Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-14
THE cITYs ENORMOUS SIZE.
It I. Bigger Than New York .aA
MORE THAN IN NEW ENGLAND.
PEN Picture. OF the Rich ana Poor
John Bulbs Paunch.

Policemen-How Uncle sam E,Ius
John Bulbs Paunch.
Copyright, 1902, by Frank G. carpenter.)
LONDON, ENGLAND. September H.
(Special)-Lcndon is the centre OF Amerf-
can invasion. Hundreds of thousands OF
American dollars are pouring into It, and
our capitalists hope to take millions out.
It is the latest morsel in the world'a
commercial larder. and thousands OF spe-
cr1atlve mice from every part OF the earth
arc hungering for 1t. There are to-daw
thlrty thousand American residents In
London, not including the floating popu-
lation Of tens of thousands more. The
city has more Scotchmen than Edinburg,
more Irishmen than Dublin. more Jews
than Palestine, and more Roman Catho-
lies than Rome. It has tens of thousands
Of Italians, Germans. and French, and
people from Inola, Africa, and the islands
of the seas.
The biggest City on Earth.
despair OF being able to give a con-
ce. ton Of the size of London. have
been here for weeks and ii grows bigger
every day. The statistics show that 1t
has more people than New York ana
Chicago combined 1t is bigger than any
two capitals OF continental Europe, 1t
has greater population than New Eng
land and it exceeds in the number Oh
Its Inhabitants many territories governed
by kings. By the latest figures 1t has
more than six and one half million people.
or about one seventh Of all the people OF
Great Britain and Ireland, and one fourth
of all those who live in cities
l have gone to the top of the monument
to the top of st. Paurs and out to Ham-
stead Heath to try and get a view of the
city, but at no place have been able to
see 1t at all. 1t extends on and on, vast
wilderness of houses overhung by dense
smoke which shrouds the whole in an
autumn haze anu at times makes you
think you are looking through spectacles
Of smoked glass. The smoke is so thick
that it clogs the chimneys. and in some
parts Of the city the chimney sweeps
clean them three times a year. The city
extends out for radius Of fifteen miles
from Charing Cross; it embraces an area
quarter section farms, and in it there are
100000 inhabited houses and 1000 miles Of
streets and roads.
Think of that and figure out what q,
chore it would be to explore the city on
foot. If you should walk day and night,
not stopping minute you could not
tramp through all of Lon4on streets In
year. If the streets were placed end to
end. beginning here. they would reach
across Europe. making a paved walk.
walled with .-ouses, over France. Ger
many. and Russia, across the Ural noun
tains and the highlands OF Thibet and
clear through China to the Pacific ocean
All the way you woulu find the streets
well paved, and some of them the smooth
est, hardest. and best streets of the world.
You would find many grand buildings and
tens of thousands of dirty. little two and
three-story blocks packed with London's
poor, the most wretched and most drunk
en- poor upon earth.
You would find plenty Of places to eat
and drink along the way. London has
about 5000 saloons, something like 2Oo0
coffee houses, and it has thousands of
restaurants and places for tea an1 cake.
1t has $50 hotels, from enormous buildings
which cover acres and sleep thousands
down to little inns which have rooms for
score.
City OF the Rich and Poor.
London is city or millionatres and
paupers. of thousands who are very rich.
of hundreds of thousands who spend
money as freely as any people on earth.
and million or SO who are wretchedly
poor. The town has 100000 paupers ano
cannot tell you how many millionaires. Ii
has king who has a civil list OF IS. 0C0. 0O6
year and dukes and earls who own
towns and vast estates and lords and
other golden drones galore. In the West.
End about Hyde Park you drive through
street after street OF magnificent palaces,
and in the east and along the docks you
may ride for miles and miles through
sections where whole families nye In ona
room and where sennf-starvation reigns-
Let me give you two pictures OF Lon
don which I have seen during my stay
One is the cnurch parade at Hyde Park.
which takes place every noon on Sun
days from until o'clock. This will give
you some idea of the possible market for
the best OF American goods. Hyde Park
is great expanse OF green trees: soft,
yelvety turf; beautiful lakes and walks
and drives. On last Sunday there wero
an0c0 people walking up and down the
chief thoroughfares and these people res
presented the cream of London SWELL
DOM I have never seen so many per-
sons so well dressed. Every man and
every boy wore tall silk hat. Ali were
gloved, and the men wore frock coats
and trousers tightly creased AS whole
the American men are the best-dressed
of their kind In the world. but the Hyde
Park crowd on Sundays is better dressed
than they, as 1t represents only the best
tailors OF the kingdom
And then the women! My heart jumps
as I think of them. There were at least
lOo 600 dainty girls and lordly danes. clad
In Paris gowns and nonnets. and last. but
not least. American shoes. They werea
good-Iooking. and. as rule. tall and
stately. They merely walked back and
forth. some with men and some without,
staring and laughing and chatting.
In the crowd I saw faces OF every na-
tionality under the sun. although the ma
tority were English. At the same time.
there were carriages. coaches. four-tn-
hands. driving along the roads outside the
walks. There we're scores OF autorno-
b,les whistling by. and altogether tha
scene made me think that Poverty wa1
dead. It was the parade Of the rich
slum Parade OF the strand.
Now let me give you picture OF the
parade OF the poor. Imagine yourself on
the Strand the night the word came
that the Boer war was ended and peace
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