York, although the cost of attendance would be greater, the water should cost less, and it is extremely desirable, for the sake of the humble people who need most the health and comfort that it gives, and to whom two cents is a very appreciable part of the day’s income, that the cost of the bath should be kept at the lowest possible point. Messrs. Brunner & Tryon, of New York, in consultation with Dr. Simon Baruch, a distinguished physician, have made sketches for a simple establishment of the sort, which look promising, and we trust that architects in other cities may soon be employed on similar problems, not for the sake of designing imposing façades, but for securing the utmost economy and convenience possible. The best architects, contrary to the usual idea, are most likely to solve the problem successfully. Only thorough training and resource, joined to considerable mental force, can produce the happy solution, which seems so obvious afterwards, that every one wonders that it was not thought of before; while the feeble designer copies his plan from some one else and devotes himself to fitting it with a costly front. It should not be forgotten that the people for whom such baths are chiefly intended are the laborers, the hod-carriers and porters, who make an income of three hundred dollars a year support themselves, their wives and three or four children, honestly and happily. They would like to be clean, as well as good, and would willingly sacrifice some of their scanty luxuries for that one, but a fee of even five cents a week for a bath would amount to more than a child’s boots and shoes, and shoes are more necessary for children even than baths. Let the fee be two cents, or, if possible, one cent, and thousands of families would manage to secure both boots and baths, to the unspeakable advantage of the community.
THE Lafayette monument is at last in position at Washington, but has not yet been formally exposed to public view. The history of the choice of a site for this object, which, as the production of Falguiére and Mercié, two of the greatest artists of the century, is likely to be for many years the most valuable work of art in Washington, is a curious illustration of the idiotic fatuity which curses the administration of public affairs in Washington, and, indeed, throughout the country. As every one knows, the beautiful square which faces the Government Reservation, and is overlooked by a line of the stateliest buildings in the world, is named after Lafayette, the courtly young noble whose enthusiasm for the cause of the poor and oppressed did so much to shape the destinies of the two greatest republics on earth. It might be supposed that a statue of Lafayette would be very appropriately placed in the middle of the square named after him, but, at the time the square was named, there was no statue of its hero available, and soon after, and before anything had been done about getting a Lafayette monument, a statue of Andrew Jackson happened to be made, and, as usual, a search had to be instituted for a place to put it. Lafayette Square being a conspicuous place, and possessing no sculptural adornments, the Jackson statue was put in the middle of it, undoubtedly with the idea that it should be moved if its place should be needed for a figure of the personage to whom the square was dedicated. Time went on, and no one could make any political capital, or gain a smile from a fair “ sculptress, ” by securing an appropriation for a monument of Lafayette until a year or two ago, when, by some abnormal exercise of gratitude and taste, a commission for one, on a noble scale, was given to two French artists of the highest distinction, a sculptor and an architect, working together, as sculptors and architects generally do abroad. While the modelling was going on in Paris, the foundation for the monument was laid in Washington, under the direction of a commission, consisting of Senator Evarts, Secretary Proctor and Mr. Clark, the architect to the Capitol. These sagacious politicians, who were well aware that any attempt to move Jackson out of the way, to make room for the rightful owner of the position which he had temporarily occupied, would be followed by shrieks and groans of agony from their political opponents, meekly selected a site on the edge of the square, facing the White House, leaving the hero of New Orleans in undisturbed possession of the principal position. One would suppose that this was a sufficiently modest location for a monument which comprises eight bronze statues, one of which, that of Lafayette, is more than ten feet high; but he must be an ingenious person who can elude the vigilance of a politician intent upon advertising himself; and the foundation was hardly in before loud complaints were heard, designed to
resound, as they undoubtedly did, throughout the Mississippi Valley. If, it appeared, the Lafayette monument were placed on that foundation, it would obstruct the view of the Jackson statue from the sidewalk in front of the White House! It might be argued that the persons who preferred to look at the Jackson monument, instead of the Lafayette group, would be those who would want to inspect the curious spectacle of a bronze horse “a-rarin’up” from a much nearer point of view than that afforded from the sidewalk in front of it; while, if any wished to see the equestrian figure shrouded in the enchantment of distance, they could still do so by extending their necks a trifle, or, at most, walking a pace backward or forward; but these considerations were of no avail with people who thought that they could use Jackson’s name to conjure votes from people who could not have told whether Jackson was a contemporary of Jefferson Davis or Alexander the Great; and a Congressional order was passed, requiring the position of the foundation to be changed. This has now been done, and the monument stands at the corner next Pennsylvania Avenue, in a place where, at least, it could not possibly offend the most sensitive organization that Mississippi patriotism ever produced. The Washington reporters smooth over the ridiculous treatment accorded to what will probably be for many years the most important work of art in the principal city of the United States, by saying that the figure of Lafayette looks toward “the Washington Monument and Mount Vernon. ” Considering that the latter attraction is a small wooden house about twenty miles off, and that the group of French heroes would need telescopes to get a satisfactory view of even the Washington Monument, there is not much comfort in the minute dose of sentiment contained in this observation, and we fear that the hard sense of people impervious to claptrap, who comprise the vast majority of the inhabitants of this country, will lead them, after all, to the conclusion that the beautiful group, an honor to France and ourselves, and a fitting memorial of the days when France and the young American republic, hand in hand, ventured first, through blood and fire, into the path of universal liberty, instead of being put into the place intended for it, and where it belongs, has been simply dumped into a corner, among the scavengers and newsboys, at the demand of people who do not believe even their own foolish arguments, and only urge them because they think they are deceiving some one else into supposing that they believe them.
