Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-24
MANY COURTEsIES EXTENDED
TO TARS OF BATTLE FLEET.

1t appears from a letter just received
by The Star that injustice was inadver-
tently done To the city of Santa Bar
bara. CAL in the course of comments
on the treatment Of the sailors from the
battleship fleet in that city
The story of the wreckinc of y restau-
rant by angry sailors who had been over
charged was widely printed in the east
and was discussed by The Star
The letter comes from Col Charles New
bold of this city who has been spending
some time at Santa Barbara
Col. Newbold's Defense.
The letter follows:
i was so surprised by an editorial in
The Star of April 80, headed Bleeding
the Tars.' that | determined TO make a
careful investigation to see if anything
mad happened to warrant the sweeping
denunclation of the people of this little
city. The reception given to the fleet
was so beautiful and its enjoyment by the
visitors SO genuine and apparently so
general thai ] thought il impossible that
only reports rejecting seriously and ln-
kindly upon the people here should have
been sent over the country
Il have taken TIE pains. not only to
read dozens OF reports of the ioings here
but to investigate to the truth of the
assertion that AL classes of sellers adopt
ed means to leave only small change in
the pockets Of the tars.' With the ex-
ceptiou of one report. which was abSo-
lutely false. the sole basis of the diSparag-
ing remarks which ! found in about ten
per cent of the reports read was the I'M
fortunate and Gndisputci fact that one
greedy restaurant Keeper had charged
two sailors Sc for a meal, in return for
which TIL" sailors and their friends
wrecked the place. and some vague
statements that there had BEEN accord
ing to the sailors. various petty over
charges. and that the liverymcn had
charged high prices for the use of their
horses. in which they were fully 1usti-
fed by the loss they suffered in animals
dead or injured by overdriving.
One Mans Greed.
The one thing, however, which was
blazoned to the world was that greedy
meal And this was made the basis for
a statement that a 1holc people had
combined to rob tile sailors. Not word
of disparag cement of the lawless outrage
which followed, nor was this display of
lawlessnesS on the part of Il few sailors
made the basis for a statement that
lawleSsnesS WAS the characteristic of the
personnel of the fleet.
But nine-tcnths of the. reports gave
handsome and appreciative accounts of
the receptions reception which was
unique in its beauty and the result of
hard work for months and liberal ex-
penditure by the people of his little city
THE comparison between what was
done at Los Angeles and here is hardly
fair. Los Angeles is great city, of
large wealth. with complete system of
street railways stretching out for miles
into the surrounding country. In Il place
of that kind the thousands of sailors of
the fleet could he easily absorbed and
much done for their entertainment.
Here 1t was impossible The popula-
ton of the fleet exceeded that of the town
by from - to 10 per cent. Besides. there
was congestion from the surrounding
country. But there was a great deal done
for the men as we'll as the officers.
Courtesy to TarsJ
Sixteen hundred free thea;er seats
were given them. Three band concerts
each day in the open air were enioyed
by them in vast numbers Every night
there was dancing canvas floors on
the esplanade. Athletic contests. in which
those who chose could take part. were
provided Free coffee and sandwiches
were always available.
"Anl last but not least: the civic COM
mittee arranged that, instead of long
parade of thousands of the tars and
marines for the d@irrtation of the inhab-
H3ntS. rev ntlEtiftt :dlitIS up
the eSpianade and were drawn IN at rest
on the side. There. together with those
of their comrades on leave they could see
the beautiful floral parade (Which we paid
$. apiece to see) and take part In the
battle of flowers.
I'm view of these facts | think l am
entitled to ask that justice he done by
The Star to the beautiful little town
which did its best. through number of
artistic and patriotic gentlemen. To offer
tl,n I am
constrained to say, from my own knowl-
edge and from the lips of several of the
guests who were present, that 1t would
have been difficult for any city to have
done better.
"Of course. the people of Washington
are not particularly interested about San
Ia Barbara. but as the little city has been
held up in sCorn before the capital Of the
country l think you will agree with ME
that it is fair to set it right. particularly
before the government and the naval Off
Gals here, whose fleet and whose COM
rades the little city did its best to honor"