The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-03-12

- Il v
THE DEPARTMENT PROCESSION
reckless disregard for expense The women
have gay millinery and rich furs Broad
way Il. "a show in itself There are the idle
the CAV. the wicked, the butterflies Of both
sexes
See Broadway of a sunny afternoon, and
YOU would think no one in the world had
trouble that every one had money. But
block or two away the scene changes star
tlinglv On the side streets you may see
poverty aud squalor enough in half hour
to last you a lifetime. In New York the .
Indebtedness is kept pretty well apart from
the more comfortable aspects Of the town.
They are near enough together and run in .
parallel thcroughfares Suggesrively easy .
is the transition from one to the other as
luck changes or dissipation brings its
sure reward.
Chioago's Unemployed
In Chicago all sorts and conditions OF
men and women are jumbled together
Such an ola pOdrida of humanity l never
saw anywhere else Smart business men,
fashionable women, rub elbows on every
street with an almost infinite variety of UNI
fortunates And the streets TEEN and pal
pitate so with human beings! Chicago is
almost terrible i'm its outward evidence of
poverty and distress The streets are liter
ally full of unfortunate men and women,
who seemingly do not know where theneXt
meal is coming from, or where is the bed
they are to occupy aJ night. Mile after mile
of this restless surgug, i'll kempt thrOnE-
hungry and footsore, hopeless and desperate
-appalls one.
1t is easy to believe the published state
ments that Chicago has a greater number
of unemployed than any other American
city-uot because the commerce and indus
tries of Chicago are suffering from stop
page for they are not but because the
Worlds fair drew to the city hundreds of
thousands Of the shifting, floating popula-
ton of the country, the greater share of
whom are still there, vainly seeking en-
ployment, and their ranks swollen by thou
sands more who have drifted in from all
the west for the winter months
After Chicago St Louis is distinct re-
lief Compared with the city by the lake,
St. Louis is almost villagellke. The streets
are so quiet; it is so easy 70 get about with
out danger of being run over, without jos
Ting Chicago is a maelstom; St. Louis a
pleasant bay, with quiet wlters and gentle
breezes st. Louis impresSes one as town
where most of the people are employed,
where b siness is conservative, where few
large fortunes are made ON the one hand,
or many failures on the other It's street
scenes are indicative of an easy going, rath-
er comfortable population.
Where Street Scenes Are Maternal.
But Washington is the ideal. Here the
street scenes arenational rather than local
Here the whole United States is typifled
and eXemplifed. Take, for instance, two
currents ofhumauity that move down Penn
.H... l. Il 81. H.N. -.
the afternoon. About the time the bigpub-
lie departments are closed congress adj
iourns, and thus from opposite ends of the
avenue two streams are let loose, gradually
approaching one to the other and finally
blending. 1t is difficult to say which Of
these streams is the more interesting. That
from the departments shows by far the
greater number of women. Some Of them
are women almost any man would want q
second look at too. They are stylishly at
tired Their gowns and millinery are "uI
TO date" and there are evidences of the fact
that when awOman provides for herself she
is better taken care Of than when she de.
ponds upon a husband
Most of these girls Of the treasury" or
other departments are well behaved. They
are ladies. The wicked days of old, in which
service in the departments often went by
favor dearly bought and not by merit, are
no more With now and then an exception,
nothing of the sort is known in the great
executive departments Of today. If the
civil service law has done nothing else OF
value, it has paid Tor itsefin the protection
which it has thrown about woman in pub
lie office here at the capital.
Dressy and Debonair.
The men Of this department stream are
for the most part dressy aud debonair too
Npur uvapagrA In AZ
time hanging heavily on his hands II,
has not enough in his work TO absorb hi,
energies, and as a consequence he thinks
good deal about the clothes he wears, NOR,
especially his gloves. The department
young man has great ado about his gloves
Put him and them in a crowd, and they ar,
by far more conspicuous than he is. 1t is
sad to think what the department young
man would come TO if il were not for his
gloves. The work of selecting them, OF
choosing the up to date shade, and the eff
fort to carry them in the way most approv
ed by fashions fad afford him an employ
ment without which be would surely di,
of ennui. If you want TO make sure of the
latest things in gloves, the very newest
ways OF carrying them and the freshest edi
tion Of the modern idiotic hapdshake
watch the depaslment stream as it ilowi
down Pennsylvania avenue,
There is in this thrOng a refreshing alb
sence Of the sense Of responsibility, Of seri
business. Life to all Of them is an easy. ia
doleuU sort of routine The work they have
TO do calls forth little Of their originality
or character What theydo today they did
yesterday and Will do tomorrow, in precise
ly the same way in which IL was done Il
years ago and will be done 10 years hence
So it is with twO-thirds Of all the gov,
eminent employees in Washington, and
this fact alone explains why the capital Is
considered such a good "show town." aud
why it has more furnishing goods, millin
cry and haberdashery shops than any othel
city in the country Of the same size.
Washington is exceedingly fond of the
theater The humdrum, routine grinding
government employees must have some
sentiment in their lives, even if they have
to go to the theater for it. The theatrical
houses are nearly always crowded here, nc
matter what the character Of the entertain
ment. As for the millinery and haberdash-
cry, those trades thrive amazingly in
the Capital City, where there are so many
men and women whose principal care in
life is TO make certain that they are properly
and fashionably attired
An Earnest Throng.
Adifferent lot of men are those that leave
the capitol between and in the afternoon
and move westward along the avenue