Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, September 23, 1888, Page 12

e N W S A A AR THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 23. 1883.~SIXTEEN PAGES. Fheir Reputation has neen Built Up by Selling Good Goods at Uniform Low Prices, Forty Years' Experience enables us to thoroughly test the merits of all kinds of goods in our ling, dnd none but those that have been tried are :sv]m:lml. our store, and feel assured that whatever they buy there, will not result in disappointment. ¥ Our styles arc always the latest, and everything from dence. THE FLOOD TIDE OF NOVELTIES AND BARGAINS AT BARR'S, has now sct in. We invite you to look overa few we enumerate LINEN DEPARTMENT. : HOSIERY. W per yard, Monday morning we offer you your choice of 50 d COTTON TOSE, full regular made, in fancy stripes, Wo have thie finest line of EGYPTIAN SETS (5 pieces ench) west of Now Th ese come in all styles and sizes; Monday at one p; YTTON HOSE, in black, scal and nuvy, warr TURKEY RED DAMASK. Alsoan elegant assortment of § TS (5 pieces each), $2.75 to $11.00 per set. 13 picces 54 inch Turkey Red Damasks, We have about 35 dozen Barr's Banner Towels, size 21, by 51. Monday dozen, 25 BLACK CROCHET BRAID SETS, elegant designs, (5 pleces each), Silks Dish Cloths, 10¢ eacls 8 for 2c. ) por set. BLACK ml: A\ IH:P\ SIZTS (5 piccos each), $5.00 to $20.00 por sot. Our entive line of Dress Trimmings, both imported and domestie, are ti HANDKERCHIEF DEPARTMENT. vory latest dosigns and all now goods, S s henaa 01N G No department has met with better success than our ladies’, gents’ and childrens' Hundkerchief department, The stock is large and bought from the manufacturers, and sold at such low prices, as always com- NOTION DEPARTMENT. mand a speedy sale, 2,000 gross DRSS PEARL BUTTONS for Sie dozen: worth 10¢. 1,000 gross ROMAN ¢ BUTTONS, in all the latest colors, worth 15¢ n dozen, for 7e. 500 gross PEART NOTE OUR PRICES. 75 dozen Ladies’ Temstitched, printed border, fast color Linen Hand- kerchiefs, at 10c. 65 dozen Ladies Hemstitched, printed bor chiefs, at 15c. ] 5 dozen Gents' Hemstitched, printed border, fast color Linen Hand- kerchiefs, at 20c. GENTS FURNISHING GOODS. foatures in ourlg; of seasonable The public can come with confidence to Barr's can be worn with perfect confi- below, JADED PASSEMENTERIETRIMMING, fine quality pair. zen Bath Towels at 25¢ each. o | | anted fast colors, / FAST BLACK COTTON HOSE. with ribbed top, clastic and dur- able, warranted not to crock. 50c pai . LADIES’ BLACK CASHMERE pair. Ladies’ Natural Grey Full line of LADIES b rds. NATURAL G i 'AMEL'S H ir. o HOSE, full regular, warranted all wool, 50c¢% per Camel’s Hair Tndyed Wool. 50c pai TANCY LISL AD HOSL, in exclusive designs, Y FITTING VESTS, STS, 81.00. RSEY i LL. WOOL VESTS, in white, scarlet high neck and long slee 1.40, $1.50, $1.60. N SILK HO: ihe. ' COLORED SPUN SILK HOSIL. extra heavy, 8ic. Specig OUR ART DEPARTMENT. Is well worthy of inspection. Ludies will find many novelties not brought out before, Bare’s uniform low prices prevail -FLANNEL DEPARTMENT DOWN STAIRS. 15 pieces 25-inch French Opera Flanuel in Cardinal shades only, at 25¢ per yard; lar price 5 values we olfer mauke competition oat of the question, Suiting Flanuels, all colors, 50 inches wide at 50¢ per yard: regularly sold for| Below we quote a few pri ’ 4 all Wool Scoteh Plaids Fancy Plaid Sacking Flannel, 25-inch all Wool, at 821c, worth 4( i1l Wool Scarlet very fine, $ SKIRTING FLANNELS—45-inch all Wool Embroidered Skirtir 2-1 all Wool White, very fine i ai plors. at 75c per yard. This Plannel is worth $1.00. Iider Down Comforts, latest patterns from $5.50 to $30,00, IRT PATTERNS, all wool, sold everywhere for $1.50; our| 6361 Comforts. 75 lent valuo,” ch. Tx64 Comfort: RA HEAVY SKIRT PATTERN at $1.25; worth $1.65. 56 Comfor e Y N BLACK SILKS. PRINT DEPARTMENT. ALL SILK RHADAMA, worth $1.10. g ge Robe Vild Cat, Wolf, Racoon, Mohair, Plush and A fine line of DRESS GINGHAMS at ¢ per yard. o SAISEL 21-inch. all $1.00; extra value at $1 Scotch Water proofs. Pifty new patterns in C ALICO, ut 4ic per d ; PEAT DI SOI ot and durable, 21-inch, all sill, $1 MILLINERY DEPARTMENT. One hundred NEW and STYLISH patterns in CALICO at e & g ! : SiAitd Our Miss Kahl has just returned from a three weeks’ trip to New Yor rc““\1\11I.1lh:"ll;'l"l‘l”lt;’-rl::};l]; ““‘.&'\’,'“‘r;.'-fl'a‘.‘,'" Flannel which w she soecured the latest and most stylish Paris Novelt Goods are now CLOAK DEPARTMENT. "' MOURNING DEPARTMENT, Lixtra good value in All Wool BLACK CASIIMIERI, 40¢. 