American parlour-car is a drawing-room on

wheels. Each passenger has his own luxurious easy chair

which turns on a swivel to any point of the compass, the



America at Work 193

floor of the car is richly carpeted, the panelling is of the
finest woods and artistically decorated, while the spacious
plate-glass windows allow a clear view of the landscape.
Then, at the end of the train, is the observation car with even
more spacious windows and a platform outside from whence the
passenger can survey a wide stretch of the receding country.
The smoking cars and buffet cars are also beyond criticism.
But a night journey on an American train is a different
matter. No matter whether one has an upper or lower berth,
the misery of cramped quarters and lack of ventilation is
intolerable, while the necessity of having to undress in a
passage which is a common thoroughfare suggests that
America has not learnt the most elementary lessons of decency.
Until the sleeping car is entirely remodelled the rolling-stock
of the American railways, otherwise so far in advance of that
of any other country, must suffer from a serious defect.

Little can be said for American shipping, for although
the country has one of the finest navies of the world, its-
mercantile marine is so small that only some
Sapping" ^^ P^^ ^^^*- ^^ American produce is carried
- * in native bottoms. In fact, the United
States has been described by one of its own sons as " The
nation without a ship." The same critic reminded his fellow-
countrymen that when their navy went round the world and
the United States " whooped its gratulations till the welkin
rang," the government had to hire foreign colHers to chase the
fleet round the world with coal. But there is a growing
agitation for the building of an American marine, and perhaps
the opening of the Panama Canal will carry that movement
to a triumphant issue.



13— (2393A)



CHAPTER XI

SOME TYPICAL CITIES

Despite the evidence adduced in the previous chapter as to
the existence of a rural America, there is no gainsaying the
fact that from the perspective of other lands the United
States is usually thought of as a country of great cities. For
one who is aware of the existence of the cotton belt, or the
wheat lands, or the lumber regions, thousands are familiar
with New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San
Francisco. Those names, and not the spacious areas of
agricultural districts, are the lures which appeal to the
majority of immigrants or travellers.

And there is a certain fitness in that fact. If it were not
for the great cities of America the country as a whole would
not be the household word of the world ; they
Uniformity ^j-e its advertisement to the fortune-seeker,
Cities. the men of business, and the tourist. Not-
withstanding, however, that there are some
thirty of those cities which can boast a population of more
than 200,000 souls, they have a far greater uniformity than
the same number of communities in any other land. If the
visitor is in quest of variety and the picturesque he must
seek it in rural rather than urban America. In the country
districts of New England or the South he will find much to
delight the eye — cosy homes with well-kept lawns and shady
avenues, or porticoed houses and old-time negroes ; but as
soon as he makes the acquaintance of a typical city he will
have become famihar with the model which is largely redu-
plicated all over the Union. The principal streets have a
monotonous likeness to each other ; the buildings seem to
have been planned by the same architect ; the trolleys are of

194



Some Typical Cities 195

a standard pattern ; and even the meals set before him in
hotels, boarding-houses and restaurants appear to have been
ordered from one menu.

Yet a closer acquaintance with these standardised cities wil
reveal certain distinguishing features. They may be topo-
graphical or social. Broadway and Fifth Avenue are peculiar
to New York ; there is no Common comparable to that of
Boston ; Pittsburg is unique for its " hell-with-the-hd-off "
atmosphere ; Philadelphia is so conservative that it keeps the
Sabbath and plays cricket ; and Chicago boasts its hospitality
towards the " latest " in art or literature. If, in fact, one
would divine the individuality of American cities it must be
sought in subjective rather than objective regions.

There are several New Yorks. And it is unfortunate for
the new-comer that the New York of his first impressions is
not calculated to give him a flattering opinion
Waterside ^^ American municipal government. He
will have landed somewhere along the North
River, and then, having survived the fearsome ordeal of
customs' examination, he will have before him a journey
through many " city blocks " ere reaching his hotel on
Broadway or Fourth Avenue. That cab drive will be an
effective antidote to any American boasting he may have
heard on his Atlantic voyage. There are, indeed, some
Americans who plead that foreigners should be taken blindfold
or drugged from their ships in New York until they reach
Washington Square or Broadway. For although their vessel
may have crossed the ocean without a lurch the hack ride
from the pier will be full of perils. The streets between the
shabby water front and lower Fifth Avenue are not merely
smelly and unkempt, but the holes in the asphalt and the
abysses in the wood-blocks and the protruding car-tracks are
a real danger to hmb and hfe. It is probable, too, that the
nev/-comer will be staggered by the extortion of the New York
hack driver. Not only has he no local pride, but, on the
testimony of the New York press, he is the worst cheat of



196 America of the Americans

the city, disgracing the metropoHs by his efforts to swindle
the stranger within its gates.

