The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-01-19
AMERICANS ARE SPENDERS
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
- !AVING more money than any
g1 other nation Americans proceed coed
= to squander it in way that
makes foreigners dizzy. Their extrava-
gances take innumerable forms.
During the racing season they bet
million dollars every day-and lose most
of 1T. American women spend about 81
900 600 a year for feathers to wear on their
hats. and small boys get an early start
as spendthrifts by squandering NOOo'ooo
month for peanuts and popcorn.
The people CT Chicago spend 100000
every week in going to their theatres, and
they spent more than that sum last fall
on the series of championship ball games.
A New York firm reports the sale OF $2oO,-
900 worth of rugs for one mans house;
Philadelphia jeweler sold slOo,OOo ruby
to complete one woman's collection OF
Jewels and now comes a New Yorker
who spends 50, 100000 for site for
private residence.
The annual expenditure in this country
for little things like golf sticks and balls
is s., O00,OOO and golf is a new game here.
w men II cDileS W spCIhidNAoiis @hAiN-A~-0
are the easiest of easy marks During
the last twelve months the get-rich-quick
element In the United States has invested
enough money in wildcat mining schemes
to pay off the government debt.
The Atlantic liners have suites of rooms
which cost $1,000 voyage in the summer
and these apartments never lack for occu-
pants Americans are exceptionally ex-
i travagant in their travels. In Caro-
! Ecvnt the manager of the largest hotel
reports that 20 per cent of his guests are
Americans. Fully $4,000 Americans go to
Paris every year.
The keepers of the great shops and re-
sorts of the French metropolis would
| think dull times had struck them II the
easy money of the Yankee spenders should
stop falling on their counters. Uncle Sam
tourists are so generous in their expendi-
lures that in most parts of the world the
natives ask them just as much again as
| they do travellers from other countries.
Bead sellers and curio vendors in the
West indies know that a Yankee will
readily pay a half dollar for an article
that Britisher will hesitate to purchase
for a shilling.
And Americans squander untold MIL
lions on travel in their own country. IL
Is estimated that the tourists spend sZo'-
100000 in southern California every WIN
ter. The number of people who VISIT
! Niagara Falls during an ordinary sea'
is between 100000 and 100000, and in years
when many excursions are run from as
tances the number of visitors exceeds
million.
The amount of money spent here by the
tourists in incalculable. They spend all
the wav from 81 to $4,000 apiece. The last
estimate may seem high, but when peo-
pie come with their retinues OF servants
and take whole suites, or several suites
| of rooms in the big hotels, and make large
purchases of bric-a-brac, furs and curios
| $1,000 does not last long.
| The Yellowstone National Park, with
,ts natural wonders and beauties of ma
ture. attracts upward of 20,000 visitors a
wear. the majority of whom come from
| ca st of the Alleghenies. Railroad fare TO
and from this park to such sightseers
means almost as much expense as a trip
+, to Europe. The Yosemite valley, mac
| cessible as it is. is visited by 5000 sight
seers yearly. nearly all of whom come
| from great distances.
The volume of travel to Colorado has
| increased so rapidly during the last few
years that. although carpenters have been
kept busy through the entire winter build
| ing new hotels each summer the accom-
modations CT the state are taxed to the
utmost During the last year some sixty
conventions were held in Denver.
Thousands of travellers go down the St
Lawrence every summer and thousands
more flock to Florida in the winter. Al
though Asheville. \. c., is not looked
upon as one Of the great national show
places, it Is now attracting 10000 visitors
every year.
Americans are enthusiasts for exposi
tons. celebrations and conventions. A
the st. Louis exposition one morning {