Evening star., 1900-10-06
Hard Drinking Not the Rule Among
New York's Rich Youths.
EFFORTS TO REFORM THE POLICE
Many People Who Believe That
ParneIl is Still Alive.

special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
NEW YORK October 4, 1900.
An old-time New Yorker. using as text
the industry of the Vanderbilt boys and of
the sons Of other enormously rich men in
this town. drifted the other evening into a
comparison Of the jeunesse doree Of today
in this neighborhood and the gilded youths
of a former generation.
THE rich young fellows coming into man.
hood nowadays are an altogether better set
Of chaps than were the rich lads Of a quar-
ter of a century ago." he said. They are
better because they don't dissipate. There
Is less dissipation among the rich boys Of
this town now than during any period that
can remember, and I've been here for a
matter Of three-quarters of a century. 1t
Is no longer the thing for the gilded youth
to be sad dog and swift blade and all
that sort of demoralizing nonsense. I can
remember when a rich young fellow in this
town was looked upon as milksop by his
associates If he didn't drink ten times as
much as was good for him and career and
cavort around generally like rake. The
moneyed youth who didn't raise the deuce
with himself quarter of a century ago
was the exception. Dissipation in that era
was the fashion, and the more rapid his
pace the more the gilded youth was ad-
m1red, by the women of his circle as well
as by his male associates. The velocity Of
the youth who jumped into the swimming
tank at an athletic club while arrayed in
his evening clothes was looked upon as
something just too fascinating for any use
and the tipsy lad who hoped astride Of
morse hltched to cab and drove the nag
up ana down Broadway and 5th avenue in
that 1dfotic position attitude gained the
vociferous applause of the folks in his set.
All,night bouts with the hagon and the
tankard and the bowl were yery ordinary
affairs for the rich young New Workers. Of
another day, and many one Of them that
could name shattered his health and died
!ong peIore h1s time on account of his prac-
tlcal adherence to the queer notion of his
generation that sobriety and right living
were dull virtues. only meant for the poor
A Change for the Better
There has been a gradual disappearance
or this foolish idea, that now 1 believe
II sa1e TO assert that the rich young men Of
new YORK, as class, are considerably
more rigid in their manner Of living than
an average equal number Of New Workers.
In only moderate circumstances. There is
not one heavy-drinking chap out Of fifty
or the upgroWing wealthy lads; in fact at
many Of the top-notch New York clubs the
membership lists OF which are composed
exclusively of rich youths the bars are so
niue patronlzed nowadays that special as
sessments have to be levied from time r..
time to atone for this shrinkaRe in tho
clubs receipts. The young fellow of TODAY
VINO makes an appearance in society when
ne IS ever so little under the influence of
VINE Is distinctly and decidedly frowned
upon and warned by his host that a raneti
ton OF such an offense will find no con-
oone,hent. L can remember when tntoxi-
Gated youths at social functions in NJ,
YORK were virtually the rule rather th.n
tne exception. and the older folks simnlv
shhled lnduigently upon the lads who an,
peared at parties with thick tongues and
more or less unsteady urderpinnings IT,
ladies would archly tap the intoxicafad dc
with their fans. call them sad nauebtv
creatures. ,.,sr and the tipsy youths would feel
penitent or humiliated '"H
think that the great spread of ath,et;os
at tne university during the past quarter of
a century has had a good deal to do wtth
30 .po ppieaklhs up or dissipation on. the part
OF the rich young men. The bows learn
%hat an admirable thing 1t is to be in good
health and In the pink of condition at all
tlmes, and the fact is made the more oh
@ e,uuS ~ tnem that they can't drink and
Carouse and continue to feel well and in
good spirits Whatever may have cansed
the change. 1t Is certain that the nresent
generation Of young New Yorkers who earn
aseiL own hvelihoods and who spend most
OF thelr incomes and all of their spare time
IN dissipation could very profitabiy initiate
the methods Of living of the Manhattan
3eunesse doree of this period"
Police Corruption.
The New York police are about to he at
tackled all along the line again. Bishop Pot
ter Is to take the leadership in the move
ment this time. The bishop has hitherto
carefully abstained from mingling In mu-
nicipal affairs even when well-known min
isters In his Jurisdiction have taken up the
cudgels against the laxness of the authori-
ties; but he now seems to be Thoroughly
aroused over the really extraordinary law
lessness prevailing in every section Of New
YORK. and he is going to tackle the Job Of
ion p1fy 70.
In an eminently methodical manner. Only
the most optimistic element of the popula-
ton, however, have any hope that the good
bishop will be able to achieve any decided
results. The police authorities are solemn
ly waiting for him to begin his attack but
they are not shivering in fear of the same
They have been attacked too often. In
reality they are furtively laughing in their
sleeves. The police authorities will give
hearings to the bishop and his corps of evil
dence accumulators with all of the cordial
fty In life, and then. when they see his back
ana the backs of the reputable members of
his staff, they will smile dreamily at each
other and forget all about the matter. DIR.
Parkhurst himself Is very skeptical with re-
gard to the bishops efforts. He said the
other day that he was glad the amiable
bishop had eventually SHE'D his castor into
the arena, but that there were some Au-
gean stables that whole brigades Of per-
sons Of the Hercules stamp could not sue
ceed in cleansing.
The violations Of municipal and state law
at which the New York police have been
winking for a long time past have become
simply grotesque. The divekeepers are no
longer merely brazen: they don't have to
be; they simply complaisant. They are
permitted to do about as they elect, so
that they no longer consider it necessary to
even make excuses for themselves. At the
present time New York Is perhaps the most
lawless great city on the globe. 1t is actually
an unsafe town to Hive In nowadays. Foot
pads and gum shoe artists don't even wait
for nightfall to practice their profession
they do their slugging and robbing at high
noon, and an average of only one in twenty
of them is brought to book. Well-known
citizens are being murdered and robbed
with alarming frequency; The New York
newspapers used to be able to sneer at Chi
cage for the remarkable prevalence Of
highway robbers in the city by the unsalted
sea. but they don't DO that any more.
Everything Wide Open.
The police are now making no effort
whatsoever to enforce the Sunday liquor
law. The saloonkeepers open up their front
doors for business On Sunday just as they
do on week days and the cops do not make
even a pretense Of imolesting them. There
is really considerable more street drunken
ness observable here on Sundays than on
hundrodS oP