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PART 11. TEN PAGES. $3,000,000 HOTEL WITHOUT A LICENSE YET- THE EIGHTEES STORY ST. REGIS IS SO CLOSE TO A CHURCH THAT MAXV COMPIJCATIOXS HAVE ARISEN. The work cf furnishing the new St. Regis Hotel. itt the southeast corner of Fifty-flfth-Ft. end Fifth ave.. eoes forward steadily, and R. M. Haan, the lessee, cays It will surely be opened late In this pasßth or early in July. The Question of a liquor license for the St. Regis, which lit. been thai subject of a spirited contro versy almost since the construction of the hotel was begun. Mr. Haan will not discuss. He says, however, that it never v.as Intended to have a bar In the hotel, nnd that all liquor sold there will be served at tables In the cafe. The Fifth-aye. en trance to the ■:<-;, now closed, will probably re main closed, for Mr. EXaan pays the main entrance will be on the Bast Fifty-nfth-st. side, where it is now. and not In the Fifty-fifth-st. addition, now build"-*-', as some opponents of the license have professed to believe. This plan to Ehift th« main entrance of the hotel .from Fifth-am, to Fifty-fifth-**, may prove a sat isfactory solution at the license difficulty, since the objecdon to the granting of ■ license to the hotel will pi 1 bably be mc.'.c on th« ground that the nfth-ave. entrance of the hotel Is within the 200 foot limit from the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. 'The St. I>?rf«. which Is owned hy John Jacob Aster, was Seslgiied by Trowbrldge & Livingston, end is tald to be one of the flnopt typos of modern hotel to be four.d i:; this country. Banning up ♦ighTe.n storks Into the air, it is an Imposing structure. Work upon it has been in pi resi •■ r about three years, and its cost la placed at about $3.00:>.<»\ Th.» ••■!. which stands diagonally op j>o?lte the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Is In the heart of a residential quarter, and the church people ar;i property owners in tlia vicinity resented the Invasion, because they v< Ueve the character of the chtriot will h" changed If the sale of 113'jnr is allowed in the hotel. "Win :i the site, for merly the old Thorr.o property, waa purchased, about 'i:roz> years aj;o. a-.d the plan to erect a hotel there was made public, the neighborhood i'O can-.n thoroughly aroused. Henry s. Bedmond. Wll'.lpjn Ii i k'f' ilrr ;.v.<l Jcnios Everard were am or.? Ihoae trikin»r a prominent part on behalf of th* property owners. Bui the opposition was not VIEW OF THE PALM ROOM IN THE HOTEL ST. REGIS. Trowbridge. & Livingston, architects. (Besrosaoad from The Architectural Record" for Juna.) sufficient to defeat the project, and the work of buiaing the St. Regis was pushed rapidly ahead. Then, srbea the walls had risen high above the enrrouadir.g residences, a big pfece of granite broke away tr a !ts fastenings one day and crashed aansagk the roof of lames ■.: rard's house, next 4oor !.-. Fifth-aye. Considerable damage was done, end the storm of protest against the presence of tho hotel at Flfth-ave. nnd Fifty-lifth-st. broke out stash, Surveyors w< re employed, and It was dttnor.str.-itr-ti that the Fi.'th-;ive. c-r.trance of the betel and the entrances of th<- Fifth Avenue Presby terla- Church are less than two hundred feet apart. It was said about this tiir:e that thft owner Of the hotel purchased two l r ''« adjoining the hotel site in Fifty-fifth -t-t. and filed plans for an eighteen story *£<3!tion. This was The signal for a fresh outburst of Indignation. At once it was conjectured that the plan was to place tho cnf(- in this addition and get Its entrance outstde of the 2"J-i< at limit. Boon af|er the Pulitzer dwelling bouse was destroyed by fire, ■ad the propel ty. B8 feet adjoining the new hotel plot. mm<- into thp market. Beso ■••• j to check ■:. spread of the liote' holdings If possible, th* property owners combined and pur chased the Pulitzer plot. A short time after the purchase they sold it to W. W. & T. M. Hall. buUd «ns. These owners erected a private dwelling boose on the eastern lit of the j.lm ana so!d the naif ad joining the hotel property to the hotel owners. It *M announced that the sale carried with it restrl ■- Bsbsj that a prtrate bouse should be built on the plot. The excavation upon It h;i.<!, however, been wninl to tht some depth as that for the hotel addi tion first proposed, and tho leaders Of the war ae.