50c. 60¢ and T, Ladies’ Plush Jackets, satin lined, perfect fitting, $12.00; cheap at $18 Special offering in BLACK ALL WOOL HENRIEITA, 40¢, 50¢, 65¢, Te, 85¢ Ladies’ Plush .J ets silk lined, ball trimwing, ST CU'T, $1 lar p , $20.00. 3 LUSH NEWMARKETS, PRUSH SACQUES, PLUSH WRAPS, from $12.00 to $60.00; made expressly Goods Co. See our Ladi “Tnglish” Ragla something entirely new A full assortment of plain and fancy Ulsters from 50 to .00, We offer as a leader in the Cloak Department, Ladies’ fancy Wool winter weight, $16, cheap at $ A splendid assortment of Ladies from $4. to $16. R A complete line of Shawls, double and single, colors and black; ranging in price from $3.50 to $20. and full ball, worth dozen. for 10¢, DS, worth 80c pair, for 15¢, S, worth 15¢ set, for e, -Ib. bars, worth 50¢ bar, for 25¢, bargains. ELASTIC DRI Pure White CA\ CUTICURA SOAL, worth e enlke, for 15¢. 1o. INI'S COMPLEXTON POWDER, worth 50¢ box. for 80c. BLANKET DEPARTMENT. DOWN STAIRS, recial aitention to this Department. The stock is complete and the , fast color, Liren Hand- ke Our Gents' Furnishing Department forms one of the special new store, and we are now showing a large and well selected stock goods. We call attention to o few of our pric 50 dozen N Driving Gloves, at 50c per pair 40 dozen Heavy Ribbed Half Hose, colored, at 25¢ per pair. Camel’s Hai iivts and Drawers, woven blanket bottom, $1.75 Full lines of Ladies’ Ready-Made Underwear, Corsets, Bustles, Tam O*Shanters-: Flannels ts, $1.00, $1.50, 20-inch in Beaver, FAILI regular pi . Just Avrived—A choice assortment of Colored Moire, F'rancuise ated Stripes for fall combinations. will sell at 10c; and lumin- FLOUNCING, fine pattern and good desigos,| 50c per 10-INCH S FLOUD v yard. NISH GUIPURE rogu- CING, flnest patterns and elegant de-| "TAS (Ripley dyes), $1.00. $1.10, §1.£ 1 color these goods are uncqualled. We only the best makes. and guarantee our colors fast black. DRESS GOODS DEPARTMENT. The mar! 5 sof Burope and America, have heen ransacked for novelties in Dress Materials. , $1.40, laim 1.50. 0 ha FLOUNCING, very cheap, Tie per | AND/van Barr Dry” PLUSH JACK ve for the Wm. . BLK SPANISH GUIPURE FLOUNCING,all silk and splendid designs, $1.50, up to $7.00 per yard. 'H CHANTILLY FLOUNCINGS, pure silk and all of the latest pat- erns. $1.00 to § vard, 'K SILK DRAPERY NETS, in all the best designs, $1.50, 50 and up to $4.00. We have now on exhibition the choicest and most beautiful designs in TRIMMING DEPARTMENT. ::y','.’?.:'i‘;:?:ql.'ff»'i', its and Robes; also a most complete assortment of all the new including Broadeloths, from the most famous manufacturers in 23-inch wide FANCY BRAID TIUMNIH“' in the most desirable shades, 40c the world. s week our Dress Goods Department has been a big suc New per y P g « vis Novelties will be added daily. We invite a caveful investigation. One of the most interesting features of our Housefurnishi TO THE LADIES OF OMAHA: ings of the WONDERFUL KEYSTONE BEATERS wi are two sizes of this very uscful article, Nos. 1 and 2. No. 1 will whip eggs, whip crcam, mixes light batters, mak No. 2 is larger and will'do heavier work, suthas making pie crust, mixing and kneading li things too numerous to mention. Cake prepared for the oven in 3 minutes time. WM. BARR DRY GOODS COMPANY, N. B. Goods delivered free of charge to Council Bluffs, South Omaha and all parts of th Raglans, All' $1.7 Al and Winter Jacketsin black and colored D Department is “The Keystone Cooking School,” where the work® be practically demonstrated by an expert from Philadelphia. There :s iceings, whips fruits and berries, prepares infant's and invalid's food, etc., etc, t d(}xg s, mashing and flaking potatoes, churning butter, making ice cream, and hundreds of other Eggs whipped in 3o seconds. The one minute coffee pot will also be on exhibition. Prices within reach of all, Douglas and 16th Streets, Omaha. Mail orders will receive prompt attention, kind of work. ! laid at a later date way problem into the same Conduits have been in other places. In Brooklyn there are about ten miles of Dorset conduit, and about four aud a underground wires were a common thing in other cities, especially abroad, noth- ing had been done that would serve experience for this city. In many places through large iron pipes which ave af- | are permanenti terwards filled with a heavy resin oil so as to prevent the water from entering. This oil is a good insulator. imbedded in insulating material and incapable of being ve except by