The Washington herald., 1919-12-30
NEW YORK CITY
By O. o. McNTYRE \

New York. Dec 2s-New York Of
fees are haunted by a phantom clock.
Never before was there such a craze
for speed. Talk to busy man these
days and while he listens one can al
most feel that he is counting of the
minutes-one by one-and considering
that they are lost to him forever.
This speeding UP progress Is extend
ing all down the line-even to the
Office boy or girl attendant who asks
you your business in crisply edited
sentences.
Nearly every big Office has the die
tograph. where one may push q but.
ton and speak in a natural voice to
any part OF the establishment and
get his reply without the switchboard
waste. 1t happened that l was called
upon to interview a man of large
affairs the other day.
l asked him a question he couldn't
answer. He pressed a button, asked
the question of the man he wanted
and the reply came back so l could
hear. The voice came from another
wing of the building. Back in my
home town II / had asked the presi-
dent of our flour mill some question
he didn't know he would slip on his
coat and go with noe to the ware
house to hunt up Mike Furey, who
knew everything.
l complained to the man of big af-
fairs that all of this haste was too
confusing to a small town product
who was used to stopping any timc
Of day to drop into the drug store
and discuss a new drummer who had
come to town wearing spats or any
other startling thing.
With a pencil and paper he showed
me that If a 5000 a year clerk loses
thirty minutes day 1t represents
$l3 in a year or the interest on g.
400 for one year at per cent.
In the big department stores now
there are efficiency sharks who have
studied out the articles the masses
are most likely to buy. They are
near the doors on the FIRST floor. Thus
the purchasers time Is saved as well
as that of the establishment
And what would you suppose is the
busiest counter i'll department
store? The glove counter is first and
wells next. The handkerchief coun-
ter is third and in the most inconven-
lent place are clocks. People rarely
buy clocks at a department store. The
hotels have compartments in the
doors so that you place your shoes to
be shined and clothing to be pressed
to be collected in tine greatest possi-
Bile haste.
And yet our forefathers seemed to
set along pretty well in their slow
moving old-fashioned way.
New Workers. can still buy whisky
but it costs from 80 to 90 cents a shot
As long as folk can jump in front of
a subway train for a nickel or enjoy
a leap from the Woolworth tower for
four bits that 9o-cent whisky should
so begging
OF course men are still drinking
wood alcohol and prune juice and
going blind in consequence. but most
of them contend that there's nothing
left worth seeing anyway.
A new decoction known in the north
ern end OF Manhattan as bee wine is
said to be producing wonderful results.
Almost everything from evictions to
reductions in rents has followed the
Introduction or bee wine In that Sec
ton.
Flatbush citizens are rejoicing in
the invention of a brew known as
Apple Mary. a sympathetic mixture
that is said to possess qualities that
would forever cement friendship be-
tween Judge Gary and Bill Foster il
the two could be got together for a
drink.
1t has been learned that an organ
lied band Of white slave agents
await the coming of young girls to
New York at the two great railroad
stations. Sounds like Bowery melo-
drama but the official records show
that $500 girls have disappeared in
New York in eleven months. Most of
the girls come from small towns and
are brought here by the spirit of ad-
venture, the desire for romance.