The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1903-08-15
New York's Vulgar Rich.

Inc 10llOWln9 remarkaDle uescIlpIloH Vi
''New York 5 Vulgar Rich appears as
an editorial review in the San Francisco
Bulletin:
Western people that have visited New
York within the last three OR four years
have been astonished and impressed by
the ostentatious opulence of that city.
The smart drives are filled with long
files of private equipages. The women
dress richly and splendidly. It is nothing
to see quarter of million dollars worth
of jewels decking the person of the wife of
some man who is not known to the public.
There are so many millionaires In New
York that they are as common as members
of the lower house in Washins ston, or as
Cinnamon in San Francisco. Long streets
are taken up by the great houses of obscure
milhonaires.
Great fortunes are easily made in New
York, where money abounds, but the
indigenous 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 Pennsyl
vania coal, or Chicago trading, or Cali
fornia 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 and other such places.
The splendor and luxury of New York
are barbaric. The striving for display has
assumed the look of madness Immense
sums are spent in folly. There seems to
be a competition in extravaganza 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 conse-
quently very high.
There is millionaire public in New York
large enough to support such establish
ments, and prices are ranged according to
the millionaire purse These establish
ments 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 t-class hotels and restaur-
rants elswhere are based on lower esti-
mate of the average wealth of the patrons.
People in moderate circumstances can af-
ford to live and dine at the Palace Hotel
in this city or at any first class hotel or
restaurant in any other city except New
York But in New York family having
an income Of only few thousands year
lives beyond its means lift dimes frequently
at Sherry or at the Waldorf Astoria.
But-and herein is the evil of these
luxurious reSorts-the usual well-to-do
American family, in New York as else
where, Is afraid to patronize any but a
first class hotel or restaurant, or to cross
the ocean on any but the fastest steamers.
Consequently many hundreds of families,
dependent on the salary Of the husband
and father attempt to keep up with the
pace set By the milionaires. A salary of
ten thousand year will barely support a
husband and wife who make any pre-
tension Of miugling among the patrons of
the high priced resorts, The result is
that thousands Of families in New York
are living beyond their means. 4 few
years of this unreasonable mode of life
drives the man Of the family into bank
ruptcy, Of course, and ruins the family,
but in their headlong downward fight the
extrayagant New Workers do not care
about the future They live luxuriously
from day to day and stave off the crash
as long as they can. When it come they
sink out Of sight-go West or become
port 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 or the Waldorf
Astoria on Sunday night, Many of the
biz jeweiry stores make pratiee Of lend
ing sets Of jewelry for a night. For this
accommodation they receive large pay.
The wife Of some comparatively poor man
will appear in public wearing from fifty to
one hundred thousand dollars worth of
diamonds for the use of which she has
given a sum equal to month income of
her husband The husband, poor man,
Is very likely as vain and foolish as his
wife. He enjoys having people that do
not knew him take him for millionaire.
For this he gives up all the real comforts
and enioyments Of life On his income,
amply sufficient if he would spend it
reasonably, he is nothing but a tawdry
pauper.
Not only ultimate bankruptcy, but
frequently embezzlement Is the conse-
quence Of this extravagant way Of living.
Salaries that would seem very large in
San Francisco become mere pittances in
New York. Here he can dine at res
taurant with the best, that is, the
richest people in town, all about him. In
New York he must hord with the poor,
and can behold the rich only from dis
tance. OF course, if a man is clever, he
can become profoundly satirical and find
the vulgar rich very amusing-still from a
distance-and can work himself into an
exceedingly superior state of mind. He
can become even more than satirical if he
will contrast the display of vast wealth
with the misery and pauperism that pre-
vail so close to 1t.
If the satirist Is from San Francisco he
may return thanks that this city is yet
fairly free from the madness for making
and the passion for spending money. He
may get some consolation from the reflect
ion that p percent. ofthe of people San
Franciscs, while only II per cent. of the
people of New York, own their own homes,
and from the additional fact that thechmaet
or San Francisco is worth millino dollars
in terms of comfort, TO each inhabitant.
Worth Remembering,