heavy
and getting heavier The letters TO
them from some OF the leaders Of the
validating craft do not offer encOur-
agement to take fOOlhardy chances, for
they come from behind steel bars
The report of the pOstoffice depart
ment that not less than $500. 600, 600 or
$40O. 900 a year had been the price
paid by the public for crediting the
stories OF astounding profits which
might be made in the wildcat issues
has quite effectually squelched the op-
erations OF the INSCRIPTIONS tribe The
distinct tendency TO sound investments
was first observed in the west, but the
corporations, or some Of them. were
prompt to adopt the idea Of cutting up
1 their bond issues into denominations
of 800 and $500 as well as the tradi-
. tiOnal $1,000 This reduction in the
I minimum size OF bonds has brought
into usefulness the hundreds Of mil
lions in savings funds which the Wild
cater had preyedi upon People have
become coupon clippers who never
| hoped to have enough saved up" at
one time to buy a $1,000 bond.
Old Assay Building Doomed.
Another Of the few remaining ties
/ between the old and the new of New
building in the financial district about
to make way for a more roOmy and
otherwise uptOdate structure is the
old United States assay office, at Broad
and Wall streets Though a dingy gray
old building Of only two stories, its
lines are beautiful for it is built in a
simple yet effective Grecian style with
Ionic columns and a facade regarded as
one OF the most beautiful pieces OF Gre
clan architecture in the United States
It was built 80 years ago by the
United States bank, which was driven
out of existence by president Jackson
in 1886. when the building was sold to
the Bank Of the State OF New York.
from which the United States govern
ment acquired it in 1854.
The average citizen is scarcely ac-
81 -
say office. Thither goes the miner with
his pay dirt for assay. for which he
receives his gold notes or silver bars
at a nominal cost to cover the running
expenses Of the office. For gold bars
to be shipped abroad, bankers go to the
assay office, whose Weighing and test
ing are so accurately done that they
rely more upon its experts than upon
their own There also are taken for
testing of assay and weights the gold
bars imported. Neither our government
nor our bankers are willing to accept
without such tests the gold bricks bear
ing the imprints Of other governments.