The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-05-20
Briion and Yankee.

"In the first place an enTerprising Yam
kee in London does not, as common fable
reports. dash around distraught. helter-
skelter, now leaping from a bus. again
galloping in a hanson up the Strand. run
ming. walking. panting-acting, i'm short,
so that one might point him out and say.
There is an American: see him hustle
Not at all. Business Americans In
London are rather a type of cool reserve,
content 10 open the argument. display
goods. and then calmly await develop
ments until they can reach out and get
what they are after. Any day in the
hotel Hobbies you may notice clean
shaven. substantial men. who appear TO
have no other object in lie than to smoke
slowly long. black cigars. Reposeful In
countenance. deliberate in movement,
non-committal in speech. you may judge
them idlers or mere students of human
nature: you would scarcely take them for
the cleverest promoters that ever came
out of America. That is what they are.
THE American is versatile He can
wait or rush as occasion demands. For
six months Charles II. Yerkes hardly
moved from his comfortable chair I'm the
Hotel Cecil. waiting hour Dy hour, week
by week. to get control OF Londons un-
derground railways. He went to London
dollars for that particular purpose, ana
used all the wiles of a modern hnancier
TO accomplish il.
never reckless. never clustering, always
proving what he alleged, never losing
heart when the task seemed hardest. New
obstacles confronted him each day. lie
had to night statute, precedent and com
petition . Finally. at the moment when
victory appeared certain, the English en-
gincers who had gone To Buda Pesth TO
aNa mi a Hungarian electrical system.
reported In It's favor as opposed 10 the
American system. London believed lerkes
at last defeated. But ferkes, unrunled,
kept up the silent fight. and won. lie
hopes soon TO control one hundred miles
OF underground railway built and
equipped by Americans.
lin order TO win English patronage an
American is ready 10 forego comfort ana
temper and nationality. lie speedily
makes for himself a motto. Fight an
Englishman with his own weapons, ana
he learns the value of frock coat one
OF his first impulses therefore. Is TO hunt
up a tailor. and the baneful garment
that, at home. was associated only with
weddings and funerals soon becomes his
daily habit Sometimes also he struggles
with the broad n pathetically But 90
not concludes from this that the Ameri-
can loses his Individuality Far from IL.
The coat and accent are only part OF his
working capital Neither interfcres Win
his method OF enterprise. The CONTRAST
'twiXt Britain and Yankee Is always ap-
parent -
'''rhe Britain rises late; the YanRTe be-
times. The Englishman dresses leisur ~.
breakfasts plentifully. reads his paper
careNilly and reaches the office by ~
o'clock: the American Jumps lnto MS
clothes, disposes OF slight meal. buys "A
paper on the way TO the station, reads
Ii on the train. walks brskly to his office
and plungcs into correspondence. Type
writer's start clicking. letters are dic-
tatcd. cables answered. and when the
hour arrives for the Engishman TO be-
gin work the American has cleared his
desk and IS ready 90 so out and inter-
vicw customers.
"Nhilc the one. SNUG and stolid. rs slp-
ping Scotch whisky In n rare old public
house that refks Of tradition, the other,
sharp faced and dapper Is dodging about
subscribing shares when the Engishman
Is engaged in a relish Of noonday chop,
the American Is walking In Hyde Park
talking automobiles TO prospective
buvor
M u. m. when the Engllshman Is on
his way 10 golf links. tennis or the river,
The American. dust-covered and soiled. is
sdll busy building electric trains In Ken
sington placing elevators In Buckingham
palace and erecting hotels on Piccadilly.
when the Englishman. flushed with