Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885 | Page 2

corner pavilions, the atticas of which
project over the roofs, and these atticas and other parts of the buildings
are to be surmounted by quadrigas, one of which is shown in the
annexed cut, taken from the Illustrirte Zeitung. This group was
modeled by V. Pilz, of Vienna, and represents a winged goddess in a
chariot drawn by four spirited steeds harnessed abreast. She holds a
wreath in her raised right hand, and her left hand is represented as
holding the lines for guiding the horses. The group is full of expression
and life, and will add greatly to the beauty of the building to be
surmounted by it.
* * * * *
The strongest wood in the United States, according to Professor
Sargent, is that of the nutmeg hickory of the Arkansas region, and the
weakest the West Indian birch _(Rur seva_). The most elastic is the

tamarack, the white or shellbark hickory standing far below it. The least
elastic and the lowest in specific gravity is the wood of the Ficus aurea.
The highest specific gravity, upon which in general depends value as
fuel, is attained by the bluewood of Texas _(Condalia obovata_).
* * * * *

GLAZED WARE FINIAL.
[Illustration: GLAZED WARE FINIAL.]
This grand 16th century finial is a fine example of French ceramic ware,
or glazed terracotta, and it is illustrated both by geometrical elevation
and a cross sectional drawing. This latter shows the clever building up
of the structure by means of a series of five pieces, overlapping each
other, and kept rigid by means of a stout wrought-iron upright in the
center, bolted on to the ridge, and strapped down on the hip pieces. Its
outline is well designed for effect when seen at a distance or from
below, and its glazed surface heightens the artistic colorings, giving it a
brilliant character in the sunlight, as well as protecting the ware from
the action of smoke and weather.--_Build. News_.
* * * * *

WAGE EARNERS AND THEIR HOUSES.
MANUFACTURERS AS LANDLORDS.
Among the more prominent movements of the day for the improvement
of the condition of the working men are those which are growing into
fashion with large manufacturing incorporations. Their promise lies
immediately in the fact that they call for no new convictions of political
economy, and hence have nothing disturbing or revolutionary about
them. Accepting the usages and economical principles of industrial life,
as the progress of business has developed them, an increasing number
of large manufacturers have deemed it to their interest not only to
furnish shops and machinery for their operatives, but dwellings as well,
and in some instances the equipments of village life, such as schools,
chapels, libraries, lecture and concert halls, and a regime of morals and
sanitation. Probably the most expensive investment of this sort in the
United States, if not in the world, by any single company, is that of
Pullman, on Lake Calumet, a few miles south of Chicago, an enterprise

as yet scarcely five years old. It is by no means a novel undertaking,
except in the magnitude, thoroughness, and unity of the scheme.
Twenty years ago the managers of the Lonsdale Mills, in Rhode Island,
were erecting cottages on a uniform plan and maintaining schools and
religious services for their operatives. More recent but more extensive
is the village of the Ponemah Cotton Mill, near Taftville, Conn. These
are illustrations merely of similar investments upon a smaller scale
elsewhere. But the European examples are older, such as Robert
Owen's experiment at New Lanark in Scotland, Saltaire in Yorkshire,
Dollfuss' Mulhausen Quarter in Alsace, and M. Godin's community in
the French village of Guise, which are among the more familiar
instances of investments originally made on business principles, with a
view to the improved conditions of workmen. New Lanark failed as a
commercial community through the visionary character of its founder;
the Godin works at Guise have passed into the co-operative phase
within the past five years, but Saltaire and Mulhausen still retain their
proprietary business features.
The class of ventures of which these instances are but the more
conspicuous examples has peculiar characteristics. They differ from the
Peabody and Waterlow buildings of London, described in
_Bradstreet's_ last August, from Starr's Philadelphia dwellings, and
from the operations of the "Improved Dwellings Association" of New
York in these particulars: the latter are financially a pure question of
direct investment; are mainly concerned with life among the poor of
cities, and, whatever philanthropy may be in their motive, are capable
of adaptation to any class of citizens. The former, while investments
also, are composite, the business of manufacturing being associated
with that of rent collecting and sharing its profits and losses; their field
of operations is almost invariably rural, and tenancy is