But if the traveller takes up his abode in one of the excellent
hotels which abound on Fourth Avenue or upper Broadwaj^.

the memory of his drive from the ship will
^Hotel?" soon be modified by the comfort of his

surroundings. For the hotels of the great
American cities, that is, the $2.50 " and up " class, need not
fear comparison with those of any city in the world. If 10s.
seems a high minimum for a bedroom without any meals,
it must be remembered that a bedroom of that price also has
its own bathroom and lavatory and w.c, while of course
it has its separate steam-heater and in most cases its own
telephone. The other comforts of a hotel of this type in New
York include a barber's shop, a manicure parlour, a shoe-shine
stand, a newspaper counter, and numerous pubhc rooms
furnished with admirable taste.

Yet it must be added that in those public rooms, and
especially in the bowery-like breakfast saloon or the more

ornate dining-room, the new-comer will make

^ v^^^^^^^^"^ ^^^ acquaintance of that American habit

Habit. which is so distressing to strangers. The

ubiquitous cuspidor, which will catch his eye
wherever he looks, will hardly prepare him for the ordeal in
store. And in no city is the ordeal more trying than in
New York. Concerning the national habit of expectoration,
Sydney Smith declared that " all claims to civilisation are
suspended in America till this secretion is otherwise disposed
of " ; but that protest was made in vain. Equally futile was
the satire of Dickens, for if visitors to the White House do not
now bestow their attentions on the President's carpets, they
still make ample use of the cuspidors which have been intro-
duced to spare those floor-coverings. This is not a pleasant
subject to dwell upon, but Americans should learn that many
who admire them, nay, have a genuine affection for them and
their land, have a shuddering horror at every recollection of



Some Typical Cities 197

their disgusting expectoration habit. It is true that of recent
years signs have been placed in the street cars and other pubhc
places announcing a fine of $500 for indiscriminate spitting,
but unfortunately that penalty is disregarded and unenforced.
America, and notably New York, will never be an entirely
pleasant place to visit until the national habit has been
utterly broken.

Far more congenial is it to dwell upon that spirit of abound-
ing hospitality which is as highly developed in New York
as in any city of the Union. Of course, the

American Four Hundred cultivate an exclusiveness in

Hospitality. , . . . , . . , , ^

keepmg with their social pretensions, but

outside that charmed circle there are no hmits to the friendh-
ness of Manhattan. If the new-comer has a friend, an acquaint-
ance even, in that city, and forewarns him of his arrival, that
New Yorker is practically certain to be awaiting him when
he lands ; and from that hour forward he will sacrifice his
leisure or his business to give his guest a " good time." He
will select his hotel, arrange countless dinner and theatre
parties, trot him round to see the " sights," and put him up
at every club of which he is a member.

For the clubs of New York belong to a different category
from those of London. The majority, indeed, seem to have
been established not for the purpose of keeping
^^Cl b°^^ " strangers " at bay but for the entertainment
of members' friends. And most of those
clubs, be it remembered, are really palatial establishments,
replete with every comfort and luxury. Some of them are
political, such as the Union which is afiihated with the
Republican party or the Manhattan which has Tammany con-
nections ; but the majority are of a social character, and in
that respect they play a more important role in the community
life of the city than the social clubs of London. There are
also numerous special clubs for the hterary, dramatic, and
artistic fraternities, while each of the chief universities has
its rallying-place in the metropolis. Among the special



