The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-09-25
SPLENDOR OF NEW YORK
A cALlFoRHlAN's DESCRIPTION
or ooTHAM's VULGAR RICH.

ruptey and Enforcement Ferquent-
the Result.
The following remarkable degCrip-
hon Of New YorKs vulgar Rich" ap-
pears 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 JIM
pressed by the ostentauous opulenee OF
that city.
The smart drives are filled with long
files Of private equip=ges. The women
dress richly and splendidly. It Is moth
ing 10 see a quarter of a million dol
lars worth Of jewels decking the per-
son 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 Washington, or as
Cinnamon in San Francisco. Long
streets are taken up by the great
houses of obscure millionaires
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 Pennsylvania coal, or Chi
cago trading, or California mines, or
Texas cattle, or other Western enter.
prises 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.
The splendor and luxury of New
York are barbaric. The striving for
display has assumed the look of mad
ness. Immense sums are spent in fol-
ly. There seems to be a competition in
extravaganza. People advertise their
wealth by extraordinary entertain
ments and by throwing their money
about as if they we're glad to get rid Of
it. Prices at the places of public resort
trequented by the rich are consequent
ly very high.
There is a millionaire public in New
York large enough to support such
establishments, and prices are ranged
according 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 a. the first-class
hotels and restaurants elsewhere are
based on a lower estimate of the aver
age wealth of the patrons. People in
moderate circumstances can afford 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 a family
having an income of only few thous-
ands year lives beyond its means if
it dimes frequently at Sherry's 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 hun
dreds of families, dependent on the sal
airy of the husband and father, attempt
to keep up with the pace set by the
millionaires. A salary of ten thousand
a year will barely support a husband
and wife who make any pretension Of
mingling among the patrons of the
high-priced resorts. The result is thai
, | lie Of 60 IN W. ~
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 headlong down
ward flight the extravagant New York
ers do not care about the future. They
, live luxuriously from day to day ant
) stave off the crash as long as they can
+ When it comes they sink out of sight
go West or become part of the sub
merged classes.
There are many families in New
York that live very meanly and parsi
- moniously that they may have casl
p enough to make a figure at Sherrys 0
o the WaldOrf-Astoria on Sunday night
f Many of the big jewe1ry stores make
g practice of lending sets of jewelry TO
+ night. For this accommodation the
$ receive large pay. The wife of som
j.. comparatively poor man will appear i
: public wearing from fifty to one hun
+, bred thousand dollars worth of dia
I. monds, for the use of which she ha
given sum equal to months incom
T of her husband. The husband, poe
# man, is very likely as vain and FOOLS
"a as his wife He enjoys having peopl