The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-05
THE GOSSIP OF GOTHAM.
WHY THE BRITISH COULD NEVER
LAY NEW YORK N ASHES.
Wonderful Subsidenee of the An
gIOmania of Former Years.

Wonderful Subsidenee of the An
gIOmania of Former Years.
Copyright 1895
New York. Jan. At might be sup
posed that New York society bellies, with
their proverbial love Of British lords.
would weep at the prospect Of war with
England. Not so. Our plutocratic girls
are loud in supporting the Monroe doc
trine. The best evidence Of this was had
when Miss Gertrude Vanderbilt gave her
tea last week, her mother being one Of the
matrons who received. The flower Of the
city's beauty was there. The talk was
all for war. Miss Bend. Miss Duer. Miss
Edith Morton and Miss Shepard were
enthusiastic in supporting the Monroe
doctrine. The reason for this enthusiasm
Is easily ascertained. The appendage Of
war appeals to the feminine heart. A
military uniform is its pride. Few girls
can resist a soldier Hence the society
men in New York have uniformly favored
war, believing it good opportunity TO
dethrone the British lord Before the
Vanderbilts left for the south. society
had come together at various dances and
dinners, and the unanimity displayed in
support of our belIicose attitude was
the war flower, is seen everywhere.
A serious division has been occasioned
IN the Vanderbilt family owing 10 this
Venezuelan business. Cornelius Van
derbilt is heart and soul with the peace
party, William K Vanderbilt wants war.
The latter gave out quite a sensational
interview on the subject. His position
IS surprising, seeing that he is father-in-
law OF member of the British aristoc-
racy. In case war comes, George w.
vanderbilt will go to the front. he Is
well versed in military affairs, and would
probably raise his own regiment. Cor
nelius is greatly afraid OF hostilities,
family.
The women of the Vanderbilt family,
as already made known, are disposed
to think war called for by events. They
nave set the tone of society opinion, and
hence the universal choking process in
fiicted upon John Bull In the person of his
representatives here. The British con-
sui general, Percy Sanderson, has been
dropped from the invitation lists Of the
great New York families. This is high
~ significant. But Mr.. SandersOn Is q
clustering Britisher, and he has perhaps
made this snubbing of himself inevitable.
One thing has been made apparent by
the war scare. Anglomania has wonder
fully diminished in New York society.
Such a wild and spontaneous outburst
against Great Britain has not been heard
of in years as was made evident during
the past ten days in aristocratic circles
The Union Club, the Manhattan in fact
all the exclusive clubs agree that the Mon
roe doctrine must be upheld. There is
hardly a representative society man in
New York who has not talked war. Our
heaviest swells have manifested a readi-
ness to go to the front and stand up on
the field of battle to defy the bombs of
the enemy. This feeling Is attributed by
many to the airs of British snobs over
here, who for years have sneered their
way through American society, and looked
down upon men of leisure and social posi-
ton. Hence the formation of a fierce anti
British sentiment. This is certainly rath-
er unexpected. Our society men have gem
orally been thought 50 utterly Anglicised
as to worship the British lion. In one
sense, therefore, this war scare has done
good by reviving the patriotism of our
young men of gilded life.
Much comment has been occasioned of
late by the increase of the colored popula-
ton in New York. That increase has
been due to the importation into the me-
tropolis of negroes from the south 10y
contractors upon great public works. But,
strange as it may seem, the experiment
has failed, because the colored men re-
fuse to accept wages as low as those paid
to many white men, and they have in
sisted upon forming labor union. Sc
rious trouble was caused by an attempt
to make them share the quarters of the
whites in the camps. The colored mon
refused to do this. They declared that
they would, under no circumstances, sleep
where the white men slept In fact the
colored wage earners have proved far
more difficult to handle than the white
ones, being more Independent and APP
they retain their jobs or not. The con-
tractors decided lately that colored labor
is not even as cheap as white labor, and
the importations have stopped.
The Venezuelan imbrogllo has resulted
in the most absurd misstatements on the
subject of New York. Nothing can ex-
coed the anger of the naval officers sta
TONED along the Atlantic coast, at the
way in which 1t is taken for granted that
the British in the event of war. could
lay New York in ashes. OF course, our
no NTuI mo ora ~ oil ~A1 -.
on the subject, but they keenly feel the
apparent lack of confidence felt in them
by the nation. II is a well known fact
that our navy is one of the very best and
most severely trained in the world The
bravery of its personnel has never been
impeached, In addition the question of
New York's defense in case of war has
been most carefully considered. Every pos
sibie emergency has been provided for
The navy never betrays it's secrets No
one outside of the officers in the secret
and they are few-knows the entent to
which the harbor of the metropolis has
been secretly defended The utmost care
has been taken to render these defenses
effective. Not only that, but the war col
lege has for over five years made spec
ial study of New York topography, and
solved the problems of its defense The
very thing upon which the entire navy
has prided itself, in fact. has been its
ability to protect our metropolis against
fearful odds. 1t is a great blow to these
men to find that the country takes no
stock in them.
Anyhow, New York above Forty-second
street would be safe. Nor could the
British effect landing at this point.
They could not bring the men here They
could not seize a vantage point in the
face of our resistance
The women at any rate believe in the
army and navy. A corps of female nurses
has been organized, and a regiment of
women was formed last week. not with
reference to. any war, but simply to af-
ford the far sex taste of war. Their
costume is a bloomer one, and they pro-
pose to teach even the regulars a les
SON.
New York is not sorry to see the old
year departed. All things considered. it
was better year than had been expect
ed, but there were many features in ii
which made it a melancholy period to
look back upon. The year TO come is like
ly to be memorable for many reasons,
not few OF which are connected with
the presidential campaign. The war
scare gave the old year it's financial black
eye. But no matter what may come now
as a result of war talk the scenes of
a fortnight ago cannot be repeated. The
money market is prepared for bellicose
alarms. 1t is well known that we are
in excellent condition to stand a heavy
war outlay. The wild talk about the
laying of New York in ashes by the Brit