198 America of the Americans

organisations the most typical of New York is the Lambs'
Club, for which one of its most distinguished members, David
Belasco, makes the legitimate claim that it is the most famous
social coterie in the world. " There are clubs of millionaires,"
Mr. Belasco adds, " where the wealth of a single member is
greater than that of all our members combined. There are
clubs devoted to science, and others wherein their roster would
read like a list of chosen favourites from Burke's Peerage.
The Lambs' rivals, and compares with, none of these. It is
unique, it is original. It is, above all, exclusive. A man
would need more than a coronet, more than a high rating in
Bradstreet, to break through its portals and become one of
the fold. The prime qualification for Lamb membership is
not ' What has he got ? ' but * What has he done ? ' Drama-
tists, actors, novelists, composers, sculptors, and artists,
together with those shrewd minds who guide and govern the
destinies of the American theatre — these are the men who
appear on the Lambs' roll of membership. They are ruled,
to pry into the official machinery of their government, by
the ' Shepherd ' and the ' Boy,' together with an executive
council. The Shepherd watches and controls the flock ; and
when he must leave them for a space these duties are passed
along to the Boy. But perhaps the most picturesque and
characteristic official of the Lambs' is the * CoUie.' At
about monthly intervals, beginning just before Thanksgiving
and ending just after Easter, the Lambs' indulge in their
favourite pastime, the ' Gambol.' A ' Collie ' is chosen and
it is his work to ' round up ' the brother Lambs and Lambkins
(as the new members are called), and on the Sunday evening
chosen for the eventful date to prepare a programme of play-
lets, musical numbers, and other diversions which all may
enjoy. The fame of those little ' at home ' evenings at the
Lambs' has become so universal that there is a persistent
demand from the outside pubhc for a * peep behind the
scenes.' This interest has expressed itself more than once in
fabulous figures ; I could name a certain rich man of social



Some Typical Cities 199

importance who once offered $1,000 for a ticket to a private
Gambol. It was not to be bought." Yet even the stranger
who has " done something " would be as welcome among the
Lambs' as one of their flock. In short, when a New York
club is exclusive it is so in the interests of democracy.

Naturally the capital is the most cosmopolitan city in the

Union. It has had that character from its earhest days.

Less than twenty years after the Dutch settle-

Cosmopolitan ^^^^ ^^^^ eighteen languages were spoken
New York. ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ hundred citizens of New
Amsterdam. And to-day out of 893 periodicals regularly
pubHshed 127 are printed in other languages than English.
So large is the foreign parentage of the New York population
that there are more Irish in the city than in Dublin and more
Germans than in any German city with the exception of BerUn.
Foreign colonies are as numerous as the races of mankind :
there is a Chinatown, a Hebrew quarter, an Italian community,
a Greek colony, a Russian section, and even Armenian and
Arab settlements.

This congestion of ahen races, most of them belonging to
the poorest class of immigrants, has resulted in a condition
of squalid overcrowding not excelled in any city of the world.
Contrary to the general impression, there are not many
boastful Americans left ; the race has died out or has travelled
Westward and to the Pacific Coast ; but now and then a
New Yorker or Bostonian will chide the Londoner about his
slums and assert " We have nothing like them in this coun-
try." In truth, however, as a more candid native confesses,
many of the finest cities of the United States " have a fringe
of ughness and filth around them which is like a torn and
bedraggled petticoat on a woman otherwise well dressed.
Approaching New York, or Cincinnati, or Pittsburg, or
Chicago, you pass first through a dehghtful region, where the
homes of the prosperous are spread upon the hills, reminding
you of a circle of Paradise ; and then through a region of
hideous disorder and new ruin, which has the aspect of a circle



200 America of the Americans

of Purgatory, and makes you doubt whether it is safe to go

any further for fear you come to a worse place."

In addition to that " fringe," New York has tenement

districts which complete the Dantesque trilogy. In a small

portion of Manhattan south of Fourteenth

Tenement Street and east of the Bowery there is
Districts. , ^ , , . / ,

packed together a population ot more than

half a miUion, while in one city block more than six thousand

souls have been known to herd together. Several years ago

an exhibition of sample rooms from these congested districts

was held in the city, in many cases the actual contents of the

rooms being shown to enforce the moral of the object lesson.

A windowless room, which might have done service as an

opium den, was labelled " 300,000 rooms hke this stiU left and

occupied in various parts of New York " ; and other models

were of tenement blocks housing nearly 3,000 persons without

a single bath and only 264 water-closets. In fact, certain

sections of the city are the most densely populated spots in

the world.

