Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-03
Many New Workers. Find Dry Sun
day a Source of Amusement.
DRUG STORES As BAD As SALOONS
Expert Mixers Of Drinks Find En-
p!oyment at Soda Fountains.
GOSSIP OF THE BIG CITY
special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

NEW 1Ofh, august z, 1870.
A part of the population of New York
Is having a great deal of fun with Mr..
Roosevelt's attempt to enforce the excise
law on Sunday. 1 asked the porter of
my hotel If he could send an express pack
age for me last Sunday and he looked at
me reproachfulIy. ION Sunday" he said.
You don't seem to know the kind of town
they're trying to make this
This vein of ridicule which runs through
the public estimation of Mr. Roosevelt's
efforts has not the least influence on Mr..
Roosevelt. Neither has the ridicule which
has been heaped on him personally by the
cartoonists. Roosevelts teeth have fur
nished the comic artist with a weapon
which he has not been slow to WELD.
Some men possess no marked characteris-
tic which can be turned to comic purposes.
General Harrison's nose was the distin-
gushing feature in all the comic drawings
of him. just as Roscoe Conklings hyperion
curl was exaggerated for purposes Of carl
cature. Senator Hill has a peculiarly
spreading nose and a prominently bald
head. and C. G. Bush of the Evening Tele-
gram has made these wonderfully useful
Quay's eye is mark for the caricaturist,
and SO are Allison's peculiar beard and
curly hair. If Mr.. Roosevelt had not been
gifted with a set of very prominent teeth
had to take the cartoons of him with
distinguishing label AS it is, the teeth
are the cartoonist's trade mark, and
picture of a man with a curly mustache
and well-dsplayed front teeth is recog-
nized Immediately as burlesque of the
president of the New York police commits
sion.
"Me and My"
While the cartoonist has seized on the
physical popularity of Mr.. Roosevelt, the
editorial Photographer has begun to take
notice of a mental trait which distin-
guishes the young reformer. When he was
in Washington Mr.. Roosevelt was SO much
the governing spirit of the civil service
commission that people considered him
sponsible fer about all that the commits
sion did. At least to newspaper readers
civil service reform and Roosevelt were in
teIchangaable terms Mr. Roosevelt said:
Il propose to do this and Il propose to
accomplish that" and the public knew that
'I' meant the civil service commission.
Mr.. Roosevelt has retained this habit of
using the person al pronoun ~ in all his
public statements. He does 1t uncon-
sciously, l know, for when a recent inter
view with him was submitted for revision
and approval he found great fault with
the ''I'' and my" which ran through it.
But all that Mr. Roosevelt says for publ
cation is not revised; and the New York
papers are taking up his talk about my
men" and what l will do next Sunday"
and trying to stir up strife in the police
board. They speak of the other commits
sioners as "Roosevelt's puppets" ard strive
to create 6iscord in the board. Up to this
time they have not succeeded in making
trouble.
Rum On Sunday.
The latest attempt to break up the
boards resolution to enforce the excise
law is the announcement that the attempt
is failure If surface Indications are of
vail ia frua 7 a
New York last Sunday and the Sunday be-
fore. and the city had a "dsier" appear
ance on the second than 1t had on the first
Sunday. OF course hundreds of saloons
were open. but 1 noticed that the 'Iook-
out al certain notorious saloon was on
duty, though the Sunday before he had
been al his post. And the night clerk Of
my hotel informed me not long ago that If
any saloon in town kept open this one
would. l know that 1t keeps open after i
O'Clock in the morning, for l penetrated to
it's bar at a quarter of an hour after the
closing time. guided by the suggestion of
fat policeman whom | had accosted with
an inquiry for an all-night drug store
When the police stand on street corners
and direct thirsty citizens where they can
find liquor during the close period there is
not mucn reason to be surprised at the
failure of the police board to enforce the
excise law. If Mr.. Roosevelt and his col
leagues had been permitted by the legisla-
ture to reorganize the force, the officers
found some other occupation. and the Sam
day closing movement might be a more
pronounced success.
The Fat Mans Grievance.
Whatever physiological reasons there are
for 1t, the fact exists that the police force
is made up in large part of fat men. And
this is distinct cause of grievance with
certain class of Sunday citizens who are
ambitious to assist in the breaking of the
excise law. The man who stands at the
door of the bar room to turn back the po-
lice and their allies steadfastly refuses to
admit any person of more than usual girth
unless he is personally known to be an enc
my of reform. Il can't get into a saloon in
this town after hours said a fat but good
natured citizen to me recently. I'm so
fat they all take me for policeman"
The stranger who comes to New York in
these days must not go sight seeing on Sun
day unless he is prepared to be made
mark for ridicule. Any man seen to peer
at the windows along the chief streets Of