I
N illustration of the use which open elevator shafts may be in case of fire, a story was told at the Combined Committee meeting in New York of an insignificant fire which caught in a certain building, next the party-wall. There were seams in the wall, which allowed smoke to pass through, and, for some reason, the smoke preferred to take that direction. The original fire was easily extinguished, with a trifling loss, but the smoke which got into the adjoining building, although unaccompanied by a spark of fire, ruined ten thousand dollars’ worth of property. In this case, if an elevator shaft, with a strong draught, had been open into either room, it would probably have cleared the smoke away without injury, and even in a dangerous fire, the risk is much diminished if the smoke is allowed to escape, so that the firemen can breathe, and see about them. For this reason, the fire-engineers, in attacking a conflagration, always, if possible, send men on the roof of the burning building, who reach over the cornice, and break the upper windows, not, as is sometimes imagined, so that streams of water can be thrown into them, but to draw away the smoke from the lower stories, and enable the men to see just where the fire is. It is evident that the two uses of brick elevator shafts, as closed chimneys for keeping fire in, and open ducts for drawing smoke out of the upper stories, are incompatible, and the Commissioners who drew up the new, and very strict building law proposed for Boston, decided to modify the present rule, which requires a brick shaft for every elevator, and allow both freight and passenger elevators to run in open wells, protected only by wire netting. Elevators of the same kind are also permitted in the West, and it remains for careful investigation to show whether, on the whole, brick shafts are advantageous or the reverse. In this inquiry, the insurance officials, particularly those of the mill insurance companies, to whose admirable records the art of building is already much indebted, can be of great service, and it is to be hoped that the question may soon be definitely settled.
THE Lafayette monument is at last in position at Washington, but has not yet been formally exposed to public view. The history of the choice of a site for this object, which, as the production of Falguiére and Mercié, two of the greatest artists of the century, is likely to be for many years the most valuable work of art in Washington, is a curious illustration of the idiotic fatuity which curses the administration of public affairs in Washington, and, indeed, throughout the country. As every one knows, the beautiful square which faces the Government Reservation, and is overlooked by a line of the stateliest buildings in the world, is named after Lafayette, the courtly young noble whose enthusiasm for the cause of the poor and oppressed did so much to shape the destinies of the two greatest republics on earth. It might be supposed that a statue of Lafayette would be very appropriately placed in the middle of the square named after him, but, at the time the square was named, there was no statue of its hero available, and soon after, and before anything had been done about getting a Lafayette monument, a statue of Andrew Jackson happened to be made, and, as usual, a search had to be instituted for a place to put it. Lafayette Square being a conspicuous place, and possessing no sculptural adornments, the Jackson statue was put in the middle of it, undoubtedly with the idea that it should be moved if its place should be needed for a figure of the personage to whom the square was dedicated. Time went on, and no one could make any political capital, or gain a smile from a fair “ sculptress, ” by securing an appropriation for a monument of Lafayette until a year or two ago, when, by some abnormal exercise of gratitude and taste, a commission for one, on a noble scale, was given to two French artists of the highest distinction, a sculptor and an architect, working together, as sculptors and architects generally do abroad. While the modelling was going on in Paris, the foundation for the monument was laid in Washington, under the direction of a commission, consisting of Senator Evarts, Secretary Proctor and Mr. Clark, the architect to the Capitol. These sagacious politicians, who were well aware that any attempt to move Jackson out of the way, to make room for the rightful owner of the position which he had temporarily occupied, would be followed by shrieks and groans of agony from their political opponents, meekly selected a site on the edge of the square, facing the White House, leaving the hero of New Orleans in undisturbed possession of the principal position. One would suppose that this was a sufficiently modest location for a monument which comprises eight bronze statues, one of which, that of Lafayette, is more than ten feet high; but he must be an ingenious person who can elude the vigilance of a politician intent upon advertising himself; and the foundation was hardly in before loud complaints were heard, designed to
