December 14, 1889





Record and Guide.





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Dev&JeD to R^L Es we . SuiLoif/o Af^cKiTECTMi^ .Household DEOOR^noii
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Vol. XLIV.





DECEMBER 14, 18S9.





No. 1,135.





Tlie next issue of The Record and Guide (December 21si) 7viU
contain a special sixteen page Supplement devoted to illustrations of
the Pans Exposition. It will he printed in colors on superfine
paper, and in the preparation of the engravings and the jjccss-
work no expe^ise has been spared. Among the illustrations will be
pietures of the Argentine, Brazilian, Bolivian, Gi'ecian and United
States exhibits, Le Dome Central et les Fontaines, Entree de la
Soierie, Palais des Beaux-Arts, the exterior of the Main Building,
Palais du Camhodge, Kampong Javanais, Palais de I'Industrie,
Pavilion de.t Aquarellistes, the Galerie d'Honneur, and several
othei- views of the exteriors and the interiors of buildings. Single
copies of the Supplement -may he ordered from, this office. No. 191
Broadway, or from newsdealers, or at the Elevated stands : price,
10 cents a copy. For subscribers wishing to send copies to their
friends we will mail ten copies to any number of addresses upon
receipt of $1.00. Advertisers who wish to avail themselves of fhe
special opportunity which this number presents imist secure space
not later than Thursday, the 19f/i inst.





Partisan newspapers of the class of which the Tribune, the Sim,
tlie Mail and Express are conspicuous examples, are of course
merely exercising one of their functions by being partisan. In a
sense they are expected to be more or les** without fairness, reason¬
ableness or intelligence in deahng with one-half of the jjolitical life
of the nation, aud without freedom, candor or discrimination in
dealing vvith the other half. Of course there must be readers who
flod pleasure in thus having their pohtical prejudices tickled every
morning-, and who would feel very much as the Piirif-an elder did
when he was told that the devil was sometimes right, if they
should read in their favorite "organ" anything commendatory of
the ' other side," otherwise there would be more newspapers than
there are with opinions on political matters meriting the consider¬
ation of broad-minded people. The Evening Post has always
affected to deal with politics according to a somewiiat higher
standard than that which is thoroughly pleasant to partisans. To
an extent it has done so ; but there ai-e times, especially when poli¬
tics can be associated with some person, when it would be diffi¬
culty to match the Post for rank pre,iudiGe and wilful one-sidedness.





An example of this is furnished by its attitude towards Post¬
master Genera' Wanamaker. Fi-om the hour this man's name was
spoken of in connection with the offiee he now fills, the Post has
assailed him as a hypocrite in religion and a niouey-made
politician absolutely without any other idea in conducting
one of the most important of the governmental departments than
to make it subservient to the interests of his di-y-goods store.
The conception of Wanamaker as a cabinet officer that it sets with
seriousness before its readers almost daily is simply burlesque. If
the man contemplates a change in tlie rates of postage, or considers
the advisability of establishing a postal express service, then he is
planning so that samples and goods from the Chestnut street store
may he distributed throughout the country cheaply. If lie recom¬
mends the appointment of a Fourth Assistant-Postmaster-General
his intention is to add to the staff of the Wanamakera; if he attends
a cabinet meeting it is solely for the pui-iioae of distributing sam
pies from the Philadelphia bargain counter among his associates;
in short, according to the Post, the man is arank humbug, in Wash¬
ington solely to hunt dollai-s for his shop.





On the face of it, tlie picture which the Post draws of Mr. Wana¬
maker is a broad caricature, which might be in place in a comic
Democratic paper, but wliich is decidedly inappropriate to tlie col¬
umns of a serious journal. There is reason, no doubt, for thinking
that Mr, Wanamaker obtained his position in the cabinet as a reward
for assistance rendered .to the Republican party in the last national
campaign. But the same may be said practically of every Postmas¬
ter-General, Democratic and Republican, since Jackson, in 1889,
raised tbe office to its present dignity. There is no reason why the
jreBent incumbent should tu singled out for speciR.! htuek oothn.t





score.   So far as his qualifications to fill tbe position are concerned
there was much to justify the appointment of Mr. Wanamaker.