^r.st the hotel are Ulling themselves that they h»v« keen outwitted. Vbether the hotel cafe will be placed finally in l - •* re» a'Jdition Is riot <lr-ar. At the present time V« eal4 is on the ground floor In the southeast •' r ~n ; :r. most remote frora the church. tfeass opposed to tl:e sale Of liquor In the hotel • *: (bat, 'x matter where the cafe Is, so leng as the J*sfth-ave entrance remains within M 0 feet of the cburth e,,. rar.ee i^o liquor can legally be sold. The ** w prvviCM ti.at no licciiHe fiha.ll be granted to traffic in 11.,' . ••;.-. any building, yard, booth or ether pmea Which shall be upon the same street or avet.ue ntii within 200 feet of a building exclusively occupied a 9a 9 a church or schoolhouse, tho measure nienis to be taken in a straight line from the centre ' T!»e nearest entrance of the building used for •** Church or echool to the centre of the nearest ■jwaaea of the place In which such liquor traffic is Cesired to be carried on.' The «,curtty felt by the property owners in this ■eeuon of the law was severely shaken when it was announce that a bill providing for the iswue la license within the 200- foot limit, provided the Ika .n <jutetion waived Us prohibitory rights. umq X* mti the legislature and received the Gov nor« eignature. Nor was their anxiety lessened •fi» tt was pointed out that even If the consent ti • v ". rd " of the property holders In the 200 t,roMv. was withheld, which would have been *f^iD.tory under the law as it originally stood, the r~T tl of «*• church might be conquered sulliclent ctr tut tew nr.endnient and ti,» wishes of thg -'^^^g^^^ia^gS^^^^'^Hi^ I*^^1 *^^ property owners count for nothing. The Rev. Dr. J. Iloss Stevenson, pastor of the church, set the minds of the property holders at rest, however, when he stated to a Tribune reporter not long ago that the trustees of his church would not consent to the granting of a license. The St. Regis, which has been the. storm centre of such a contest over a license as has marked the advent of few New- York hotels. Is, architecturally, one of the finest In the country. It cannot be called the largest hotel in the city, since the area of Its site, including the new addition, will comprise less than £0.000 square feet. This area is exceeded by tlio Waldorf-Astoria, covering 70,000 square feet; the Fifth Avenue, 14,000, and the new Hotel Bruns wick. 35.000. The St. Kegis enjoys for the time be ing the distinction of being the tallest hotel In the city, but the Brunswick, the new Imperial and the Bclmont will he a? Will. If not taller. So fcr as elegance of finish is concerned, how ever, it will be difficult to find anything In hotel construction which can excel that In tho St. Regis. One of the novel devices employed In the hotel construction Is the system of ventilating, by means of Which Instead of taking cold air In at the base ment and forcing It throughout the building, It Is taken in at every four or five stories, warmed by passing over steam cofls, moistened and then forced by Mowers to the various rooms. The hotel kitchen was built with a special view to service. Die floor being of marble, the walls tiled and the tables of glnas. The banquet room, on the Flfth-ave. front of the second floor, hns walls panelled In marble. HOW TO MAN THE ARMY. System of Conscription Recom mended by Uoi/al Commission. Gr".!t Britain and the T'r.'.ted Ptates being; at the present moment the only two civilized na tions whose system of military and naval de ferofi is based in practice exclusively upon vol untary enlistment, the announcement that the royal commission appointed to deal with the militia and volunteer question has reported in favor of conscription, which is known to be re garded not merely by the present Unionist ad ministration, but also by Liberal leaders, such a= Lord Rosebery and Sir Charles r>llke. as the only moans of solving the gTavo problems by Which the British Krii!<ir<-; is confronted in con nection with rli'.- arm:.-, will be received with ex ceptional Interest In this country, for sooner or Lit'.r Uncle Sam, with his ever increasing re- Bponslbilltles as a great power at homo and abroad, v-11l be brought face to face with the same difficulties as those which are now engag ing the earn* st attention of John Hull, and will be compelled to follov.