The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1900-11-02
ENGLISH ARE
CASTE,RIDDEN

In a letter from London 10 the In
%dianapolis News Julian Ralph asks.
Why Is It that In every capital In
Europe-except London-there are
large and attractively appointed re-
sorts for men and women. at which
they can rest and meet one another,
collect their families and friends, lis
ten to music, observe their neighbors
and yet pay only the price Of a glass
OF beer apiece, or Of a glass Of wine?
I asked this question Of a thoughtful
and travelled Englishman today. /
said 70 him: There is nothing Of the
kind in all England, and yet wher-
ever there are such places on the con-
tinent you find Engllshmen frequent
ing them with evident enjoyment. In
all London there is but one beer hall
to which men and women and chill
dren resort to Quan light drinks in
moderation and to eat the tasty, pic
nickish sort Of dishes which Germans
take with their beer and their Rhine
wine-only mi such resort, and that
is a tiny little place, and wholly pat
ronized by Germans"
Said the Englishman: Il know pre-
cisely to what places you refer-the
great cafes Of Paris. the beer halls OF
Berlin and Hamburg and New York
and Chicago-the magnificent semi
restaurants Of Amsterdam, the concert
gardens Of Milan-yes, l know. We do
like them wherever we find them, and
1 am sure there is room for twenty
such places in London. The reason we
have not got them must be the sim
pie n that no one has ever started
one-nobody has ever tried us English
to zee how we would like It,"
you are wrong" said 1; "a great
nation has whatever it wants, and is
sure to get all of whatever it would
enjoy. England is centuries old, and
the idea Of the public rendezvous on a
large scale would have developed here
as it has developed everywhere else If
the English had wanted 1t. The truth
is, you are the most caste-ridden peo-
pie in the world. You will go among
foreigners, where you will not mind
the conglomeration, but you will not
do the same thing in your own coun-
try and with your own people. Your
shopkeeper will not be happy where
there are lords, and he will not stoop
to the company Of laborers or even
clerks. Believe me, though we call
TnuIond a vfrfuoI ror,rh1fo hocorco a
is the most free and fair and liberal
in its laws of any land in the Old
World, it is very far from being re-
publican; it is not so nearly republi-
can in the temper and spirit Of its
masses as any OF its neighbors in
Europe. II l were to build you the
most beautiful beer hall on earth, ]
would have to partition It of like a
lot of cattle pens, OF you would leave
me alone in it to starve to death rath.
er than come there and brush against
Itpeeplo Of ettheR lowersor higher sta.
ton than yourself and rather than al.
low your employees or poorer neigh
bors to happen in and see you in the
middle OF a crowd satisfying yourself
with an evenings enjoyment at a cost
within their means and on a level with
their taste"
The Englishman thought a minute
and then he said: 81 believe you are
right. 1 go to those places abroad, but
!. certainly would not like to frequent
them here"
I know that I was right. l have mol
studied the English for three years
for nothing. There is lever any pro-
m-iscuousness about their gatherings
Though you may see 10000 Of them in
a mass at the Derby, you have only tc
look at the a a second time, more
closely, in order to discover that it is
all fenced and divided into separate