The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-04-29
AMERICANS in LONDON.
Why the Britishers Mark Them Out al
Once as Soft Marks for Imposi.
tiOn in the Matter of Prices.
Barron, in the Timcs-Herald.


Already the public places give evil
denCe that the Americans are arriving
in town. and the shcpkeepers begin to
shine, expectant of increased profits.
1t has never been made perfectly clear
to me why it is that English trades
people, as well as keepers of lodging
houses and proprietors of resorts, look
upon visiting Americans as pigeons to
be plucked. That they do entertain
this opinion there is no manner of
doubt, and yet the American is not,
generally speaking, a gullible race.
Unquestionably, however, Americans
pay more than any other class of visit
ors, taken on an average, for their
Irritation with London, and get less
value for their money. This is not true
of the man whose common sense is
greater than his vanity, and who has
had some experience or travel; but the
abuse to which our countrymen are so
commonly subjected grows cut of the
folly Of the Individuals very numer-
Gus class-who wish to create the i'm
preston that they have an abundance
of money and need not limit themselves
in it's expenditure. The men and wo-
men who really have more money than
they know what to do with, and who
think that an amateur lavshness is
indicative of a character nobly gen.
erous, are comparatively few, and per-
haps do not greatly disturb the bal
ance between value and receipt.
SPLURGERS.
The would-be imitators Of this small
set are legion, and it is through the
ridiculous pretentiousness of this army
of persons who come to Europe to cut
a dash for a brief time that the English
misconception of American intelligence
and judgment has come about. A pc
culiarity of the tourist who belongs to
the class of splurgers is a sort of help
less shamefacedness in dealing with
the shOpkeeperS, walters, cads and
servants with whom he comes so fire.
quently into contact, and who play
most successfully upon his vanity
through a Difference to which he is lit
tie used 1t is the Difference of frigid-
ly polite reserve which seems at once
to confess and challenge the superior
ity of the visitor. Your Frenchman or
Italian in like circumstances would be
effusively, almost Obsequiously, insist
| ent, annoying you with the excess of
his conciliatory attention. Your Eng
lishman has a manner toward you that
seems to say: There is no use of my
wasting many words; it is evident that
you are a gentleman of means and eX-
perience, and you know perfectly we'll
the character and value of the articles
/ am showing you. They are extreme
ly smart, and you cannot duplicate
them for the price anywhere else in
London" His purpose is to make you
| think that he knows you to be a man
| of consequence, and that all his shop
| ping experience has been confined to
men of that stamp.
AN EXPERIENCE.
If you have sufficient force of charac-
| ter to dissent from him he will, with
| out saying a word, make you waver in
| your opinion that you have acted quite
| up to the standard of the well-equpped
man of the world; and it is before this
| indefinable authority of presence that
| nine out of ten unsophisticated Ameri-
cans go down to defeat and end by pay
| ing a. third more than Londoner
would be asked to pay. The incertitude
| of the novice and the American ac-
cent are insidious betrayers of the
| purse in London. A week ago a lady
| from New York arrived in town, and
| the next day went to look at a suite of
| rooms in Dover street. She was pleased
| with it and asked the price per week.
| Seven guineas," was the prompt and
| decisive answer. The lady turned a
| benignant look upon the man and said,
with an engaging smile: Yes, l admit
| that 1 am an American, but this is not
my first visit to London. What is your
lowest price," Ten minutes later the
lady had secured the rooms for two and
! a half guineas.