The Washington herald., 1911-06-11
CHURCHES SEEK
TOURIST MONEY
Stands for Coronation Pa
rade Are Ugly Sights.
spEcuIAToRs FACE LOSSES
Harmless King to Be Center of In
terest-MiIlions spent ON Show
westminster Abbey to Hold spend
thriftS while Hundreds Starye.
Greed VIII Not Be Satisfied.

Special Cabs to The washington Herald.
London, June 10.-London is coronation
mad. The worlds greatest village has no
thought for anything but the fact that
little less than two weeks from now a
little. bewhiskered, harmless man, whom
no one would ever notice in a crowd were
he not Of royal birth, is to go through a
ceremony which will cost the country
millions OF dollars.
The little King will be seated in the
center of an audience Of scarlet and
ermine-clad noblemen and peeresses; the
highest dlgnitary of>the Episcopal Church
will anoint his sparse, colorless hair
with oil poured from a golden spoon,
pressing upon his head crown heavy
with gold and precious stones. and place
In his weak hands a golden scepter, SYM
Dol of a power that no longer exists.
Afterward this poor, powerless King
will head a picturesque procession
through the streets OF his capital. IN
which statistics show that 11s people
starved to death during the last twelve
months
To provide a suitable frame for the &C.
clesiastical ceremony the interior Of the
noblest and grandest Christian church Of
England has been decorated at cost OF
hundreds Of thousands of dollars. Its ex-
terror has been transformed into what
looks like an immense grand stand at a
horse race, and this on coronation day
will be crowded with thousands Of peo-
pie, who, in the midst Of the misery and
poverty of London, have not been able to
find a better way of spending their mon-
ey than to pay enormous prices for un-
comfortable seats from which they, after
hours Of patient waiting, may catch q
glimpse Of the royal procession.
Stands Are Ugly.
London is never beautiful to look upon,
but now that 1t is preparing to celebrate
the coronation of its King It is uglier
than ever. Everywhere greedy, money
loving spectators have erected immense
stands which look like gigantic skeletons
now that their lumber ribs and bones
have not yet been hidden by flags and
bunting.
Like huge forests devasted by fire,
thousands Of flag poles raise their naked
trunks toward the sky. AL the house
fronts are hidden by tiers upon tiers Of
narrow, uncomfortable, ugly seats.
Not even the churches have been
spared. They. too, have been pressed into
the service OF the SPECTATORS in the pop
ular love of show, love that is the same
to-day as It was when the Roman plebes
shouted for "panem ct circenses-'
Bread the church cannot give the peo-
pie. but show they can provide. and
the up-to-date apostles of Christ have not
hesitatG to hide the front of every
church along the line of the procession
with seats that will bring them harvest
Of golden coin.
Even the Cathedral OF st. Paul has dis
appeared behind the rough, unpainted
planks and only the dome with its golden
get people to risk their lives. surely even
the arms Of the cross would have been
made into seats for the curious.
But among those who see in the coro-
nation only an opportunity OF making
money there IL gloom. They have cast
their nets, but the fish they hoped to
catch seems unwilling to be caught in the
meshes, Americans especially. The shoals
that were expected to cross the Atlantic
have failed to appear. Steamer after
steamer has come In with scanty pas
senger lists, and there are no bidders for
thousands Of windows that have been ex-
pected to bring their possessors hundreds
Of guineas each.
Mansions and houses whose owners
have hoped that Americans would tum-
bic over each other TO rent them for sums
that would pay interest and taxes for
many years TO come and establish q much
needed balance In noble budgets are still
waiting for tenants. A few have been let
months ago at the first exorbitant prices,
but for every one Of these there are q
hundred which have been offered IN vain
at 50 per cent Of what their owners ex-
pected to get.