The Monmouth inquirer., 1897-02-18
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
The Cycle Show and Souvenir Fiends.
Sympathy For Cuba IN the Thea
ters Bleeding the ''LD Road.
fspeeial cerresrondenee.l

Especial Correspoudence-l
Some people IN this world seem to
possess the peculiar and unenyiable fac
ulty of doing exactly the things which
produce the greatest degree Of resent
ment from the very persons whose
friendship it is to their interest to culti-
vate. was forcibly impressed with this
fact at the recent cycle show. As il
pretty generally known, last year there
was perfect deluge of souvenirs, and
naturally an army Of souvenir fiends
was speedily developed. The persistence
IF these folks became such an intolerable
nuisance that great many Of the man
ufacturers determined that they would
never give away another souvenir "a
long as they remained in the business.
The expense was comparatively light,
and there was some return, but the loss
of time and the consequent inability to
attend to the wants of bona fide would
be customers, owing to the importuni-
ties Of the souyenirians, warned them
that the time had come to call halt.
A oratuitous Insult.
During the show just closed for this
reason there were only a ve1y few cycle
or saddle or lamp makers who gave
away anything except catalogues. Still,
there were few who stuck to the old
plan, and the space in front of their ex-
hibits was constantly crowded. Time
alone viii tell which of the two classes
was in the right, but it does not require
either time or a sage to discover that
the solitary exhibitor who extensively
posted the sign No souvenirs all over
the space allotted to him did the most
foolish thing possible under the circum
stances. It was a gratuitous implied in
suit TO those persons who would have
been pleased to accept souvenirs had
there been any and an objectionable one
to those who make it rule to go to the
cycle show for the sole purpose Of decid-
ing upon the mount for the year and
who not only do not care for the measly
little souvenirs which are usually given
away, but would not take them if they
were thrown at them by the handful
A Fortunate Situation.
The cycle manufacturers seem to lose
sight of the fact that they are more for
tunately situated than the people Of any
other trade Usually man feels graft
fed TO have visitors call to inspect his
wares in the usual manner, and he goes
to the expense Of spending thousands Of
dollars IN advertising in the effort to
accomplish this, while here are the
wheelmakers, to whom the dear and
persistently foolish public actually pays
its money for the purpose of inspecting
what can be seen in much greater com
fort in any one of hundreds of stores in
this and other cities. So it seems silly
TO do anything which might ALLEVIATE
the allegiance of these complaisant adj
mirers of the wheel.
Men may differ as TO the propriety of
recognizing the bellgerency of the Gu
bans, but no one who has ever been to
a theater in this city TO see a play de-
picting the struggles of the islanders for
liberty will be left long in doubt as to
where the sympathies of the masses
are
l saw performance of "Cuba's
Vow" a few nights ago at the Star the
ater. II is not good play. In fact, it
is distinctly bad play constructed upon
the crudest and most absurd lines that
could well be imagined. But there was
lots of vilifcation for Spain and glorif
cation for Cuba and the United States,
and the applause was so earnest at times
that it sounded almost hysterical There
was no possibility for the most hardened
and cynical theater goer to doubt its gen
Ckrf1 fsf TT7fT rl<aI TxrFf
the stamping, hand clapping and whis-
tling of the gallery gods until the actors.
who are not usually averse to receiving
applause, were actually ratified several
times by the unbounded enthusiasm
which temporarily stopped what was
supposed to be the action Of the play.
Great Sympathy For Cuba
There is probably no city in the world
where so many unusual methods OF
earning livelihood are employed as in
New York. Scores of persons have made
money during the past double decade by
seeking out the owners of property be-
fore which the elevated structures are
built and getting permission from them
to sue the railroad company for damages
in the way of interference with the in
coming of light and air. to say nothing
of the annoyance of noise and dust. In
reality the income from great deal Of
property was lessened by the advent OF
the elevated road, or rather by its too
close proximity, but there is no denying
the fact that many buildings which are
now earning large rents did not do SO
when the horse car was the nearest ap-
proach to rapid transit that we had in
this city
Bleeding the "L~ Road.
The people who succeeded in getting
these claims from the property owners
would at once place them IN the hands
of a firm of attorneys, who gave them
a percentage of their fees. The road
in most cases, after receiving notice
of the suit, would offer to settle at
a low figure, which was seldom ac-
..-~koa 1,++7o fa4o,. = r,o.,s,i l}xa that