tenring up the strects and the insulation, have been found to worl, with more’ or less succoss. The Com: sidewalks were left hollow by raising | of miles of unde the street levels after the great fir is 400: and the wires arve run through these 1 spaces to the hou : round wire in Boston in Pittshurgh, about 1,000, find that the is a very small amount of underground wires used in THE ELECTRIC WIRE PROBLEM Difficulties and Obstacles to Be Overcome. PARIS AND LONDON SYSTEMS. Investigations of the New York Com- mission—The Five Plans in Use— 1mmense Mileage of New York Conductors. Overhead and Underground Wires, Recently Dr. S. S. Wheeler read a highly interesting paper before the National Electric Light Association, from which the following is taken, as printed in the Electrical Review. It is my purpose, in as brief and con- eise a manner as possible, to give you some idea of the condition of the over- head and underground wires in the City of New York, and the means which are being adopted by the public authorities to bring about a better state of affairs than the one now and for some time ex- fsting. In 1884, the Legislature of the State of New York enacted alaw to the effect that electrical companies in the city of New York and Brooklyn should place their conductors underground, The lo- cal authorities were expected to enforce this law, and the maintenance of elec- trical conduetors overhead in these two -@ities, after a certain day, wus declared %0 be unlawful, Of course, the business of telephon- fug, telegraphing, and electric lighting could not be disposed of so summarily, and before the day appointed upon which the maintenance of wires overhead was to become unlawful fell due, the legisla- ture enacted, in 1885, a law for the es- tablishment and organization of a com- mission, the object of which was to pro- wvide a plan by which electrical conduc- tors in the city of New York and Brooklyn could be placed underground without interfering with the efll 1, of the electrical servies By this law of 1885 it was provided that companies could submit to the c: issions estab: lished in the twin cities, plans for plac ing their conductors underground, and should the said plans meet the approval of the commissioners, the companies submitting them could thereupon pro- eeed to place their conductors under- ground according to these approved methods. In 1885 the question of placing elec- trical conductors under ground was very generally disputed,and no company sub- mitted plans to the commissioners with- in the required time. It thereupon be- came the duty of the Commissioners of the FElectrical Subways to devise a method by which electrical conductors could be placed underground, and to eompel companies to carry out the work according to this method. 4 The subject was then comparatively mew, the difficulty not fairly compre- Pended, and the_different kinds of ser- ® wice, as well as the ways in which the wires might be put underground, were ven classified, The result of the investigation made _ by the Commission to ascertain by what g thod wires could best be placed un- ground in cities, was that the Com- ion had to listen to about four hun- and fifty plans, many of them hav- nothing to do with the work to be plished, and many of them utter- abused. Notwithstanding the impression that wires had been laid undergroundsingly, in pipes, in sewers, and in cables, but no such piecemeal plan could be allowed ina city having more telephones, more telegraphs, more electric light and less available area, than any other spot in the world in proportion to the amount of business going on. Tobe of any value,under such eircum- stances, a plin had to be found which would permit new wires being put in from time totime, almost without limit, without disturbing the pavements of strects, and of sufficient capacity to ac- commodate the large number of wires, for which asufficient space undergrouud could scarcely be found between the various constructions already buricd. The difticulty of the problem, and the reason why the expevience of other places are of so little value to us, will be seen when it isconsidered that the num- beraf wires in a given space in New York, taking the average, is very much greater than in any other center in the world, The ground was so filled with gas, water and steam pipes, sewer and pneu- matic dispatch tubes, and their connect- g boxes and manholes, that it was 1m- possible to find a straight course for a conduit, or even a small number of ducts; and the repairs to