If a lawyer is a proper person to appoint to the office of Secretary
of the Navy, as in the case of Secretary Tracy, or as in the case of
Mr. Whitney, no one should object to the selection of the head of
one of the largest commercial enterprises in the world to conduct
the Post-office Department. The hostility to Mr. Wanamaker
because of his trade is In many respects like the hostility which W,
H. Smith, the London newspaper distributor, encountered upon his
appointment by Bcaconsfield to the head of the Admiralty in Eng¬
land. Yet Mr, Smith proved to be one of the most efficient admin¬
istrators that ever held the position, and we would not be surprised
to find the same result in the case of Mr. Wanamaker.





The judgment of the public on most matters runs to extreme.
Before the recent conflagration in Boston the popular faith in the
virtues of the modern fire-proof building was unlimited. The
disaster in Massachusetts is now widely regarded as evidence that
the "absolutely fire-proof" building, of whicii so much has been
said, does not exist. As to the buildings destroyed in Boston it
may be said at once that not one of them was "fire-proof," in the
sense that the term is used by architects and builders of repute,
despite all that has been said to the contrary in highly-colored
newspaper reiiorts. As a matter of fact there are very few build¬
ings iu Boston towhieh the term fire-proof can properly be applied.
Practically all those that can be described as such have been con¬
structed within the last five years, and the buildings that were
burned were at best built on the slow-combustion principle which
is so popular in New England. An absolutely fire-proof building
probably does not exist anywhere—that is, a building that could
not. under any circumstances, be destroyed by fire. Stoue will
disiutegj-ate when subjected to sufficient heat—such a degree of
heat, indeed, as is ofteu created in a large conflagration—and
brick, even brick of good quality, will melt. The materials
tliat will withstand extreme temperatures unimpaired are few,
and none of them are used to the exclusion of all others,
even in the vital parts of buildings that may justly be
considered fire-proof. The vitrified hrick that is coming into
general use to-day may be regarded as such a material, for in the
process of manufacture it is subjected to a temperature that would
melt the best brick of the ordinary kind. But, if there be no build¬
ing that is strictly "absolutely fire-proof," there certainly are
buildings the total destruction of which by fire of a character that
can be conceived as likely to occur is an extreme improbability.
The Times building in this city, the Union Ti-ust Company's building
and most of the new bufidings on Wall street are absolutely flre-
proof so far as any conflagration arising within their own n'liUs is
concerned, and the probability is very sti-ong that they would remain
practically uninjm-ed in the midst of a fire surrounding them, such
as that in Boston. After all, the chief requh-emeut of a fire-proof
building is that its construction shall be of such a nature that a fire
originating within its walls cannot spread beyond the room or
compartment in which it occurs. There are many such buildings
in this city, in Chicago and other large cities in this country and
abroad. But the building that could have been put into Nebuchad¬
nezzar's "burning firey furnace" and not be destroyed has yet to
be built. Nevertheless, we may continue to speak of fire-proof
buildings, meaning thereby structures of a much more substantial
character than those destroyed in Boston.





The purpose of Mr. Gilroy, the Commissioner of Public Works,
to make a flying visit to the capitals of Europe is an admirable
one and should be carried out. No duties here of the ordinary
kind should detain him. Tliere are many New Yorker.-s whose fre¬
quent visits to London, Paris, Berlin and the Southern continental
cities fui-nish them with valuable ideas for home development of
the public works of this city, but they are without influence,
even if they put their ideas before the public. They rarely advance
them to matured plans. This is left to the public officer here who
has charge of the like duties. No Commissioner of Public Works
has yet, while in pitblic office, made such a study in Europe. He
is in the superior position of being able to carry out his views.
Much is to he learned, and Mr, Gilroy will become a public bene-
faecor. The subject of street pavements and the qualities and
merits of asphalt is of great importance. These pavements have
been in use in Europe for half a century, and the quality of the
material, the composition and method of laying and keejiing in
repaii" have teen tested uuder all conditions of climate and of light
and heavy ti-affic. He could give these results, which would be of
great value in the new era of improved street paving upon which
we are entering. The placing of works under the street pavement
is also of great importance. It is clear that the present method is
expensive and that it makes a good pavement impossible. We
have every street opened now continually for one piu-pose or
another) and some other plan Iuust be adopted; This must be
superseded by R» Otvchway or tuunel under the street within which;