The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-16
DEWEY DAY FACTS
Great Crowds Gathered
to Greet the Hero.
TWO and q Half Millions of Visitors
Broadway a RIVER Of PeopIa.
Sums Of Money Sp.nt,
by Gibson Willets. J

Five million souls united in a vel
come to one. Three million persons
+ saw the center of all human interest
Seven miles OF boats escorted the hero
up the Hudson river on Friday. Sep
TENDER 30. Seven miles of humanity
cheered him through the city on Sat
urday, the Both. Caesar himself had
never more triumphal reception in
more imposing setting.
Meanwhile New York was aglow
with patriotic color 1t was rainbowed
1t was a forest Of tlagpoles A sea of
fiags( medallions and festoons of bunt-
ing. Five million Deweyites helped
make it so. The 100000 would have
made a line 1000 miles long. Put one
behind the other in lock-step. they
would have reached from New York to
Salt Lake City. Marshaled in 5000
regiments and marching company
front, fOrty-two men abreast, they
would have required twenty-one days
TO pass in review before Dewey, march
ing day and night. This mighty army
would have been $50 miles long and
would have reached from New York to
Fort Wayne, Ind. If all the flags used
by this army on Dewey day could have
been seWed together, the result would
have been a mastodonic affair of stars
and stripes that could have been laid.
like blanket, over the whole of Cen
trail Park
What did it mean TO have 2,5c0, 900
visitors in addition to d population of
! equal number? 1t meant that it took
half an hour to walk from the Fifth
Avenue Hotel, past the great white
arch, to the Hoffman House, just one
block. Broadway was river of people
with a sluggish current flowing one
mile in many hours. Fifth avenue was
like the congested corridor of a thea
ter after the play. Battery Park was
lake of men and women, without ISL
ands. Every tall building was an OBJ
! servatOry. Even The nickel-in-slot ma
chimes filled so rapidly that agents had
TO harvest the casn three times each
night and ten times each day. Sixty
| thousand people, $500 tons of humani-
| ty, taxed the strength OF the Brooklyn
| bridge at one time. Manhattan Island
was mighty hive. The city became
! like an enormous SPONGE it absorbed
millions of people on Friday, and on
i Saturday was able to absorb millions
more. Seven thousand policemen kept
order. Half of these had no sleep for
| three days. Each policeman did the
! work of ten. Great crowds attract
I thieves, and for .ncm the city became
a Mecca. A roundup of these was or
! dered. Six hundred detectives We're on
| duty. All suspicious characters were
gathered in and locked up over the
/ two great days. The same with the
! Fire Department. Even every auxil-
| larry member was on duty, and very few
! closed their eyes in sleep between
! Thursday and Sunday.
And what the cost Ill money Of Dew
| ey day? New York cityitself apprO-
priated and spent 100000. More than
half of this went for the arch and for
reviewing stands-S26, 500 for the arch
and SIS, 900 for $4,000 seats. The next
, largest amount was $31 900 spent for
! fireworks. Then came $4,000 for
! boats in the naval parade; $4,000 for
decorations, 500 for feeding visiting
| troops, $500 for refreshments for
guests, $1,000 for badges for the COM
mittee of 1900, $4,000 for the loving
cup, $500 for suudries. By visitors
! and citizens the largest single expen-
diture was for seats. The price for
seats ranged from 81 for few of the
! window. A fair estimate of the aver
age cost of seats is $3.50. The cash ex-
penditure for the 100000 seats, there
! fore, amounted to S1,750,000 The next
! largest amount was $1,000,000 for dec
orations, bunting, flags, fireworks, etc.
Nearly 100000 yards of bunting were
used and nearly 100000 flags. Besides
| this the soldier boys spent 100000 in
! New York for trapping, for refurbish-
| ing, New York being the center Of the
military equipment business. Every
visiting militiaman bought some new
j or needed item for his uniform or kit;
the Twenty-second New York ordered
500 brand new coats and hats; bands
! fitted out anew from head to foot;
! $4,000 was spent just for white cotton
| gloves. Bankers estimate that at least
| $25,O00,000 was put in circulation in
! New York by visitors during the week.
! This is based upon the conservative
estimate that the average amount
spent by each Of the 100000 visitors
was $40.