these, which if continually going on, would make the wires specially liable to disturbanceand injury. The earth is saturated with gases from the various pipes, and this would collect in any open space, such as the subways would afford, des the insulation of the cables,suffoc the workmen, or causing explosions. In order to treat the subject thorough- ly, the Board of ILilectri Subways of the City of New York, investigated all the different systems in use in other cities; 1n connection with the many plans which were submitted for approv- al to be used in New Yo It was found that in Paris, they are fortunate in baving extraordinary large s, through which in the streets were the sewers run all of the wires ar ¢ with the gas and water sewers consist of a large assage with a flat floor through the centre of which runs a_deep trench or canal for the sewage. The flat pave- ment on either side of this formsa broad walk over which the pipes and wires are sushended from the arch roof. rail is laid on either side of the canal, and on the track so formeda car can travel carrying a drag which is used in cleaning the canal or sewer proper. In the streets which do not have these sowers the wires ure strung upon the housetops. The only other place which at that time furnished experience at all appli- cable to the problem here was London. But here there were, and ure now prac- tically, no arc lights at all, and theve- fore no circuits; there are extremely few incandescents, with no out door cir- cuits; the telephone is not used very ex- tensively, and the wires of the telegraph are placed under ground by the govern- ment. The plan employed is what might be called the handhole drawing in system, and consists of five-inch cast- iron pipes laid under the sidewalks and accessible through handholes or *‘flush boxes.” These pipes are said (I donot know how correctly) to be loosely jointed for the purpose of admitting water to preserve the cables which ave of gutta percha, the same as {s used for .ubmnrms cables,and which deteriorate very rapidly when egposed to the air. In other words, lhu_v‘hlvo learned, by their experience with ocean cables,how to maky insulation which will stand the water, 8 they try to convert the sub- A \ half miles of a conduit consisting of a wooden box made of creosoted boards loosely put together, with narrow ones slid into grooves on the inside to form partitions, This duct being loose and unstable simply affords a means of keep- ing them in place; and as creosote will dissolve rubber, it is not a good place in which to put rubber cable. Another plan which has seen some slight use in Philadelphia is the John- stone system. This consists of a broad flat cast iron duct, made in sections, about six feet long, and divided hori- zontally into an upper and a lower half or shell, so that a section can be re- moved and another substituted without cutting the wires already drawn into lace. The duct is divided into a num- er of smaller ducts, for classifying the wires, by partitions consisting of long slabs of cast iron which are slid into place in grooves castin the inside of the outer shell. The feature of this system is the facility which it affords of intro- ducing an outlet from the duct exactly opposiie wuy lamp post of desired part of a building, by taking off the upper or lower half of a single section, and put- ting in its place a new half section with a hole in it at the desired point, to which a branching elbow can be bolted. There goes with this style of conduit a manbole formed of a bottom, a top and variable number of rings or sleeves placed one upon the other so as to build up the beight of the manhole and per- mit of the ducts being run out atany one of which can be taken off to allow the ducts to be run on either side atany angle. All of the other plans by which wires have been put under ground, except the Dorset and other manhole drawing in systems used in this city, which will be described later, consists of nothing but the wire with' covering buried in a trench, and are of no value beyond the taking care of their own particular wire, Prominent among such plans may be mentioned the Edison tubes. This sys- tem, which has been ext cessful for its one kind of ser y I sists of heavy copper rods wound with rope, and laid in wrought iron pipes filled with an insulating compound com- posed of Trinadad asphaltuin, vesin,p afin and linseed oil. This compound i: run into the pipe when heated to about The remaining plans are of the next de of meehanical construction sts of