resound, as they undoubtedly did, throughout the Mississippi Valley. If, it appeared, the Lafayette monument were placed on that foundation, it would obstruct the view of the Jackson statue from the sidewalk in front of the White House! It might be argued that the persons who preferred to look at the Jackson monument, instead of the Lafayette group, would be those who would want to inspect the curious spectacle of a bronze horse “a-rarin’up” from a much nearer point of view than that afforded from the sidewalk in front of it; while, if any wished to see the equestrian figure shrouded in the enchantment of distance, they could still do so by extending their necks a trifle, or, at most, walking a pace backward or forward; but these considerations were of no avail with people who thought that they could use Jackson’s name to conjure votes from people who could not have told whether Jackson was a contemporary of Jefferson Davis or Alexander the Great; and a Congressional order was passed, requiring the position of the foundation to be changed. This has now been done, and the monument stands at the corner next Pennsylvania Avenue, in a place where, at least, it could not possibly offend the most sensitive organization that Mississippi patriotism ever produced. The Washington reporters smooth over the ridiculous treatment accorded to what will probably be for many years the most important work of art in the principal city of the United States, by saying that the figure of Lafayette looks toward “the Washington Monument and Mount Vernon. ” Considering that the latter attraction is a small wooden house about twenty miles off, and that the group of French heroes would need telescopes to get a satisfactory view of even the Washington Monument, there is not much comfort in the minute dose of sentiment contained in this observation, and we fear that the hard sense of people impervious to claptrap, who comprise the vast majority of the inhabitants of this country, will lead them, after all, to the conclusion that the beautiful group, an honor to France and ourselves, and a fitting memorial of the days when France and the young American republic, hand in hand, ventured first, through blood and fire, into the path of universal liberty, instead of being put into the place intended for it, and where it belongs, has been simply dumped into a corner, among the scavengers and newsboys, at the demand of people who do not believe even their own foolish arguments, and only urge them because they think they are deceiving some one else into supposing that they believe them.
I
N illustration of the use which open elevator shafts may be in case of fire, a story was told at the Combined Committee meeting in New York of an insignificant fire which caught in a certain building, next the party-wall. There were seams in the wall, which allowed smoke to pass through, and, for some reason, the smoke preferred to take that direction. The original fire was easily extinguished, with a trifling loss, but the smoke which got into the adjoining building, although unaccompanied by a spark of fire, ruined ten thousand dollars’ worth of property. In this case, if an elevator shaft, with a strong draught, had been open into either room, it would probably have cleared the smoke away without injury, and even in a dangerous fire, the risk is much diminished if the smoke is allowed to escape, so that the firemen can breathe, and see about them. For this reason, the fire-engineers, in attacking a conflagration, always, if possible, send men on the roof of the burning building, who reach over the cornice, and break the upper windows, not, as is sometimes imagined, so that streams of water can be thrown into them, but to draw away the smoke from the lower stories, and enable the men to see just where the fire is. It is evident that the two uses of brick elevator shafts, as closed chimneys for keeping fire in, and open ducts for drawing smoke out of the upper stories, are incompatible, and the Commissioners who drew up the new, and very strict building law proposed for Boston, decided to modify the present rule, which requires a brick shaft for every elevator, and allow both freight and passenger elevators to run in open wells, protected only by wire netting. Elevators of the same kind are also permitted in the West, and it remains for careful investigation to show whether, on the whole, brick shafts are advantageous or the reverse. In this inquiry, the insurance officials, particularly those of the mill insurance companies, to whose admirable records the art of building is already much indebted, can be of great service, and it is to be hoped that the question may soon be definitely settled.