The San Francisco call., 1910-04-25
London BECOMING
SECOND GOTHAM
Rapidly Losing Old Cumbersome
Ways and Taking on Hust-
ling Appearance


yet to the Britisher abroad for any
length of time England resolves itself
into London in a most peculiar way.
The home conner is apt to judge by
London. 1t counts for so much when
you are away You go so much by
the stage and music. 1t is the center
of the empire, the center of civilization
almost, far more than it is to the
dweller in an English provincial town.
Distance and - absence enhance it's
charms and. multiply its virtues. 1t
exercises a wonderful fascination. 1t
assumes an Importance which when
the subject is calmly discussed on the
spot, is seen to be somewhat exag-
gerated.
London has changed. 1t is no longer
the London of ones dreams.
London is bigger and more impressive
than it was a decade ago, yet 1T lacks
much of its old flavor. 1t has gained
in pace, but lost in picturesqueness,
says an Englishman in the Chicago In
ter Ocean. 1t is more convenient but
less romantic. 1t is wealthier and more
bewildering, but it is also more firing,
more noisy. and less-I think "aristo-
cratic" is the word.
trio railways and tubes have trans
formed London. One travels faster and
more easily than one used to do. Sub
urbs which were unattainabie save by
the most adventurous traveller can now
be reached by an elderly spinster with
a dachshund. Districts one knew by
name but never hoped to see are thrust
before ones eyes in the course of an
hours journey.
AS you fly from quarter TO quarter
something of the awe which London
once inspired begins to fade away. II
is like driving out from Hyderabad to
see Golconda Two miles away the
imagination peoples the great rock
fortress with mobiles and lighting men,
besieged and besiegers. Under ones
nose it is but heap of stone.
Today London has no mysteries. You
can go anywhere and you go too quick
Iv and too easily No mirage of the
ina gination is possible. You look back
with something like regret to the old
days when the hanson cab was the
apogee of comfort and speed and the
laziness of the old horse omnibus was
one of the delights of the traveller
Now scent of petrol turks in the ali
and the mud of the street is colored
by oceans of waste black lubricatine
oil.
And the people have changed. They
too, have quickened their pace. They
have suited themselves to city Of
motor cabs and innumerable trains.
They do everything quicker than
they did a decade ago. They walk
faster and talk faster and eat faster
They read more quickly and look at the
shop windows more hastily. Every
thing is in state of rush; everything
forces you to hustle. The trains and
the tramway cars do not wait for pas
sengers as long as they used to 10
years ago. All London goes faster, and
makes more noise in doing it. Lon
doners would now be quite at home IN
New York Already some of them, it
seems to me. speak with an American
accent.
And-horrible as the impression is
it can not be concealed-London has
become shabby. Just a little shabby
anyway I realize the SERIOUS nature
of the charge. You may call city
fast Mammon worshiping, or political
" lethargic. or without local patriot
ism. or selfish, or Indifferent, and be
forgiven. But shabby
And yet it seems to me that London
is not as smart as it used to be a
decade ago. Pehaps people now order
their clothes in hurry and dress toe
quickly to put them on properly. Per
haps it is one effect of the spirit OF
travel which is abroad which impels
the wealthy people who could dress
smartly to hasten abroad, and fills
London with the less well dressed peo-
pie who, 10 years ago, did not stay In
London at all.
London is less English nowadays
Every year ii. belongs more and more
to the world and less to England IT Is
too cosmopolitan to be regarded as a
type of English life. 1t is more like a
great International exhibition, a gigan-
tic sight seeing center. In the old days
London was always. in a sense, homely
Now it soon tires one. The pace kills
The temptation is to do too much. Back
in the days of the hanson and the
horse, when the Marble arch was not
refuge in a sea of traffic, one engage
ment comfortably filled half day
Now you do three days work in one.
1t seems to me. too, that the strain OF
London tells more heavily upon the
resident population than was formerly
the case. In every department of bust
ness life the pace has quickened. Men
work faster, but they do not work
shorter hours. In the great colonial
towns one finds a good deal of ''hust-
ling" of the American variety. Yet al
the end of the day j do not think you
see so many tired looking people as
vo,1 do in London