wires and cables of var- ious kinds laid in troughs and covered with some protecting substance, usually tar or asphaltum. Among these may be mentioned the few telephone and telegraph Boston made into a cable and laid in a trough and covered with bitumen. A few telephone wires laid in New York and electric light wires 1n Pittsburg laid in the same way. There are also innumerable places where cables of various kinds are laid directly in the earth, sometimes with a broad covering to protect them from men with shovels, But none of these are of special interest to us, because ob- viously we cannot use them. The result of the investigations of the Commission were summed up in their Second Report, dated the 30th of June, 1 1 composition; and second, as to their mechanical construction and the manner in which the wires are placed in them. As to material composition, subways 1e, ete. onducting’ material, such as As to mechanical Ways are, gener: speaking: 1st. Tunnel systems. 2d. “Drawing-in” systems. 8d. Solid systems. 4th. “Dropping-in” bth. Combined L Tunnel s; e those where is provided ground suflicien allow the passage toand fro of men who place the wires within the subway. could be recommended, were unlimited time and money at the disposal of the Commission; but the expense of such a ystem and the crying need of immed- inte ac lude the adoption of such aplan, if ever underground railroads become a feature of our city transporta- tion, then, perhaps, the tunnel can be ed for some of the future trunk line construction, sub- ris, where the foundations of the city are honeybombed in all directions by large sewers, such a plan is practica- ble and admirable, but not to be thought 300 degrees Fahrenheit, under consider- able pressure, while an exhaust is ap- plied to the othet end of the purpose of drawing out all air bubbles. The end of the tubes are then plunged with wood soaked in paraflin, leaving the coppers projecting. The chie! peculiarity of this system of conductors, and the feature of which is, verhaps, most familar to all, is the meaus of connecting up these lengths of tubing and conductors. The rods are connected by short pieces of copper cable terminating in suitable copper sleeves, which are soldered to the ends of the rods when in position and the bow shaped expansion joint so formed is covered with hot compound poured into a small cast iron coupling box which is of in New Vork. Drawing-in system, 6r those where manholes ave provided in the sirects, connected by tubes' or 'pipes through which the wires can be drawn, are next in prominence and convenience to tun- ems. In Chicago, there ‘'were seen in suc- cessful operation nearly 20 miles of con- duits of the materinly, coutaining all kinds of wires, as follows: Eight miles of the Dorset system of conerete conduit divided into ducts,and containing in the separate ducts wires of the city telephone, teleg: sepvice, electric light wires, s of different telegraph companies. Four miles of the Johnstone system of iron conduit divided by mctal shelves, bolted on to the junction. The lines terminate at tho street crossings in large cast iron boxes, like manholes, where the rods are joined by heavy cop- per cables, to suitable connecting de- vice near the top. This plan is too expensive except for very heavy conductors, but serves ad- mirable the requirements of incande- scent lighting. Another method somewhat similar is the Brooks System, which consists of wires covered with cotton and drawn and carrying the wires of the Postal Telegraph Company. In l’l’\ilndulphifl, a comprehensive “drawing-in” system of iron was seen, containing electric light and telephone and telegraph wires. In Boston, some two miles of such “drawing-in’ iron systems are in oper- ation, In London, 9,000 miles of wire are un- der ground, bunched into cables, and drawn into three-inch iron pipes. Solid Systems, or those where wires missioners saw sever duit 1n successful operation in Chicago by the telephone company there, wh wires were huried in an asphalt or coal- tar cement, laid in a wooden trough. Several miles of similar conduit ave use in Washington for electric lighting, and there are other instances of the successful operation of this description of conduit. In New York there are sever: tems in use underground, cuch mo less satisfactory to those employ A prominent example is th system used by the Metropolitan phone and Telegraph Company. It con- sists of an iron tube in which cotton- wrapped wires are drawn, and the tube filled with oil, the oil ucting as an in- sulating medium. 