Few visitors, however, save earnest students of sociology,

either penetrate to or are conducted through the tenement

districts ; their knowledge of the seamy side
The Q^ ]^g^ York is usually limited to the Bowery,

as beheld from the safe view-point of a
*' Seeing-New-York " automobile. The Bowery is a street
with a past. Not a blade of grass survives to recall the days
when this thoroughfare ran across the bouwerij, or farm, of
Peter Stuy\^esant, and the gang of ruffians known as " Bowery
Boys " has been long dispersed ; but because of its picaresque
history it retains its fame as one of the " sights " of the
metropohs. Its denizens are Chinese, Russians, Oriental and
Polish Jews, whose varied needs are catered for by an amazing
assortment of beer saloons, concert gardens, dime museums,
shooting galleries, tramp lodging-houses, low whisky " dives,"
tatooing dens, and Yiddish theatres. Here may yet be seen
the legend of " Oysters in every style " which arrested the eye



Some Typical Cities 201

of Dickens, though dispersed among the cheaper stores are
a few higher-class shops which are strugghng to raise the
*' tone " of the district.

For a short distance the more famous and reputable Broad-
way runs almost parallel with the Bowery. But Broadway is

a far longer and more varied highway. The
Broadway. Bowery begins and ends in the underworld ;

Broadway starts out as an avenue of com-
merce, makes a transition into the Tenderloin of Lobster
Palaces, and ends as a boulevard high up Manhattan. It
sets out on its lengthy journey from near the Battery, " which
though ostensibly devoted to the purpose of war, has ever
been consecrated to the sweet delights of peace," and in its
down-town section is the centre of the wholesale dry goods
district ; but when it deflects across Union Square, and still
more so as it turns westward at Madison Square, it suffers
a topographical change into " The Gay White Way," so
famous all over the Union. As the main artery of the city it
is busthng enough in daylight, but when night falls its side-
walks and roadway are congested with a seething traffic
of pleasure-seekers. Theatres, hotels, and restaurants are
ablaze with Hght ; countless parti-coloured advertising signs
proclaim the virtues of stage " stars," drinks, corsets, and
Lobster Palaces ; the surface cars dash raucously north and
south ; while either pavement is dense with a dining, theatre-
bent crowd. Times Square is the junction of all this whirl —
Times Square, once the Longacre Square of Washington's
days, but now better known as " Eating-house Square."

For Broadway between Madison Square and East 42nd
Street marks the area of those restaurants which prompted

the epigram that it is not so much the high

Tenderloin ^^^^ ^^ j-^-j^ ^j^-^j^ ^jjg ^^^ United States

Restaurants, . y, . , ,. . * , <( >>

as the cost of high living. At the smart

resorts night after night it is no uncommon sight for a unique
bread-hne to be held in check by a plush rope and an under-
waiter, while the social register of the Tenderloin is consulted



202 America of the Americans

for the names of those who have ordered tables in advance.
For New Year orgies at these resorts the table-booking is
arranged months in advance, and the apphcant's chances of
success are in ratio to the cost of the dinner he orders. It
has been admitted, in fact, that it is Broadway's hysterical
loathing of cheapness which gives the restaurateur the whip
hand. The head waiter suggests expensive dishes, and his
victim orders them to show he " has the price." To secure a
well-placed table in a popular restaurant on a busy evening
almost always involves the payment of a dollar or two of
" honest graft " to the head waiter who reserves it. Even the
cloak-room boy will gaze askance if he is offered less than a
quarter for handing you your own hat and coat. If, however,
a visit to Sherry's or Delmonico's is a costly enjoyment, there
are not lacking on Broadway such less ambitious restaurants as
Shanley's, where the cooking compares favourably with any
Lobster Palace, where the decorations are less flamboyant, and
the company is not so suspect.

