The Washington herald., 1912-08-11
ADMIRAL CHADWICK RUSHES
TOTHE DEFENSE OFNEWPORT,
ITS CLIMATE, PEOPLE, MORALS
Retired Naval Officer Who Has Lived at the Resort Mo-
Than Twenty Years. Champions the Town, Which, He
Says Is Peopled by as Good as Any Place in World.

Newport. R. l., Aug. 1o.-with the ad
vent Of a new summer. there has beeI
a reappearance Of remarks upon New
port In the style which has obtained
Through all the years to which my mem
ory reaches, says Admiral Chadwick. ir
the New York Evening Post. One woult
think, upon reading these accounts. tha
Newport is wholly made up Of a lot OF
fatuous rich. whose aim is reckless anc
| extravagant display. and about whost
characters the less said the better.
Having known Newport nearly fifty
one years; having since ending my
| schooling at the Naval Academy. In
1864. spent frequent summers here. some
times on duty, sometimes not, and hav-
ing lived here continuously since 1850
can claim a fair knowledge of It.
| When I knew IL first II was not much
more. as a town, than the usual New
England fishing port. II would not be
IL II chiefly through the naval estab-
l:shments, the War College, the Train
| ing and Torpedo Stations, which have
given 1t most of its increased business
life.
For the town itself is curiously apart
from its summer and even many of its
winter Inhabitants. In $50 1t had but
lo,vp ptoplc- III tne IOTIy-tWO years
since II has about doubled its population.
1t is STILL however. much the fishing
town: but the fishermen are now Greeks
the neighboring farmers are Portuguese;
the laborers almost anything. with a
drop of Portuguese blood or Portuguese
afiiliation. as for example the negroes
OF the Cape Verdes. The character Of
the population is still. however. far from
the usual mixture of the modern New
= Al.
lander seems to be swallowed up, one
might almost say, body and soul; a tenth
of the population is negro, but we are
still far from having the thirty nation
alities which make up Providence, but
thirty miles away, and which form the
extraordinary ethnic hodge-podge of the
Eastern manufacturing town. One of
the saving parts Of our own situation
is in the great number Of Scots, so many
Of whom are here as gardeners.
Its summer Colony.
Such is the kernel Of Newport. APP
pended to IL are the so-called summer
residents or summer colony. the heads OF
families of which may be taken as some
100 In number. a considerable number of
whom are also resident in winter. These
are distinct from the town itself. lead
ing in great degree wholly separate
life. The actual numbers resident in
Newport during the summer are probably.
including all the members OF the house
hold. some 1000 more than IN winter.
The whole community. town. and other
residents. occupies an area about the
terry to Seventeen Street about six and
three-ouarters square miles. To illustrate
distances, / would say that, living my
self about midway between the extreme
north and extreme south, 20 Just short
OF fve miles to dine with my farthest
friend.
These nearly seven square miles, with
a good many more adjoining. form one
OF the great beauty spots OF the world:
to my mind the most beautiful. There
are places which have special single
beauties. but the lay OF the land. the
ocean. the bay. the cliffs, the lawns, the
far-reaching moors OF rock and heather.
in wandering over which you are almost
unaware of else than purest country.
make a whole OF most singular charm
and beauty. which will always hold its
own as a pre-eminent attraction so long
as II can be withheld from shoe. cot
ten, and chewing gum factories. There
are farms OF good size in the city" one
of as much as 100 acres. Hay stacks.
corn fields. sheep are not infrequent in
parts of the city limits. and some twenty
years ago I occupied a house opposite a
large onion field. the produce Of which
was destined for the West Indies, an in
ternational industry now of the past.
Nature made Newport for what our Ger
man friends know as a Residen Stadt.
and as such there Is nothing equal to II
either in our own country or abroad.
There 10 no place in the world. SO far as
] know the world. and have seen a good
bit of It. and particularly Europe. which
compares with Newport as an all-the-
year-round residence. II has the best
climate in America. Its winters are warm
er than those of Washington; its summers
cool; its fall an ideal season
lasting to Christmas. Our average De-
cember is six degrees warmer than the
average Washington December. Our low
est thermometer last winter was sixteen
degrees higher than the lowest of WASH |
ington. and We never have such ice as
have the Potomac and Upper Chesapeake.
How Climate Is Affected.
The peculiar situation Of this isle of
Peace" makes every season a belated sea-
son. The southwest winds Of spring come
to us from the cold sea, fed by the arctic I
current. which extends to Cape Hatteras |
and is bounded east by the Gulf Stream. |
These winds coming to New York over the |
land are warm: they come to us cold. so |
that our spring Is some ten days later than |
that Of New York. and later even than |
that Of Boston. We keep fires we'll into |
June. The same conditions carry the cool |
ness into summer. and in the fall the now !
up sea carries the mild weather |
TO Christmas Our first snow of the past |
winter was on January 1. Up to that time |
The ground had not been frozen. Our first |
The winter before was on Christmas Day.
What I have said will. trust. explain /
! bit why people come here. and why we
have always the same people,
4 society not OF the ordinary shifting sort |
,f the usual watering place. but one as !
stable as that of New York or Boston.
And the great mass Of these people are |,
here because nature has made the place
what II Is. The summer resident has |
helped to make II attractive by creating
gardens and houses and unsur-
passed lawns; but great nature has done
he real work. And the great mass Of the /
,eople drawn hither are of as good sort II
u can be found in any society In the II
country. and their manner of life, SO long
Is We have not vet found Lord Morley's
master intelligence who may effect the II
inal combination of moral and scientific
deas needed for q new social era can
lot be criticised more harshly than can
hat Of the same classes in Boston, New
FORK. or Philadelphia.
1t Is not In reason that people. some of
vhom are very rich, many rich. but
he greater portion Of whom with what