1t is kept at a desired pressure. the tubes constantly full, by meuns of a stand-pipe. They use a two and a half inch iron pipe, and the sys- tem is cheap, costing less than 811 per mile of wire, because into such a pipe can 300 telephone wires. s for telephone purposes, and those used in the American District and other call-boxes, are of a very light intensit and do not need as_hedvy insulation s do all other kinds. This claimed to give perfect satis telephone conduc The Western Union Telegraph Com- pany has many wires already down in ch iron pipes, into ables manufactured or kerite insulation. s are leadjointed, are laid in Broadway, and have manholes occasion- ally for taking out the wires. To sum up as to the form of subway and the mann n which the wires are to be placed in it. ‘We are convinced that from the standpoint of an electrician, simply it may be said, that almost any plan of sys- tem can be made to work: from a single lead-covered laid directly in the earth; to At tunnel upon whosc walls the lated conductors can be hung. Within_ certai d limit any system is eleetr practicable refurdation and induction can be ov come. Itisonly when we face in this inical enginecring and al qu ence with water-pipes, gas-pipes and sewer-pipes, of obstructions from vaults, or dang from steam pipes, of the action of sewer and illuminating gas, that the necessity for caveful discrimination presents itself. stion for okonite These pi} * * The question of distribution of elec- trical currents from the main subway constructed in the manner T have ce- scribed, has been largely left by the authorities in the city of New York to ence of the electrical com- * % tems of distribution are at present actually in use in New York by the telephone’ company. These are known as the house-top “system of dis- tribution, an example of which seen at Sixth avenue and Fifty-first street, and the man-hole system of dis- tribution, which may be scen at Broad- way and Exchange Place. In addition to these systems, there are five modes of distribution which can be readily applied to the subways as constructed in New York,and which will be allowed in cases where they arc sevorally most expedient, the lamp post system of distribution, the house-front system, the houses-vault system, now in use in Chicago, the back-yard system, and the man-hole system. In the heart of Chicago, the distribution question is peculiarly easy of solution, because the Having decided the question of the kind of conduit to use, the commission ed to have subw constructed rording to these plan It was d cided best, as a matter of expediency and to prevent accident. that electre light sunways should be distinct from those intended for telephone and tele- graph_services, and it has therefore been th ctice of the authorities in York to build subways for one s of conductors upon one side of the [ et, and reserve the other side for those of other service. The telenhone people were the first to realize that underground wires sure t5 be ultimately a succes: business had grown enormously, had about reached the capacity of their pole lines, and it was not casy toget the use of additional streets, because the streets are crowded with wires—both their own and those of other companies. It was found that the growth of the tel- ephone business was practically put an end to by the fact that no more room coald be foand in which to string w House-owners were charging a renta of one dollar per wive per . which, in some cases, amounted fo very large rental in the » of building, and the telephone people had reached the point of vrefusing subscribers, They came for- ward, and were the first to declave for After some resistance and electrie hight com, to the conclusion to comply with the demand nd place the bulk of their con- underground. And, as a mat- ter of fact, in the City of New York, to- but one single company © number doing business here which refuses absolutely to com- v with the provisions of the subw , the telegraph and mine-tenths of the opposition | and outery has heen ca pany. At the present time the total con- ! struction of single duct in the City of New York amouuts to four hundred and | twenty miles. In these subways thove | ave alveady in op: sand miles of telephone and telegraph w , and some hundredsof miles of in candescent electrie 1 t conductors. Cables for arve lighting 10 he drawn in on Broadway, from Pourteenth to Thirty-fourth streets by the Brush Electric [Muminating company within the present