The San Francisco call., 1899-06-25
EDITORIAL VARIATIONS.
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BY JOHN McNAUGHT.


In the course of his address at the
opening of the recent electrical expo
sition in New York Senator Depew
stated that to attend the first expOsi-
ton of the kind in that city he had
gone from his house to the hall in a
cab, two years ago he was able to ride
from the one place to the other in an
electric car, but this year he had been
carried in an automobile
The experience of the Senator illus
trates the rapidity with which our
means Of street travel have changed in
recent years. While we are superior to
New York in most things, there are
few in which they have the advantage
Being farther east, they get the sun be
fore we do; and being more tickle in
!. their habits, they adopt new means of
travel quicker than we do. Neverthe-
less we get the sun in due time and get
it in better condition than New York;
so also will we get the automobile in
season. 1t is coming to us and we are
coming to it. There will be a meeting
half way The new vehicle will be the
wagon of the hour, and everybody will
be in it except the street railway COM
pany.
Since the time when it first became
clear that a self-propelling vehicle
would soon be in general use there has
been much discussion concerning the
name to give it, Few families have
had more trouble in naming the first
born than the British speaking public
has had in trying to find a name for
tlon ,oay oh I. I.
suggestions. Horseless carriage, cleo
tropede, motorcab, autocab and dozen
others were proposed, until at last the
authorities settled upon the name "au-
tomoblle." Now behold the perversity
Of human nature; in New York, where
the vehicles have been in operation for
a time, the street boys have named the
big ones TON" and the little ones
''Tommies."
It is one of the characteristics of our
language that it is fashioned by the
man on the street instead of by the
scholars who direct our culture, or the
authors who create our literature. II
is for that reason our language is so
free from all the restraints that bind
other languages to the dead past; why
it has so little of Journalism and so
much of vitality.
When man Of learning desires a
name for new invention of the time
he goes to his Latin or his Greek die
tionary and carefully culls out word
or words which signify the nature or
the uses of the new machine, and pro-
ceeds in due form to give it a high
sounding name that would have pleased
Demosthenes or Cicero. AS soon as the
invention comes into general use, how
ever, the man on the street renames il
for short" He calls the telegraph a
wire" dubs the locomotive an ZEN
gine," and throughout the Union viii
doubtless follow the lead of the street
gamins of New York and speak of the
horseless vehicle as Tommy"
The charm which will incline most
cultured people to accept the newsbOy
name for the automobile is its utter ir-
relevancy. The chief objection is that
if the carriage be called a Tommy there
will be an almost irresistible tendency
to call the operator "Tommyboy," and
that might lead to fights. Moreover,
as the ladies are coming to the front
in all lines of work, there may be a
numerous band of lady operators of
the new carriages; and to call them
"Tommyladies' would be hardly polite
in any circles.
One of the overlooked features of the
season has been the amount of furry
in certain circles over the subject of
masculine dress. 1t is strange that so
little attention has been given to the
subject and so little comment made
upon it, for two of the highest digni-
taries in the world have taken part in
it. President Mckinley has expressed
a sorrow that he cannot play golf, be-
cause it would be beneath his dignity
to wear a golf costume; and the Prime
Minister of Great Britain has declared
with something of indignation that
"the ugliest dress the English gentle
man has ever worn has lasted for fifty
years without a change"
When a President and a Prime Min
lister mourn for lack of freedom and
beauty in dress, is it strange that lesser
men should howl? The one thing
strange is that the first sign of open
and daring revolt comes from Philadel-
phia. Some club men aided and abetted
by newspaper men in that city have
boldly advocated the adoption of the
shirt waist as a part of masculine at
tire in the summertime.
The climate of San Francisco is such
that the Philadelphia movement is not
likely to affect us much in practice. 1t
appeals strongly, however, to the imag-
ination. A Philadelphia gentleman in
a pink shirt waist is one of the crea-
lures Mckinley should send to London
on a mission, so that Salisbury could
see him; and then he should be painted
for the delight of future generations.
The most lugubrious masculine vail
of the season on the subject Of dress
comes from the heroes of our ever vic
torious navy, and is supported by the
Washington Post. That rather es-
teemed contemporary refers to the sub
ject as a discussion concerning ''the
naval officers trousseau," and is of the
opinion it ought to occupy much more
of M h1jc attention than If does Ac-