- his example an<l to resort, •is at the time of the Civil War, to conscription. The latter is not, as so many people seem to believe, universal obligatory military service in the army, and there Is no doubt that If the very widespread misapprehension with regard to the meaning <>f the word were to be removed much of the popular apposition which its very men tion excites would disappear. Hriefly speaking, conscription means an enrolment that is not universal, but by lot. It is used by those Con tinental countries of Europe, which do not re gard it wise, from an economic or political point of view, to deprive national trade and Industry of the services of every able bodied youth In the land for the few years when tho spirit of enter prise is most keen and the mind most apt to Im bue itself with Information of a non-military character calculated to prove of use in a sub sequent civilian career. In Belgium, Holland and Spain, as well as in other Continental coun tries where conscription prevails, every able bodied youth is required to present himself for military service on reaching the age of twenty. Only a third — sometimes even a still smaller proportion — of those who thua appear are en rolled in tho army, the selection being made by ballot, while the others, who have drawn fort unate numbers, are permitted to return to their homes and to their pursuits, leaving: their names at the vurlous military depots, bo that In the event of an emergency, such as, for Instance, the invasion of the country and the defeat of the standing army, they could be called upon to Join. The most notable occasion upon which these beneficiaries of the system of conscription were subsequently summoned to take service was in the Franco-Prussian War. In fact, the greater portion of the so-called southeastern French army of. the late General Bourbakl was com posed of your:g men who had been permitted to return to their homes at the time when they presented themselves for s.ervice at the ago of THE NEW EIGHTEEN STORY HOTEL ST. REGIS. Trowbrldge A I . ' tor J twenty, nr, ! who h to th ■ colors only vaslon of I ■ Germ Then eight: • : ti In all vi bakl. and moi • Iha i sixty thou were so devoid oi (lid not e\ en know how to 1 i or to fix their bayonets, while the n . of tl chassepot and the meaning of the vi rioua words cf regimental command were altogether I VIEW OF THE KITCHEN OF THE HOTEL ST. REGIS. Trow-brid^e & Livingston, architects. (XUproUuctd from "Tho Architectural R*cord" for June.) their comprehension. Quite naturally, they were unable to offer any resistance to tho Germans under Genera] yon Werder, and were driven like bo many sheep across the border Into Switzer land, General IJourbakl in despair making an at tempt to blow out his brains. It was the lamentable fate of this army of Bourbakl that determined France more than anything else to substitute after the war universal oblig service for the system of conscription which it had Instituted In 1708, and nowadays the law in France, as in Germany, Austria, Russia and Italy, compels every youth of twenty who does not happen to be exempted on account of medi cal uniltnt-Hs to Join the army, enforcing pen alties of the most severe description In all cases where a man has evaded this duty to the state. Indeed, men who fail to present themselves for military service at the age of twenty without having: been officially excused on the gTound of some medical defect become lpse facto deserters and outlaws, and liable to punishment of the most drastic character. In a minor degree conscription entails a sim ilar obligation upon the young men of the coun try where it prevails to refrain from temporary or permanent expatriation until they have un dergone the process of being balloted for and have received from the authorities an intimation that their services will not be required, and that they are iree from the necessity of Joining: the colors. Tills is or.a of the unpopular features of conscription, c.s it la of compulsory military service for all. At present an Englishman 01 •ii American is his own master. He i* free to nd 1 g as he lists, or as -.Mi- require ments <>f lii.s calling may demand, without re striction. Bui once let conscription be adopted 1 Id Great Britain or In the United States, .