But if Broadway has a gustatory value in the scheme of
New York, it also has an aesthetic distinction in the city's
topography. It is the most notable exception to those right
angles and straight hues which are the monotonous character-
istics of the other streets. The chequer-board lay-out of
American cities is indeed their most distressing feature.
Thales ought not to have been born until the United States
was well settled. Certain fringes of lower Manhattan escaped
the ruler of the city planner, much to their gain in picturesque-
ness ; but for the rest, with the exception of Broadway, every
section was marked off in geometric pattern. Hence the relief
of Broadway's westward bend. From Union Square north-
ward it cuts athwart the interminably rigid lines of the
avenues and streets, and so produces a number of irregular
vistas which are sadly lacking in other parts of the city.
That it has a name, too, instead of a characterless number is
another of its charms amid streets and avenues which have no
individuality in their nomenclature.



Some Typical Cities 203

There is, however, one thoroughfare in New York which

despite its numerical designation has a character of its own —

the famous Fifth Avenue of miUionaires'

Fifth homes. In its six-mile course from Washing-

Avenue. _ 1 TT 1 T-»- 1

ton Square to the Harlem Kiver that avenue
links the past with the present. " Bits " of old New York
are difficult to discover ; the city is in such a constant process
of transformation as to justify the assertion that " New York
will be a delightful place to hve in when it is finished " ;
but glimpses of an earUer day are vouchsafed in such back-
waters as Washington Square, once the Potter's Field of the
city. It is true that three sides of the square have been
invaded by business premises, but on the north side may yet
be seen some of those stately mansions which take the mind
back to colonial days. To the right of these the Washington
Arch affords an entrance to Fifth Avenue, the lower reaches of
which are gradually succumbing to the invasion of commerce.
Indeed, notwithstanding the incidence of the Vanderbilt
Twin-houses between 51st and 52nd Streets, and despite
the mansions which decorate the four corners of 57th Street,
it is not until 60th Street is reached that there commences the
long procession of " Millionaires' Row." At that point Fifth
Avenue is denuded of houses on its west side, for here the
Central Park breaks the line of the thoroughfare, thus trans-
forming this section into an elongated Park Lane. Many
of the names famous in American wealth are recalled by the
palatial mansions overlooking the park, for here are the
homes of the Astors, the Havemeyers, the Paynes, the
Armours, the Goulds, the Yerkes's, and the Whitneys. Of
course, those buildings represent staggering wealth, here
$3,000,000 for the building, there an art collection valued at
$2,000,000. In places the architecture offends by over-
decoration, but the Cornelius Vanderbilt House is a charming
reminder of a French chateau, while Mr. Carnegie's substan-
tial mansion is replete with dignity. " Milhonaires' Row,"
in brief, has ample variety, giving to Fifth Avenue an aspect



204 America of the Americans

in welcome contrast to the business vistas of New York.
The unfortunate thing is that too many of the houses seem
so seldom occupied. It is a tradition in New York that the
milhonaires only dwell in their mansions for a month or so
in the season, passing the remainder of their year as hotel
guests. But when the Four Hundred are " at home " their
special thoroughfare is a veritable Vanity Fair of wealth
and fashion.

One other aspect of New York must arrest the most inat-
tentive visitor — the facilities for travelling to any nook or

corner of Manhattan. Apart from the taxi-
Fa^llitie? cabs, which are avoided by all save those

who have " money to burn," the three means
of transit, subway and surface car and elevated railroad, are
swift, economical, and of liberal service. Two of them are
also noisy. No electric tram creates quite the din of the
New York surface car, while the pandemonium of the elevated
makes conversation in its vicinity an absolute impossibility.
The greatest achievement of the city in dealing with the
traffic of Manhattan is represented by the subway, a kind of
covered trench from the Battery to Bronx Park, the original
contract for which reached the record sum of 135,000,000.
The ordinary trains travel at a terrific speed, but the " Non-
stop " specials can leave nothing to be desired by the most
" husthng " American.

A lady who speaks in italics and small capitals once described
Boston as " Such a dear place." That compliment was

doubtless the eulogist's tribute to the likeness
Boston. of the New England capital to parts of her

native London. Such a similarity does exist ;
it is commented upon by all visitors from the British capital,
who often go further and declare that the region of Beacon
Hill takes them back to Bloomsbury. As Boston has enacted
laws against a sky-scraper exceeding twelve stories, it will
never be recognised as an out-and-out American city, that is,
an American citv of the modern era ; but it has a charm