Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-12-18
WONDERFUL NEW YORK
Continued from Page One.)

with a tremendous coil Of hose. Down
the street and over toward Fifth av-
enue, black smoke was pouring from
point middleway in a sky-scraper that
looked as II it was more Inan ,~en..
| stories high. wanted to go closer and
watch the thing out; but did not. Next
morning the papers told Of the partial
burning Of a great apartment house,
| and the thrilling rescue by the fire.
| men OF scores or neople whose retreat
from above had been cut off by the
| fire below.
New York's rapid transit system Is
| the most wonderful in the world. In
addition to automobiles and other We
hicles, it consists Of surface trolleys,
overhead trolleys and subway troll
leys. 1t requires them all to take care
of the people, for with cars going on
all of them only a few minutes apart,
and all generally packed to standing
room, Broadway, the main thorough
fare, is still thronged with pedestri-
ans. One wonders now, II II were not
for the cars, the people would ever
get through the streets. AS matter
Of fact they could not do so. But II
is the subways that are most wonder
full, and which take care OF the great
est number Of people. These run far
down under the streets, burrowing be-
meath the greet buildings, underneath
the East river into Brooklyn at one
end Of the island and underneath the
North river into New Jersey at the
other end. There are four tracks, two
for cars going north and two for cars
going south. The outer north and
south tracks are for local trains that
stop at every fifth or tenth street, and
the inner tracks are for express trains
that make stops at more distant inter-
walls. The surface entrances carry
signs saying whether trains go up
town" or down town." and when the
passenger enters one Of these stations
he has only to board the first train
that comes along to go in the direction
indicated. The trains are made up OF
FIVE or six cars each, and although
generally one is able to find room
where he can stand and hang to a
strap, the chances Of his being able
to get a seat are rather against him
than in his favor. The speed OF an
express is between twenty and thirty
miles an hour and the sDeed Of a local
is generally a good deal less.
No other one thing that l saw was
more interesting to me than the news
ticker" Possibly have read Of them
before, but / am not sure. The most
that | can say for certain along that
line Is that time and again have seen
it stated that there had been invented
means, whereby typewriting could
be transmitted by wire and received
at the other end in typewriting. l
have been aware Of such an invention
more than ten years; but / had never
seen the machine in operation. 1t was
in the office Of q large financial con-
Germ. Attached to the wall was lit
tie machine that was constantly tick
ing away and turning out an endless
roll of paper. At first / thought 1t
had seen before. From time to time
young lady, who was private secre-
tary to the member of the firm in
whose office l was, would tear off
about two yards Of the paper and
hang 1t on a file. Sometimes she
would scan over the paper and some
times she would not. Her employer
happened to be too busy with other
matters just then to give his atten-
ton; but presently he suggested to me
that I might be interested in looking
over the current news. l stepped over
to the ticker and examined the pa
per. The machine was recording in
typewriting the news Of the day as 1t
was coming over the wires Of the As
ISOLATED Press and other such organi-
cations, except 1t was being summar-
lied after the style Of the Mere Men
ton" column Of The Enquirer. There
was news from the war in Europe, de-
velopments in Mexico, happenings OF
the city, and practically everything
that was going Of local or general i'm
portance / asked the gentleman as to
the system under which the news was
assembled and disseminated, as to the
terms to subscribers, and whether 1t
was a newspaper enterprise or of a
special corporation: but about all that
he could tell was, why, that is just
the daily news service that we have
all over the city" Although afterward
l was in several places that would
have considered wealthy and up to
date enough to have anything that
this big concern had, / saw only one
other in the city. But Of course such
convenience as this Is bound to be
Of general use among all the business
men Of New York who want 1t, and
who have the money to pay for 1t, and
there are thousands who have the
money to pay for anything they want.
There Is another thing in which
New York stands alone. No other city
in the world probably has larger
| number of eating houses. There are
people, of course who live at home
| and board at the same place. but full
ly half the population must do most
| Of its eating at the restaurants, called
by all kinds Of names. There are
places where fairly good meal may
be had for fifteen cents, and from
there a man may spend $25 or more on
single meal for himself. or as much
as he wants to spend, If he has the
| money. And when it comes to eating
the wealthy do not mind spending. In
ordinary discussion Of New York, it
is common to hear people say that
| these Yankees will take you out to
lunch and spend lot Of money on you
for the purpose Of trying to get at
your pocket book through your stom-
ach. There may be something in this;
but no more so probably with New
Workers than with other people. Even
| among the business people Of New
York, the men are just as human
as the men to be found elsewhere.
They know as we'll how to be cautious
and hospitable, and in most cases
when they ask friend or acquain-
tance to take a meal with them, 1t
means exactly the same as when
southern man extends the same kind
Of invitation to go to his home. 1t is
fact. Of course that more important
business Is transacted over dining
tables north than elsewhere; but that
does not necessarily argue that there
is any catch or snare about 1t. 1t has
been my experience at different times
on previous trips as we'll as this to be
invited to lunch or dinner by wealthy
New Workers, and l do not mind say
ing that the way they spent money
had a depressing effect on me. | am
not accustomed to 1t and do not want
to be. have a feeling that the money
is being wasted and that l would like
to see it put to better use; but still
know that this should be no concern
of mine and after all perhaps Of the
ten or twenty dollars spent by rich
man over a little lunch for two, maybe
a good portion goes to the cook, the
porters, the walters and various other
servants and their families along
down the line. What looks like waste
full extravaganza may be wise distri-
button, and maybe after all there is
no cause to moraliZe over the matter.
However, one thing is certain, II 1t
.alls upon me to do the honors in New
York let's don't go to the India House,