The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-02
NEW YORK'S
 VULGAR RICH
oSTENTATIoN IS CHIEF CHAR
 ACTERISTIC OF THE GLASS.
Seek to Impress Public with Thei, Transient Grandeur-Advertise Their Wealth by Extravan-
 gant Functions.

San Francisco Bulletin.
 Western people who have visited New York within the last three or four years have been astonished and impressed by the ostentattous opulence of that city.
 The smart drives are filled with long files of private equfpages. The women dress richly and splendidly. It Is noth- ing to see $225.000 worth of jewels decking the person of the wife of some man who is not known to the public. There are so many milIionaires in New York that they are as common as members of the lower house in Washington or as a Chlnaman in San Francisco. Long streets are taken up by the great houses of obscure mill iionaires.
 Great fortunes are easily made in New York, where money abounds, but the in- Hdigenous rich are not the whole of the millionaire population of that city. for hundreds of Western families, having made their pile in Michigan lumber, or Pennsylvania coal. or Chicago trading, or California mines, or Texas cattle, or other Western enterprises and industries move to New York, set up establishments there and help to support Sherry's, the Waldorf-Astoria, Tiffany's and other such places
 A Barbaric Splendor.
 The splendor and luxury of New York are barbaric. The striving for display has assumed the look of madness. Im- mense sums are spent in folly. There seems to be a competition in extrava- gance. People advertise their wealth by extraordinary entertainments and by throwing their money about as if they were glad to get rid of it. Prices at the places of public resort frequented by the rich are consequently very high.
 There is a millionaire public in New York large enough to support such es- tablishments and prices are ranged &C., cording to the millionaire purse. These establishments are rated in New York as of the first class. As there is not a large millionaire population in any other city. prices at the first-class hotels and restaurants elsewhere are based on a lower estimate of the average wealth of the patrons. People in moderate circum- stances can afford to live and dine at the Palace Hotel in this city or at any first-class hotel or restaurant in any oth- CT city except New York. But in New York family having an income of only few thousands year lives beyond its means if 1t dimes frequently at Sherry's or at the waldorf-Astoria.
 One Evil Exists.
 But-and herein Is the evil of these lux urtous resorts-the usual well-to-do Amer ican family, in New York as elsewhere, Is afraid to patronize any but first-class ho- tel or restaurant or to cross the ocean in any but the fastest steamers. Conse- auently many hundreds of families, de- pendent on the salary of the husband and father, attempt to keep up with the pace set by the millionaires. A salary of $10,- 900 year will barely support Q husband and wife who make any pretension of ningiiDg among the patrons of the high priced resorts The result Is that thou sands of families in New York are living beyond their means. A few years of this unreasonable mode of life drives the man of the family Into bankruptcy, of course and ruins the family, but in their head long downward flight the extravagant New Workers do not care about the fu- ture. They live luxuriously from day to day and stave off the crash as long as they can. When it comes they sink out of sight-go West or become part of the submerged classes.
 There are many families in New York that live very meanly and parsimoniously that they may have cash enough to make a figure at Sherry's or the Waldorf-Asto- ria on Sunday night. Many of the big jewelry stores make a practice of lending sets of jewelry for a night For this ac- commodation they receive large pay. The wife of some comparatively poor man will appear in public wearing from S5O.O0O to SlOO.OOO worth of diamonds, for the use of which she has given a sum equal to a months income of her husband.
 They Are We'll Matched.
 The husband. poor man, Is very likely as vain and foolish as his wife. He en- joys having people that do not know him take him for a millionaire. For this he gives up all the real comforts and en- joyments of life. On his income, amply sufficient if he would spend 1t reasonably he is nothing but tawdry pauper.
 Not only ultimate bankruptcy, but fire. Quently embezzlement. is the consequence of this extravagant way of living. Sal aries that would seem very large In SaT Francisco become mere pittances in New York. Here he can dine at a restauran with the 'best'-that Is, the richest people in town all about him. In New York he must herd with the poor and car behold the rich only from distance. O l course, if a man Is clever ne can becom'