Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-17
$4,000 AMERICANS
Will Visit London Town Dur
ing Coronation Week.
CASH OUTLAY LARGE
THE SOCIAL AMBITIONS THAT
MAY BE GRATIFIED.
Real Estate Agents Have Not Been
Able to Get Houses Fine
Enough.
CASH OUTLAY LARGE
Copyright, 1902. by Charles Appleton)

Copyright, 1902. by Charles Appleton)
Written for The Evening Star.
The United States has never been so well
or SO numerously represented at any for
eign court as 1t will be in June during cor
onation week in London. The exodus of
Americans bound for the coronation began
last month, and there has been steady
stream of fashionable folks and plain folks
steaming England-ward ever since. Amer
lea is not to be represented by her people of
fashion alone at this browning of a new
English king. The steamship lists show
that many men and women of comparative
social obscurity are going there too, and
while the smart set will be the portion of
the American contingent most on view,
there will be hundreds of quieter Ameri-
cans who will view the royal procession
from private houses, and who will par
ticpate, if only mildly, in the many inter-
esting functions which have been arranged
as a part of the greatest week of celebra-
ton that the present generation of English
men and women has known.
No other people will be quite so warmly
welcomed to London during coronation
week as Americans. The spirit of friend
ship shown to Americans in the hotels, the
cafes and race tracks of England at this
time is only the natural growth of the
friendship so constantly exhibited of late
toward America and the Americans by the
English royal family, and it can be readily
believed that the Americans who throng
the sidewalks as the royal procession slow
ly makes it's way to Westminster Abbey
will find their environment quite as happy
as those more fortunate of their country
men and women who view the spectacle
from the windows of the private residences
and whose aspirations run more to English
social recognition than to anything else.
The number of Americans who Will wit
ness the royal procession and who will take
RI far 10 stringent laws of
England regarding this solemn event Will
permit in the event preceding and following
the actual crowning of the king In west
minister Abbey, has been yariously estimat-
ed at from 10000 to 200 If the latter
figure is an eXaggeration it is a slight one,
for in the societies of both eastern ana
western cities there are few Of prominence
who have not already decided to attend the
coronation festivities.
Going for Social Reasons.
Undoubtedly many Americans of fashion
are impelled to go abroad at this particular
time from a notion that it is the proper
thing to do. The social positions of some
persons might tremble on their foundations
if those persons remained at home at such
time. So, unless a persons social status
at home is so firmly fixed that nothing can
shake it, it will be well for him to be in
London during coronation week and take
as conspicuous part in the festivities of the
time as possible. To be there and not to
be seen or heard is almost as bad as not
to be there at all. 1t is announced that
Colonel and Mrs. John Jacob Astor Will re-
main at home. They are fair Illustration
of the kind of people who can afford to
stay at home at such time.
1t is going to take a great many good
American dollars to take all the Americans
who want to go to the coronation there in
the way that most of them have elected to
go. The sum total will reach well up in the
millions. If only $500 is spent by each
American visitor, the total will be S,JoO,0c0
if there are fifteen thousand of them. 1t
costs money to hire a fine old British resi-
Gence for weeks at a time, and ii costs
more than a trifle to conduct such a home
as it will have to be conducted during the
coronation week if the occupants are to cut
any figure. The English tradeSman may
well chuckle over the American invasion,
for he knows that the arrival of the Ameri-
can means the arrival of the man with
dollars, which he is quite willing to spend
A great deal of American money has al
ready gone to England for houses for coro-
nation week and for choice positions
along the line of the royal procession. This
procession will traverse fourteen miles of
LondonS principal business and residence
streets, and windows and houses in these
streets, particularly the latter, are in great
demand. Holders of these coveted privi-
leges ran prices up so high in March that
there was open rebellion against them, and
the newspapers warned them that their
greed would inevitably ruin the royal pro-
ceSsion, it did at the time of the queens
jubilee. While this controversy was at its
height Americans stepped in and bought
the best windows and rented the best
houses. Values in these commodities in
crease for some reason as they near West
minister Abbey, the end of the route over
which the royal family and the attendant
nobility are to travel Almost all of these
choice positions have been secured by
Americans, and the English who bickered
over the prices Will have to take what they
can get now.
Americans Will undoubtedly take a con-
spicuous part in the social events that have
been arranged as part OF the week of eel
ebratio2, for there are enough American
women of title il London today to insure
warm welcome to those from the states
of established social position who desire
the entree to London's best society. Only
those American women who have married
English titles can hope to witness the ac-
tual ceremony of the coronation in West
minister Abbey. With sixteen inches of
sitting room to a peeress Chat is actually
the allotted Space) there is no room Cor
outsiders. and wealth, position and influ-
ence will avail nothing in this instance.
But the United States will have at least
two representatives at the actual corona
ton to every one that any other foreign
country has. Uncle Sam has enough titled
daughters to give him more than an ade-
Quate representation. With such women
as the Duchess of Marlborough. Lady Nay
lor-Leyland, the Duchess of Manchester,
the Countess of Essex and Lady STAFFORD to
represent the beauty, the Wit and the wealth
may feel well assured that their represen-
tation inside of Westminster Abbey on this
momentous occasion VIII reflect credit On
their country.
American Entertaining.
1t is generally accepted that the center
of American social activity in London dur
ing coronation week will be Brook House,
the magnificent home of Lord Tweedmouth,
which has been taken for a period of six
weeks by Whitelaw Reid. the special am
bassador of. the United States Mr.. and
Mrs. Reid will entertain lavishly at Brook
House, and an invitation there during cor
onation week will establish the claims of
any American visitor in London to general
social recognition. Brook House is at
Brook street and Park lane and faces
Hyde Park. 1t was put up by the first
Baron TweedmQuth thirty-two years ago,
and is not a handsome building from the
outside, being built of red brick, like many
of the best London residences. In it's in
terror fittings, though. Brook House is one
Of the finest places in London. and it is
particularly well adapted for entertaining
Pictures and statuary abound in the halls
and reception rooms, and in the main hail,
fastened to the center balustrade, is one
H. ,lors