The daily gazette., 1878-01-08
NEW YORK LETTER.
NEw YoRk, January 7th, 1873.

EDITOR DELAWARE GAZETTE. Sir I:
Although this city IL no longer the
guide and exemplar of the business and
social life OF the American people, il still
keeps up an immense and important
movement in the circulation OF ideas
and events In our national life. Its
Journals are still read and listensd to,and
still In all parts of the country people
ask, "what do they say about this or that
question in New York p
Yet our intellectual life here cannot
compare with that Of London. There
are four great writer's In the United
States, and none of these live In New
York. She produces no great statesmen,
for, even Mr.. Tilden is not "great"
man. Our larger financiers are hit acci-
cldentally here they are merely small
men In large places Not ona among
them is capable Of grasping the great
question Of our national finances. The
bank presidents all depending upon each
other, and each having nothing to say,
meet and appoint committees TO examins
the silver question, the upshot being
that they will learn something, but not
In time TO make that something valuable.
Meantime the commercial decadence of
the city goes on. Its cotton trade no
longer exists except in gambling in coIi>
tracts at the exchange; It's real estate has
shrnnk forty per cent. 1t Is losing its
coffee business; Its real actual stock busi-
ness; Its dry goods jobbing trade; it Is
becoming every year more like Paris, a
money market, dazzling retail bazaar /;
a place for private luxury and expense !:
a place to spend money, not to make it,
except in retail occupations that cater to
the pleasures of the rich. ina'l
If one Is rich the time can be made to
pass very pleasantly here. Private en-
tertainments are superb, and the road to
good society Is easy to those who walk
In golden slippers. No luxuries of the
eye, the ear or the palate, are wanting.
You will find plenty Of travelled people
who say there is nothing superior in Par
Is, nothing equal in London. Imagine
ball rooms sixty or seventy feet deep,
perfumed, lofty; filled with exquisite
women, draped in all the pomp of NO J.
ern art intoxicating music; rarest
wines. and perfect suppers intelligent
and agreeable men, not only boys but
men from thirty to forty years of age, In
the golden period of life no city can
show anything better. The old days OF
private parties engineered by Brown, the
sexton, are over, and New York party
OF to>day far surpasses in elegance
grace, and luxury, party of twenty-five
years ago. As to the marriage of Janu-
ary and September, Mr.. Lord aud Mrs.
Hicks, the general impression il that the
bridegroom is not insane, and has made
a suitable match. No law exists enforc>
ing penalty for such an act. The sil>
yer bill is considered to be an accom-
plished fact. Everybody laughs at the
assertion that to pay silver is TO pay only
y2 cents on the 100 cents. You can only
get one half per cent. discount on silver
dollars on the largest purchases. Every
body is delighted with silver coin; ii
.akes the place here of bills in retail
transactions almost wholly. And beyond
the bank presidents, 1t is thoroughly be-
lieved in as the coming money of the
people.
A new book publishing company has
been Incorporated here this week, entitled
the Manhattan Publishing Company. Its
mode of management will cause its stock
to rate much higher than publishing
companies In general, because il will re-
lquire no machinery or presses. These
are only snares and: d:delusions to mercan-
tile or even manufacturing companies.
Even A. S. Barnes 81 Co., who have a
bindery, find IL cheaper to hire Mr..
Daniels TO bind their "Review" than to
do it themselves. In fact it is proverb
that .'do thing yourself, is not always
economy"
The theatrical world in New York is
dull this season. Sothern has made $4,000
a weeS.for nearly four,months; Boucicault
is now making $1,000 a week at the
Grand Opera House, but the plays
are old, and the performers, all but the
Stars aforesaid, Indifferent and worse.
Wallack's and the Union Square draw
fair houses only from habit. There is no
Opera. The Opera is dead, the Drama
languishes; the rich have abandoned
both, and in their luxurious homes find
pleasure in social entertainments. The
coming Genius of Dramatic Art does
not make haste to come. e need a
Sheridan, and Macready or Kean;but
SO far, we yearn for them in vain.
DW A N