■! ' i there would be little to distinguish the natives of those two countries from the native* of Coi Dental Europe, who cannot lea" 7 the country may not even quit their towns and villages — without informing the local au thorities and securing their consent. Failure to comply with this requirement places a man at once beyond the pale of the law. Indeed, it would be Interesting to know how many foreign born citizens there are at the present moment in the United States who cannot return even as mere tourists and visitors to the land • ■!' their birth to take, perhaps, a lust farewell of their aged parents, who are In every sense of the word exiles from their former homes, for no other offence than that they have left the latter without permission and have not fulfilled the requirement of thai laws either of conscrip tion or of obligatory military service for all. In spite of this popular objection to conscrip tion, which virtually forces a citizen to keep the authorities of his native land acquainted with where he is, it 13 evident that it will have to be adopted by Great Britain, If not at once, at any rate In the near future. AH the leading military men In England, backed by expert opin ion abroad. insist most strongly that the militia and the volunteer forces In their present form are useless for all practical purposes, owing to the absence of proper training; and that they, therefore, constitute a needless expense. That the present government shares this view, which has been confirmed by the royal commission to S . £oat Uric oa third page*. '~~>sJ.mij WOMEN'S FINE NAINSOOK aMsf CAMBRIC LiNGERiE Hi<ue fast received a. targe purchase of high-grace Under <wear, comprising Chemists, Night Dresses, Petticoats, Drapers and Corset Covers, in fine Nainsooks, Lawns and Cambrics, trimmed with hemstitching, choice laces and embroideries. DRAWERS, > r/) 7r- no- t f 25 C&mbric, K*ins:ok. Emboidery or Uce. ) Jl/ / 3"* 7O' + I .<** CHEMISES, „ *^, \7s<> 98-' Si .so. $j99 N^nsook, Uce or Embroidery. > />* ' 7O C " * J .*U' > J J '<* NIGHT GOWNS, lrl f ;75 c, 92 ,, $ v 50 $ U 9B Cambric, NkoJek. Embroidery or Uce. \ < ' "&" *lS U ' >J- SJS J UNDER PETTICOATS, \so°~ 75<>> 9&- Si 25 Cambric. Uce or Embroidery. sJtA" /O Cf 7O C " *I SDS D WALKING SKIRTS, '■ 9fic, $150, $198, $9 98 Cambric, lam or Embroidery. ) 70 L " +'• JW > ** ™, *** * CORSET COVERS, > r/) c , JC Cm 9 go c , t $1 25 Nainsook. Uce or Embroidery. ) 3U~ ' /J v " 7O^" * I •*- r CAMILLE DRESSING SACQUES. \ Qftc Rosebud cittern lazor.s. scalloped edges. ' '** CAMILLE DRESSING GOWNS. } $f 98 Rosebud pattern U<wns. edges sczllopti. \ ** CORSETS, } $f 50 White Batiste, lexw bust, deep kip. supporters side and frorJ. ) * • CORSETS, ) * f 00 White Ejittste, straight front. lo<w bust, long hip. ) * • SILK PETTICOATS, I$ A 98 Taffeta Silk-colors and black. ) * • SILK PETTICOA TS , * /> 75 Taffeta Silk— colors and b'.ac\— accordion pleating and ruchz. )*O» These goods are of such great excellence that <we 'very strongly recommend them. They are standard qualities, made under our supervision, and offered much belo<w regular prices. Le Boutiltier Brothers West T<wenty-third Street "GRAFT" IN THE BUILDINGS DEPARTMENT. FREQUENT COLLAPSING OF STRUCTURES SEEMS TO SHOW THAT THERE MAY BE SOME. "la 'graft" fiouriFMr.c attain In the Buildings De partment?" One hears this question nowadays with in alarming frequency. People are bar, owning TCsptcio<JS. Buildings, are falling down M often that speculative builders f.rjd their "bargains*' go ing extremely slow. They discover prospective buyers examining every nook and canny with un usual distrust, and tapping the walls and measur ing the plllan in search of flaws which they fear bribery and plaster have covered up. Some time ago the skeleton of the Darlington apartment hotel collapsed ami killed fourteen be neath tho ruins. 