The Iola register., 1889-12-13

not take much interest in any thing unless
there is a grab in it. That our practical
politics are not conducted with any special
idea OF bettering the country, but that
patronage" is the main feature of our
political system. 1t is useless to attempt to
give the Englishman whose longest rail
way journey has been from London to
Glasgow, matter of eight or nine hours,
a conception of the immense resources Of a
country so broad that it takes six days to
cross it by rail.
On the other hand, the chances are that
the Englishman finds out that London has a
population equal to the entire State of New
York, and he gauges his notion of the area
of the Empire State on that basis. We may
assure the Frenchman that if our State of
Texas was lake and his beloved France an
island in the middle of it he would not be
able to see the main land from any point on
his shore. He would probably retort that
he had no desire to see land whose only
industries were the manufacture of patent
medicines, knickknacks and boasters.
And after all we can't blame the stay-at-
home foreigner for the estimate he forms
Of US. We do not show at our best on the
other side of the water. That contingent of
American travellers who parade their Ameri-
canism is by no means creditabIe to US as a
nation. This very sense of our apparent in
feriority impels the best of US to unseemly
Dragging. We tell the foreigner that the
finest hotels in the world are in Flagler's
famous group of palaces at st. Augustine,
in Florida; that there is not business
building in all Europe which can compare
to those in New York, Chicago or even in
the smaller American cities. He looks at
the evidences before him and draws his
own conclusions.
I do not think 1 ever witnessed a
more painful sight than one day in
the train going from Nice to Monte Carlo.
There were an American and an English
man in the compartment with me and they
We're discussing the Samoan question. The
American was explaining how we should
''insist' upon Germany doing this, that
and the other. Just then we passed the
harbor Of Vile Franche, where the squad
ron of the Mediterranean is centered.
There were about twenty men-of-war there
French. Italian, Spanish, Russian, En-
giish and German. They were all fine
ships, mounting great guns in iron turrets;
the three German vessels were simply
floating fortresses Of STEEL l never saw
any thing on the water which conveyed
greater idea of strength and possible dc
structve power. OF at one side was d.
sipated- looking old tub-the Enterprise, :
think-fying the American flag. The En-
glishnan just cast his eye over the group
and murmured '.insistl" The contrast was
too apparent and my fellow-oountryman
collapsed like pricked balloon. II did not
feel a bit good when saw the stars and
STRIPES" he confided to me as we climbed
the terrace up from the railway station.
. sif they viii insist upon flying our flag in
foreign waters l wish to goodness they'd
put something under it SO that we wouldn't
lock Ike nation of darned FOOLS"
But to skip back from Europe to New
York. The tide of travel is setting home
wards, and New York has broken out in an
eruption of English clothes. There is little
difficulty in spotting an English suit ON
sight As a rule, it is made of better ma
terials and does not fit so well as the home
made articles That 1t is cheaper goes with
out saving. Imean the average suit. The
swell taiiors in London and in New York
use the same goods, have the same fit and
charge about the same prices, but the great
majority Of men do not go to the swell
tsilors, either in London or here. In New
York the average cost of good suit, made
by good tailor, is fifty dollars; in London
1t is twenty-fve-or about cne-half. Collars,
cuffs and neckwear run in about the sane
proportion, and, curiously enough, the
bowling atrocities of pattern and color
which we see in the shops here marked,
--latest English STYLE" we don't see in
London at all. st.
The prevalent American idea Of English
styles seems to be something calculated to
knock the eyes orf of the beholder The
louder the suit the more English" it is con-