East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1907-12-07
NEW YORK LETTER.

The holiday spirit is by no means
confined to the wealthy class alone,
it is everywhere apparent. And though
i seems customary in every circle to
talk hard times still the shops seem
as crowded as ever with early Christ
mas shoppers. As usual all the
stores are urging customers to buy
early in order to avoid the rush that
always exists Christmas week, but
The majority of New Workers like
the hustle and hustle of waiting till
the last minute before making their
purchases so that it is probable that
this year will be no exception.
Religious Troubles in Schools.
Before the clergy had really fin
ished criticising President Roose-
velts action in removing the reli-
gious motto from the ten dollar gold
pieces, the board of education gave
the ministers and practically every
Catholic and Protestant in the city a
new cause for religious agitation. At
the urgent request of the Jewish
rabbis, who sent a committee to wait
for the purpose of eliminating all
sectarianism from the schools, an
order was isued to the principals and
teachers forbidding them to hold any
Christmas exercises, in which it was
necessary to mention thu name of
Christ or Christmas. This of course at
once eliminated also the Christmas
carols.
1t was further prohibited to men,
tion any of the Christian saints, so
that Santa Clause was simply OBJ
liged to change all his plans, and
thousands of school children who
had been looking forward to his COM
ing were bitterly disappointed.
Naturally a storm of protest was
raised against the boards action.
and a considerable number of Jew
ish teachers themselves felt their
brethren had been narrow and un-
Just in their claims. During the
Jewish holidays the schools in the
Ghetto are deserted. and lost time
is not required to be made up.
Why, therefore, the Christians are
asking the board, should the one
holiday of the year that the children
hold most dear be denied, for it
would be An easy matter for the
Jewish children to remain at home
that day. While this particular
Christmas incident caused the great
est agitation throughout the city, it
was regarded by many of the more
serious minded as only a forerunner
of other wide reaching differences
that will have to be settled in the
near future with the tremendous for
eign population that has settled down
in New York in the past few years.
Interested in Financial Books.
One of the interesting side lights
on the present financial troubles, Is
the very marked increase in the
number of books dealing with fnan-
cial subjects that have been called
for at the public libraries. "The
circulation of the books dealing with
modern banking methods" said a
clerk at one of the big branches the
other day, "has trebled in the past
month. Books which have remain
ed untouched for years have been
called for
1.-The people want to study for
themselves the why's and wherefores
Of the upresent troubles, and to learn
the causes and remedies of panics in
the past. But besides the demand
for books dealing with the historic
and economic theory Of banking,
there has been an unusual call for
books containing stories about mon
ey matters. For example, John
Laws Mississippi Bubble has had
great run"
Sunday In New York.
To the average stranger in New
York on Sunday It seems very little
different from any week day ex-
cept that the stores are closed and
there is less trucking about the
streets. Otherwise the big city seems
as busy as ever. There are infinite
amusements to attract the pleasure
seeker, anG the trains and trolleys
are crowded with the thousands on
their way to the country for the
day.
But the interests of the 5000, 900
people in New York vary widely, and
while some look upon Sunday as
day Of recreation, others attend some
form Of religious worship regularly.
In the boroughs Of Manhattan and
Bronx alone there are 5S7 churches,
and It was recently estimated on a
Sunday morning that there was near
ly a quarter of million people at
tending the different services. The
figures show also that there were
three times as many women church
goers as men.