Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-04

&c. In fact. this Is precisely what never
| happens. and never can happen at an
American stations. There may be from Gl
TO 100 persons In the car but they must
an squeeze their way out through one OF
the two narrow exits at the ends. And the
much-vaunted express system of dealing
with Luggage Is irritatingly SLOW 1t Is
usually necessary to have ones packing
competed several hours before the train
starts-if one Is leaving home at or 8 In
the morning. the luggage Is called for over
highland the delivery is always con-
siderable time after the passengers arrival
worries and delays In dealing with luggage
are. In my experience, an invariabe con-
comtant OF American railway travel.
American Journalism is commonly sup
posed to supply the most brilliant ilustra-
tons of the national devotion to speed
Where the mere recording and publication
/ OF news Is concerned. this reputation Is. on
the whole, well deserved, though even In
| this respect the use OF the 'fudge-box un-
known in America. gives our evening pa
| pers the lead. The chronicling of big dis
asters-for which the conditions OF Amer-
| can life afford ample practice-is carried
out rather more quickly and fully there
| than here. but In some forms of reporting
America Is certainly behind. The reporting
| of speeches. for example. Is almost a lost
| art. Almost every important utterance Is
sent out by the speaker In advance. to be
| released at a certain date. It's length Is
consequently measured by the space it
| covers-e.g., one reads of Mr. Fassett's
7,00O-word speech at the New York repub-
| lican convention OF 19Oi-nstead OF by the
time II takes to deliver. An important
| speech given in Congress. II It is to reach
| the general public at all. has to be copied
several days later by the newspapers from
| the official report.
A Fortnight Late.
Editorial comment is even more belated.
| Here is a typical example: The New York
Times of May Q. 1904. has a leading article
headed Mr.. Cochran the Issue The
| first paragraph runs as follows: The rage
of the republicans in the House when Mr..
Bourke Cochran made his speech on April
% Is explained and even justified by the
full report which appears In the Congress
sional Record. Imagine parliamentary
debate discussed for the first time by a
London daily paper more than a fortnight
after the debate itself! A grotesque in
by the New York Tribune Of October -.
1904, which contained leader eulogizng
| the smooth working of the new subway,
although the news columns of the same
Issue reported a serious tie-up occurring
before o'clock the previous evening.
Nothing Is ever seen in American jour
nalism comparable to the regular achieve
ment of our London and provincial press
day after day during general election.
To provide well-written comment the next
morning on political news that has not
reached the Office long before midnight ap-
pears to be a feat beyond the power of an
American paper. The weekly papers OF
America are slower than ours in the publ
cation not only of comment. but of news
In this respect the religious weeklies of
London are regularly from one to two days
ahead Of their most enterprisng contem-
poraries in New York or Boston.
THE conception of the American as i'm
patient Of technicalities and eager to get
Immediately at the heart of things receives
a severe shock IL one examines his handling
of questions Of law and government In
these matters America is pre-eminently the
land of red tape" Thus the foreign writer,
w-o proceeds to quote instances of legal
delays In America.
Satisfied With Noise.
Summing up. he says: I'm spite of certain
superficial signs of progress. especially In
the application of electricity, 1t is still the
conditions of the first part Of the nineteenth
century that meet the eye OF the English
| man in America today. The law courts are
| choked by methods of procedure obsolete
among us for generations: the municipal
government smells rankly Of the offenses of
| the era of unreformed corporations in our
| own land; few of the most up-to-date cities
have postal service equal to that de-
scribed by Sir Walter Besant as existing
| in the London of 1850; at public meetings
everywhere one encounters tiresome and
elaborate ceremonial that was probably
brought over in the Mayflower: even the
tunes sung In the leading city churches are
those whose linked sweetness long drawn
out has been forgotten in England since
the days Of our grandfathers. How then
can we explain the Americans rooted con-
viction that his country Is hustler be-
yOnd all her competitors? 1t Is mainly due
to one simple error of observation-hs be-
lief that the speed with which a think is
done, and incidentally its efficiency, may be
measured by the noise made in doing it.
To the American success means. literally
| as well as metaphorically. making a noise
| in the world.
The present Archbishop of Canterbury
put his finger exactly upon this national
characteristic when, speaking in Trinity
Church, New York. he said: In no sur
roundings which have ever known in no
worlds continents. have lfe's activities
seemed to whirr and buzz so restlessly as
here TO whirr and buzz'-that is precisely
the distinguishing feature of American ac-
tlyity of every kind. and in proportion as
this ideal is attained Is the American con-
tent His trains and tram cars are holster
than the English; therefore they must be
faster. The incessant clang of the streets
OF New York is far more piercing than the
noise of London; therefore New York must
be the buster city. One reason why the
typewriter has been adopted much more
readily there than here is that the Ameri-
can believes himself to be writing to much
There have been writer's" he concludes
who have made constituencies to noise one
of the chief criteria of culture: who have
contended that mans refinement Is in
inverse ratio to the amount of noise he will
tolerate complacently. Without expressing
any opinion on this doctrine. one may at
least point out that by his. love of noise
his sluggish pace-the advantage namely.
that slowness normally means restfulness
too"