8 : •• then there has been a con tag! Of building accidents', one of which occurred last Monday, when a house hi Eight-st. tumbled Into the excavation for an adjoining structure and buried fourteen n:fti and women i:i the debris. Whether or not then is any Just cause to be- Ueve thai bofldtng Inspectors are bribed to permit vie lattons Of the building law, it I- certainly true that these officials of the rity are exposed to many temptations. To begin with, they are paid low wagea In the Borough of Manhattan they re ceive 11.200 a year, or $:; 25 a da] Ffcnuse of the education and experience required of these men to pas* the necessary examination, they are qualified to obtain us much a? $:. a day If they worked at a trade. According to the law a man must have served as a "practical bricklayer, carpenter or iron worker" for at least ten years before h« may eren apply for an Inspectorship. a.nd an examination of therecords shown that most of the Inspectors wen boss foremen before they entered the service of th« city. Why. therefore, it is often asked, do these men give up employment paying J.'. $6 and $7 a day to work In the Buildings Department for 13 25? In Its recent condemnation of an Inspector be cause of the Darlington disaster, the grand Jury reported, among Other things: "The compensation allowed them (the Inspectors) Is insufficient to secure men of the requisite intel ligence and capacity, and the men actually em ployed are not properly sjpattned for their po sitions." In other boroughs and in other cities building In spectors receive more. in Brooklyn they get $1,500 a year. In Chicago $I,SO> and in Boston as high as If a man becomes an Inspector for "Kraft." he finds opportunities of every sort. He is assigned to a certain part of the city, and Is told to report every violation of the. building law within that dis trict The whole Borough of Manhattan 19 thus divided up between forty-four inspectors. The more thoroughly such a man has studied the building code the better able he will be to find instances where faulty methods are being used, and for the concealment of such he may demand "hush money." In going the rounds of his district a corrupt In spector, for example, comes upon a builder who is using brickbats, as broken bricks are called, i:; the walla of tho tenement house ho is constructing. Such an act Is unlawful, for the reason th.it the. law expressly provides that "when old bricks are used they shall be whole and good and well burnt." For a "consideration" the inspector, per haps, "sees nothing." "says nothing." The bats are plastered over, while the contractor chuckles over hla added malgla el profit. The building is com pleted. Families crowd In, and soon the customary swarms of children are gambolling up and down the stops. Years go by. Administration follows ad ministration, and Tammany is reformed out and gets In again. The inspector and contractor perchance have died, or at any rate they have long forgotten their unholy bargain, when some day the whole country is horrified by the collapse of that very building and th» death of many of its ir.mat«s. The "graft wall" has crumbled at last. Threats to stop work even when the contractor has committed no violation of the law sometimes extort not a few dollars. For instance, an in spector may hold up the bricklayers at work on a building by saying that the mortar they are using is "not right." "LJme mortar shall be made of one part of lime and not more than four parts of sand," he reads from the code, and then adds: "This mortar here is five to seven parts sand, and it can't go in." It is In vain that the boss foreman expostulates. The mortar must be thrown away or a complaint will be filed with the Buildings De partment, which will mean a loss to the builder of perchance $iO. as he can g<»t no more lime until the next day. A ■." bill handed to the Inspector may lie a. cheaper procedure. Whether or not an inspector is "out for the graft." he usually makes his visits with as little regularity as possible. lie will never detect a "crooked Job" If he lets the "crooked builder" know in advance when be is coming. Many times tho inspector must turn detective, and swoop down on a building so skilfully as to elude watchmen who are picketed In the street and on nearby buuactQ£«_lq give the alarm at bis ccmln&v. __ SUNDAY, JUNE 5 , 1904. "When a contractor hi determined to ?k!a every thing;*' said one inspector who has a district In th° tenement bowse region sc->nt:i of I r't-intlj-sf.. "you've got tn watch him like a cat watches -i mouse. If you £?■■> your iouuda regularly every day. h""s on t» yon Qke dockwerk, and evexyf&ma crooked :.