Evening star., 1911-08-20

NEW YORK, August 10. 1911.
<WH 1E brag good deal about
wv American efficiency
NAx 1t is pure brag. In special
wv lines of endeavor there is
such a thing as American ef
ficiencv. but in nearly all matters apper-
tanning to intimate service there distinctly
is no such thing.
There i too much of the soldiering-on-
the-iob, l-am-as-good- -as-you spirit pre-
vaiIing among the servitors who are sup
posed TO do things for folks in America
to make for anything remotely approach
ing to even fairly decent service. Even
the most elaborate tipping won't get them
TO do things for you if they are too tired.
or too independent" or too negligent to
attend to the thing that YOU ask them
To do.
ii is different In Europe. II is different
in China II is different in India. 1t Is
different everywhere outside of America.
| think any Travelled man will agree with
me- that one gets less for lis money, his
consideration. his courtesy. al the hands
OF people employed TO render personal
services for folks in the United States
than in any other country on the civilized
globe.
Here even If YOU tip a barber III aG-
vance you often get "a diaboical hair cut,
a hair clt wholly al variance from the
one yod have deliberately requested from
him. even If the waiter knows tnat you
are a tilner Won Set gummy service:
;Es chauffeur of the taXicab whom you
h;lyc tipped handsomely dozen times
rewards YOU with impudeaIe: tie bell
3o! t9 whom YOU have been dispensing
l.ackshecsh tor weeks =. stretch lays
down on YOU III spite OF your muaifi-
ccucc There is idea of service, or
competent service: of giving something
in tie way o competent performance l.:
return Tor disbursement. You can ask.
request, CO, nlead, i.lnlore. untl Nu'.
are black il the face. and the best you
ga i .nc old laN-Gown. tAe Old noiaIii1-
happening thing. the old incompetence.
am ,on. 20 write little account =.
a lining that could have ha-pened no
where else III the world except in ne
United States. Ii concerns nothing more
important than the Typewriter u"oi
which | am writing this obviously n
r:table little knock.
Let me preface the knoci; b. sa!in-,
that | carry TIE typewriter with ue
wherever / go. The typewriter is my
incubus. my H.llstone. 1t has become
an obses sion. I haven't been shut of he
Internal thing for twenty years. livery
DAY that | ain not actually lraNel:li:
on Il train it is w. to me 10 nciiof'' Ger
tain foolish and frivolous writing stunt
upon the typewriter. There are con-
tracts of writing TO fulfill, daTes for the
stuff TO make it, appearance on deS'.s
in certain publishing establishments. an.
all that sort of tiresCme, puerile thlns'
Therefore. whittier ! go. lilther goeth
tie typewritins machine. nave grown
TO hate the tyIewriter-e en- the one
which | now punch in a.atn--Nlul a
loathly consuming hatred. But this
isn't the yarn. IEsomach as I've got 10
have the typewriter with me all the
time, il is part Of my job TO see that 1t
does stay ard a 1iGe with me, hoWso-
ever much / may despise IL.
Last week | dropped into Atlantic City
from a city in the west. | was bound Tor
New York | was about four days De-
hind my work schedule, and the machine
was horribly necessary to me what time
| broke away from Atlantic City and
made New York
I got into Atlantic City on one Of the