New-York tribune., 1907-06-01
THEAMERICANINVASION
Hor the Inheritance of the old
Home Is DiJided annually.
London. NAY %.

London. May -.
Is London a suburb of New York;" When
will the Americans buy up this tight little
islande" These are current jests in drawing
rooms and club lounges where the signs OF the
characterization" of old England are noted
with cynical humor. That traditional institu-
tf-r. the London season. is now dependent upon
American support That crusty veteran Jenkins
l.e discovered that English people are unable
-. keen abreast with the transatlantic million
,f-as and prefer to stay in the country during
.pa ,urirst weeks. content with an occasional
svire trin to the metropolis in their motor cars.
The hest houses in town and country taken
tv Americans. and the hotels are crowded with
.ber7 Their entertainments are the most lux
rrirrs ard artistic in Vanity Fair. their jewels
a~a. the most magnificent seen at Covent Garden,
their capital is bolstering up an impoverished
,.,erase ASCOT Is their holiday parade, and
,bei- donrs are chronicled in detail by the
ose+y journals as the most interesting incidents
r fashionable intelligence. The American in
,-,efo, is recognized as the most conspicuous
feature or the season. The visitors have taken
,,ssessfon Of the Olympia show and have made
= an American exhibition, with the largest COL
lection af transatlantic carriage horses and
-ir-haua teams ever sent abroad. The the
s-res are stocked with American companies and
--a,-s 70 rrovide recreation for the swarming
ror5a Of tourists. AS many three American
corruaries are now in London, and half dozen
American plays are enacted by English COM
rar.rz. and the actor-nanagers hope TO make
IN tl5a losses Of an unsatisfactory winter and
snri7c hv playing during the next three months
- crowded houses OF tourists. These things do
-c- escape observation. The clicking and jlng-
ling Of American money are heard everywhere.
and while Il Is not an unpleasant sound, old
,,r,a 17ugIishnaen have an uncomfortable sense
Of being crowded out.
4 cart horse parade is one Of the characteristic
holiday recreations in England. Hundreds Of vii
lages and towns have them for the entertainment
n weekend trippers with a preliminary field
morning for critical examinations of tradesmen's
horses and carts and final procession after the
blue red and green badges have been attached
70 the FURNISHED harness. London also has It's
annual cart horse parade in Regents Park. and
ordinarily # IS an English show in which coster-
rnongers and housemaids are at liberty TO choose
their favorites This week there has been an
American interloper in line-AIr. Billy" Wales,
with NJ ogden Armour's dapple grays-and the
crowds have been forced 10 admire them and 10
confess that Chicago must indeed be a big town
TO produce leaders, middlers and wheelers like
these The driver was the target for holiday
street cries and rolIick!ng satire, but he was not
70 be drawn by the rOughest salies- He kept
his eyes on the grays and did not seem 10 know
that there were any other horses IN the park
that there was a vast concourse of witnesses OF
the triumph Of American hOrseAesh. At the
Olympia show New York and Chicago million
aires viii be On the box and some Of the best
known American lady whips" VII drive their
owr horses
II is cr.y on the river ard IN the cricket neld
that E:zIiskraea have sense Of security against
hr,e-:can invasion. The university crews here
are invrcible when challenged. Tor they are re-
oruted with men who have been rowing from
their earliest 6oyhood and are seasoned by an
ruaI contests among the colleges and at Henley.
The Americans have never leaned 70 play so
glow a game as cricket, and the thousands Of
siehtseers whose highest idea OF sport is watch
ing the scientific rnanRuvres Of batsmen and
bozlers in the county elevens have no dread OF
International rivalry from the pushful Yankee
In tennis and golf there is more strenuous com
petir.on. and in the hunting field the most daring
and successful riders are Americans. Every
form of society sport is practised energeticaily
n America as in England or Scotland, and the
le!sured class that crosses the Atlantic TO sum
Tner OF winter in the Kingdom takes an active
mart in the country house recreetions Of the old
country Not only would a London season be dull
and spiritless without American entertaining
but al the year round smart society would IAN
guish and NOPE without the superior vivacity OF
the AnglC-AHerican sets
What reconciles the sturdest Briton TO the
American invasion IS the vast expenditure
which is involved English soil That genial
Philosopher Nj Patrick Murphy. remarked at
the Pilgrims dinner: 1T is not considered good
form 20 talk about money in society but it is
customary 10 think about IL" As England re-
mains nation OF shopkeepers the Americans
are welcome everywhere as reckless spend
thrfts who leave their shillings in every till
There may be two hundred thousand OF them
this year for the steamship agents are predict
ing confidently the greatest swarm Of tourists
that has ever crossed the Atlantic. How many
millions II American capital will be represented
a. the horse show jenkins has not yet figured
up on his slate but every rradesman knows
what an nestinable advantage il is TO the king
dom 10 have this host Of Americans Whisking
about the country in motor cars tramping over
Warwickshire, Devonshire, the cathedral towns
anc the Scottish nOoTs and leaving their money
behind them. u is invasion that creates
neither resentment nor Jealousy. The inheri-
tance of the old home with its historic memo
nes and social refinement is divided year after
year and Anglo-American good feeling con-
stantly increases. INF