^ hidden <^:t of sight when you get theiv. r*e known aome contractors to have niftn stand ing at each eornei of the btoea to watch for the Inspector." The temptations of the buUdmg inspector ara abm mcveased largely by the character of the people with whom he comes in contact On the Kast Side there aro many aiier.s, who have enu grated from !a-^ where efOcial extol Uuu Is recou nted aa an essential principle of government. They are accustomed to pay tor peace !r. the OM World, and they soon come to tM conclusion that conditions are not mncta i!::'', r^t in their new homo. U'hm sach a Cittern hi informed, therefore, that he has transgressed a ;>u::,iinj law. his first question is: "How much Co you want?" Many and vark^.-s are the ways !n which some or the^e men violas- the bw, and on being ! —over.-,' plead thct they are fcxnocent of any :.*!on of wrongdoing. Or.!y OM o:h»r '.ay an East Si^le shop^ keeper was brooght before Isaac »o PP e r> 11 UIU I lnter.J-nt of BnfMTngS. accused of having made al terations without aotlfymaj or obtainir.s the con sent of the department li seema tuat he Mi put up several paititkaia n the bach of fcis store, and was subletting thai extra spac* After pleading his Ignorance of the taw, the shopkeeper sail: •■I taught it vaa all right. I no needs so much schpace. so I selU It ober agate." Another Cast EMst was aiwight before" Supertr. ter.da:.t Popper, charged with having built an ex tra cellar stairway without the permission of- tha depart:. "It no hurts BillltngV said the accused citizen. ••Nobody? geta hurtod by dis stairvays. I ii!d i: all inlnestlf." I'r.der former Tammar.y ad.-ilr^tratlor.s. "jrraff was made the less yrtrt^B f or ■:-.« palms of th* district Inspectors by compelling that builders M "go to headquarters." Such a system was morn agreeable to crooked contractors, for the reason that they paid lens money for protection, and vjssa less frequently harassed wtth threatened com plaints. As coon as they were "bothered" by an Inspector, they went to beadqpaitexa Bati "fixed thirps" there. According to Mr. ITorpT. however, the danger of "gr:iff amo"? the district inspectors la reduced to a minimum, when they are required to :«m over ail their complaints, to him. Such Is the present sys tem of the department, and every case Is now brought before the superir.tentiant or his deputy. Mr. Hopper, therefore, regards tho new building Ordinance, Which gives the superintendent power to s-top work ■•. a?iy bu:l.U:;g where defective or illegal work has been discovered, and which now only lacks the Mayor's atgnatore to become a law, us likely to prevent any r>-;>-.'tKion of the. Darllns ton or the Etghtbj-«t disaster. "I'; to the present time." he said tn bsssjMbsj of the ordinance, "we could not stop [Qegai work soon enough. Despite ':■• compl i:nt ef the Inspector, a builder mishit go on. finish BB btl j"b. ami even sell the- hi>'J"e bsfbn the city could tako action." It is the opteloH of n-.ost buQdera, however, that ••gr;U't" will BoVflfSh m certain parts of the Build ings Department until tha work cf its Inspectors is as thorough aa that of the Tenement House De partment. At Iks present time the- building In j»p»-ctor only reports violations of the law. When a catastrophe occurs, because of the use> of cast iron where steel should have b«en usud. or too small BtEata or too ••;*a>" brick, the Inspector simply says he "didn't see" anything wrong. Whether or r.ot lie was r«'d fbs his blindness is an optn question. As the r-.i!ia jury s^id in, the Darlington case: "The system of inspection in all buildings hi process of erection at present in vogue Jn. tha Buildings Department is grossly Inadequate," One who was formerly a high official of this city, and thoroughly cognizant of the conditions ex isting in the Buildings Department, said that the only way of securing safe, buildings was a system by which the Inspectors reported the progress of construction at various times from the foundation to the roof. in case eld buildings were to be torn down to afford the necessary site, the Inspection of the BntbSttgs D« partmt :-.t man should begin then, and only end with the finished structure. "Such a ayaieui is now in voir.ie in the Tenement House Department." this ■■ wfliifil said, "and it could easily be introduced into the Buildings De partment. For every building in process of erec tion a card would be given the inspector, and on this record he would Jot down at certain intervals 1 the facts concerning- width of walls, thtrihnssa at b«asa*. quality of. material and. aii the uiiex cecea-