The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-01-20
The East Through
Western Eyes.

continent a journey 10 the Far East of
the Atlantic seaboard is like going TO
Europe. IN fact o greater change Of
mental and social climate Is experienced
in going froin the mountains to the
ocean than In going from one side ot the
ocean to the other. London and New
York are more alike than New York ana
f Denver. Freight rates are less by water
than BY land. and IN the communication
OF ideas the same law seems to hold as
in the transportation OF goods that
oceans unite and continents hold apart,
The Westefner knows the East through
books and family traditions. II is to him
land of history and legend, so ne
greets with gratified expectancy me
buildings and streets, the towns and
rivers he has known by name from
childhood. But what surprises him Is tne
quaint and curious customs Of the peg-
pie, the survival Of ancient usages whicn
he never expected TO find out of books,
any more than he expected 70 see a
knight In full armor of the stage ~
ono journeys towards the rising sun ne
seems to be going backward ~ 5ome
time machine Whenever he sets his
watch ahead an hour he has TO set his
mind back some years until. py the time
he reaches the Atlantic, he feels some
what like a Connecticut Yankee az King
Arthur 8 court. AT each change Of rail-
road the cars get dirtier and more anil
quated. the toilet arrangements become
inconvenient and indecent. the conduc-
tors get erosser and more dictatOrial.
the porters and walters more Obsequious
and avariclous. Money assumes an I'M
portance that he had not before assigned
10 II. To possess II gives one undreamed
OF privileges ana advantages, 70 be short
of IT., even temporarily, brings nnfore-
seen disabilities Money In tho East Is
not merely medium of exchange, but q
measure OF power and determiner OF
status. / have had TO think more and
talk more about money in the fcw
months l have been East than In all my
life before. II fs very pleasant living
in an Eastern city If you have enough
money. do not know Of anybody who
What struck me mosl painfully when
came East was the suspicious and
meIeeHary atmosphere into which ! was
plunged. Everybody seemed to want to
get money out OF me or 10 get me out
OF the way, one or both They did not
know how little / had Of either time or
money. Instead OF the calm indiffer-
ence or frank friendliness, such AS |
anticipated from strangers, ] met sus-
picious glances on every side IL asked
a well dressed man the time of day he
acted as though / were a picspocket.
II l asked an III dressed man the way,
he wanted a fee. One naturally has a
tendency TO become what he Is thought
to be; so. being taken constantly for A
rascal or q millionaire. would nave
been tempted 10 have become one. or
both. had l seen my way clear 70 make
In the West people are trying to make
money. In the East they are trying %
get Il away from each other. The West
Fastener 10 beat him out. In the West
men extend a helping hand g each
other IN the East they use their eli
{ bows on each other instead. II shows
how unfair are hasty Judgments or
stranger that at first / blamed the peo-
pie OF the East for acting as though
every other man was trying TO cheat
them. / have since found that attitude
IS a necessary one.
Coming from an unfenced land. I was
much ANNOYED by the numerous ana ,n
erty. ! found in the first few days more
things that could not do in New York
city than IN Berlin, and the police and
other public servants here were not SO
civil about the way they stopped me.
do not ike to be yelled al and terked
about. In the West the cow-punchers
are very unceremoniOus IN the way they
load cattle into the stock cars but IN
the East the atreet cars are loaded with
people in the same way. IN the West
whatever Is not forbidden Is allowable;
not expressly permitted Is prohibited.
In the West the common law prevails
that every man Is assumed 20 be inno-
afterward. In the East every voluntary
act Is a priori Illegal and the burden
OF proof that II ~ not rests upon the
perpetrat0r Tn the West they have
fewer laws and what they DO have are
not enforced often enough to bother
much.
In washington Park, Chicago. I saw
the sign. Keep on the Beaten Path"
In Central Park. New York, Il was
Keep on the Grass" In the art insti-
tute IN Chicago was permitted 70 set
up the tripod OF my camera wherever
chose. even before Breton's Song Of
the LARK In the Metropolitan museum
IN New York a kind gentleman al the
door insisted on taking care Of my kodak
while looked at the pictures, evidently
y thinking my retina kept an impression
as well as a celluloid film. AT the ZOO
3 logical gardens IN Chicago ! took lot
sref a4t4la NJ ~. hear Inv that
8 act affording amusement to both the bears
& and the spectators; but at the zoologi-
Il cal gardens in New York the gateman
captured my camera n order 70 make
me buy the ready made photographs on
the grounds That Is the way II Is IN
the East. They are always wanting 70
do things for you that you want TO do
yourself Very likely 1t Is true. as they
claim. that they can do better. but
where IL the fun for you II they CAM
II liberty IL fnlnimized IN the East. the
eecond OF the three social graces. equal
sfy. seems 10 be not less despltefnly
nsed. The Westerner finds Il hard TO
yet used to the prevailing caste system.
which he had supposed was purely an
exotic in the West social association
ts determined by similarity OF taste and
Interests not by occupation and wealth
IA locomotive engineer there gets more
money than college professor. but
Ynevertheless treats the latter on the
Blame Of equality. In the East the men.
Rnd especially the women. try hard 70
Il their proper stations. lady
&annot associate with persons above
and will not with those beneath
her; consequently she has to keep to her
hwn fat Those who are so unfortunate
a. 10 exist between the 400 and the tene-
hnents seem to have no available form OF
Social intercourse Between the snobs
And the snubs their life is a sad one.
Olive Schreiner. In one Of her dreams
bells OF a country where all men fear
each other. She does not say what coun-
nv II Isl but she probably means New
York city, at least Il answers that de-
2cription better than any place I have
8Ben yet BY their attitude towata each
bfher one would think that Easterners
were all charged with the same kind Of
Electricity. Before froze up too. l used
10 try to make myself agreeable to gen.
fIemen and ladies i met on trains and
Hidewalks. who seemed desirable acauain-
EAnces. but the two or three men who
M4re companionable and taxable turned
aiIt to be drunk. the rest thought was
In the East people unite In order to
Ntparate. They form cliques, classes and
clubs for the avowed purposes OF en-
Nhasizing the things which now divide
khem. ! had supposed that the nrst step
soward the obliteration Of class lines was
~ ignore them. but find that many Of
NY Eastern friends think that the cul-
ffvation OF Glass consciousness Is vir-
BE. This Is hard to acquire. When 7
Hve man tip / always fcel as though
!. Il were slapping him IN the face. but
md there many men who wish to be
Mapped and when SO treated piousiy turn
ME other cheek. The embarrassing mis-