week., A lotter from the electrician of the Metropolitan Tele- phone and Telegraph company, bearing August 2oth, as estimating the act length of cables of various kinds now underground, is as follows VEW YORK, Aug Esq., E d by this com- al Control: Dear S have hastily collected the following information relating to the underground mileage of wire: The number of miles of single wire conductors in New York City of the various kinds is as follows: Brooks system, laid May 25th, 1885, 200 miles; Patterson cable, lmd March 18th, 1885, 226 miles; Edison system, 1aid June 20th, 1855, 194 miles; Patter son eable, laid in 1856-7, 505 miles; Pat- terson cable twisted in pairs, number of miles. We have in course of construction some 12,000 miles of conductors which will be laid in Seplember and October. Total number of miles already laid in New York, 3,697. The number of miles of underground wire n Brooklyn is ion some four thou- | miles counting both wires, in 1838,2,272 | | in the Quake London for telephone purposes, there being some short lengths used entering exchan . which is not worth while considering, Respectfully, (Signed) J. A. SEELY, Electrician, If will bo seen from this that thero are already underground in the city of New York, more electrical conductors than in any other city in the world, while the capacity of the construction already finished in this city may bo es- timate? fairly at something over 30,000 milos of conductors. There are through lines completed from the Battery to the Park on the two principal thoroughfares of this city, Broadway and Sixth avenue.and a grau- ual conversion of overhead systems ta unlerground ones in the busy part of the city may be confidently expected. PEPPERMINT DROPS, A headache may often champagne issue, This banana trust will be nothing more nor less than a skin game. When @ metre is out of order it is probably troubled with the gas-trick fever, are credibly informed that all the best 1L coaclics have waggin' tongues, get out a new city map at Topeka evel ne a property owner there builds a new fene The world is not so bad as it is badly painted. One straw vote fiend has been kilied on a railroud. *The waltz has entered upon its 101st sea- son. It would secm s if the waltz ought to be old cnough to be less giddy. Many a stalwart man, with bedcord, has broken his the mortgage off a lity _ “There ure more weighs than ong of wak- ing money,” remarked the coal-dealer softly as he shoved the pea along tho scale beam Mark Twain soys that he has no dificuity ustaining the role of a M. A., but tho wiof pa often gives him a good deal of be considered a is muscles like ack trying to lift 0 house, 3 us: “In answer to v8 of the 24th, would say that iu order to a scalp dance it is requisite that you “irst cateh your hair.” Farmers say honey is their only product that is free from vermin. Let duc given tho bees for this take great pains to comb it. A Saratoga hotel waiter, la has left a fortune of 60,000! indorse 1g that su are willing to wait. a million men in this country or 4 cigar store and ask “‘Have you a good cigar!” And not ono of them has ever found a tobacconist honesy enough to reply in t tive. A Kentuckian wh o returned home from o visit _to Philapelphia o weelk d his friends that he tastod a new b » lity, From his doscription of the fluid it is oved that a practical joker persuaded him to swallow a glass of water by telling him that it was a “milk shake." ‘The thing ! most deeply regret,” said the Chicago househoider, “is that burglars stole my watch, jewelry and silverwaro after the assessor had peen around, It inakes me mad to think that a few weeks from now I shall be made to pay taxes on personal property which thieves have carried off." “And 80, said be bitterly, when he real- 1zed that she had rejected him, “and so you hia been flirting heartiessly with me all the while. Well, thank heaven, 1 have found you out at last! “Yes," she replied, "'you have; and, what 18 more, I think you wili al- ways find e out Lereafter when you call.” “1 left the business long ago,” said the ex- umpire, **but it seems to follow me still, even to my own home.” “How is that!" asked his auditor. **Well, my son works in an iron mill and iny daughter is 4 fine young lady. L g0 home at night and find my boy on a strike 2,100; in Paris, 4,100; in Chicago, 200, As per report of telephone convention held September 26, 1887, the number &nd my girl gone on balls and partics. Even my wite gives me chicken wings—foul Lips, you know."” And the old umpire sighed,