New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-21

United States by the followers of Bryan alone.
They are numerous, II is true, but thousands q
them are only waiting for a little more instruc-
ton 10 be az Disguised with their demag osicai
prophet any OF his opponents. AT bottom
they have sound sense and repeat. The sell
respect which more quickly springs from the
laws and habits of republic than from those
of any strictly monarchical rule. 1t Is idle 10
quote England The English are democrats like
ourselves Quote Russia. Germany. or the
France of the last century There you may see
the fruits of the judicous class distinctions IN
which our author has so much confdence-and
we fancy they will not strike the impartial
reader as quite so productive of peace and good
will on earth as our own Our own. indeed, are
rarely the cause Of much trouble The Jealousy
Of the rich to-day may be pretty widespread
but the agitators who are tanning the flames
would stop their labors and pessimists would
cease talking. If they only grasped the true re-
lation In numbers. of the so-called putocrats
to the seventy millions who occupy the land.
In the mean time we are getting away from
the gentleman with the French point of view.
and the neglect Is objectionable since ne Is
most amusing writer. The accuracy OF his OBJ
servation has already been recognized. If his
deductions sound we should have moth
ing to say in contradiction of his pages. For ex-
I
Hebrew inhabitants OF New-York as sharing to
only very limited extent. II at all. in the social
life of their Christian fellow-ctizens. But when
he finds a number of Jews at Delmonicos and
goes on to assume that they, with their friends.
ARE driven TO congregate in restaurants. as
though they had other resource he reveals
his ignorance OF the many Jewish clubs which
among the larges: and best managed in the
metropolis. Further. it is an unmistakabe
Americanism 10 which we have referred in the
phrase going for a shave" and since public
BARRIERS have fiourished all the world from
ancient times down to own and have been
patronized by very respectable men in al
countries and eras. don't suppose that we
need apologize for the American who goes for
shave" But we would venture to say that
more men shave themselves in America than
anywhere in Europe. Certainly the 'tonsorial
artist" Is fully as common In Germany in
Spain, in France, in Italy, here, and his ser
vices in demand among just as fastidious
individuals. Our author says he has been told
Of many Americans who never complete their
toilet at home in the morning, but are shaved
downtown each morning. and when he dimes
out he cannot forbear wondering how many Of
the gentlemen present were shaved by Germans.
how many by Irishmen, how many by Italians,
and so on" His wonder Is thrown away II he
had catechised his friends he would probably
have discovered that most of them had shaved
themselves. 1t is all very trivial, and II may
seem matter Of small moment that this critic
should find our dealings with the barber 'horri-
bly, dirty and painfully disagreeable." But It is
amusing. too, to see how large these things loom
on the horizon Of some minds. Some of the
men who have lived for a long time in the West
are already very like the Indians in disposition"
Are thew? Ii WOuld no IN sfruc IN I'm
how. AS near as we can make out. it is in be-
Ing at one moment taciturn and frowning then
laxative and nervously jolly This moodiness
we have observed from one end of Europe to the
other, but the book before us mentions il as
something especially produced by our climate
After this 1t is refreshing to turn the page and
begin new chapter on the reflection that every
thing depends upon ones point of view" We
don't wonder, either. In perusing our French
mans account of his arrival In America that his
point OF view was considerably shocked you are
bundled into an ill-smelling carriage with torn
upholstery, which creaks and groans as it is
pumped along over the wretched pavements
drawn by two Rosinantes In a tattered harness
and driven by an Irishman who throws aside his
cigar only after he has driven block or two.
and whose costume is made up from the wreck
age of a bankrupt livery stable and q pawnshop
You are charged fifteen francs for your drive Of
perhaps, two miles. and one franc extra for each
piece or luggage and though you pay peaceably
through the nose, your coachman expectorates
as ne gets back on his carriage, with never a
word Of thanks or touch of the hat" Peccavi,
peccavi! this Frenchman has caught us here
and though 1t is perfectly possible to avoid the
abomination he describes, we cannot blame him.
since he fell into the hands of thoroughly typi-
cal charioteer, for fancyng that he had landed
upon things like this th1t traveller is most
successful. Nothing could be more vivid than his
| tale of ride on me Broadway cable road-it
| might have been written by daily victim Of that
| hurting institution. But where did he get the
| notion thPt our papers never spoke of Paddy
| Diver without calling him The Hon. Patrick
| Diver? He says we are punctilious about titles.
| We are not so punctous that. On our do
mestic economy his remarks are more astute and
! his illustrations chosen with more tact He
! pauses in amazement over the people, even those
whose incomes permit It," who prefe" to live in
hotels rather than 'in small houses of their
in the suburbs" He recalls the little villas which
abound the fringes of Paris. and he cannot
understand the American passion for urban life,
a passion that will be satisfied at the expense Of
all else. Neither can we. He is wise too in his
reprobation of excessively luxurious street cos
| tunes among American women, but he need not
imagine because he saw a man at an American
wedding at - o'clock in evening dress that such
/ "gaucherie' Is common here. He SAYS Of our
public speeches that nine-tenths Of them
| 'for the ears-for long ears-not for the mind"
This is sad. no doubt but the statement that in
France the makers of such speeches would be
ridiculed out Of existence. while in England they
would be quietly shelved at the instance Of
| their own party leaders" is fragrant assumption
! and buncombe. 1t is the frank confession Of
some of the ablest journals in England that the
House OF Commons hears week after week
speeches too awful in their fatness to be borne
but the party leaders, go on bearing them just
,ho sone and I'm France the situation Is even