The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-07

W question frequently asked of
 w Americans.
 Any observer who has watched the
 closing of windows and green blinds
 of the great houses in American cities
 believes the question to be important.
 Europeans say that the constant open
 ing and closing of our houses, no mat
 ter in what climate they ares situated,
 Is the significant symbol of our national
 restlessness.
 Probably this is true. It is symbol
 of other traits, however, one of which
 is to pay for health and comfort, at
 whatever price demanded.
 There are insular nations, like France
 and Italy, who think of us as vaga-
 bonds, Beloved, or otherwise. They
 like this symbol of restlessness when
 it brings money to them. They have
 deplored our recent lack of travel with gnashing of teeth, for their fair lands
 have always been the playground of
 our millions and much of their in
 odstry was spread to catch our careless ldoAars.
 That we are self-constituted vaga- rbonds all of us are aware. We are the
 great vacationists. No other nation,
 with the possible exception of England,
 has such tolerance for the spirit of
 play or the desire to improve our vitality so that we may produce more, as has America. We have gone back to the caravan age, our caravans being the Pullman car and the motor.
 The age of great men who founded this country's prosperity were used to boasting that they worked without vacations for twenty years at time. No man would admit such fact to- day, even if it were a fact. He would be ashamed of his potato existence.
 The doctors aid and abet this cara van life. Possibly they started it. Fifty years ago the medical men advised a change of scene for every ailment. First they offered different parts of our own continent as cures for whatever sickness resisted their skill, then they suggested places outside of this conti- nent; and far-f1ung spots of the world seeing their chances for money, built up seductive sanitariums, followed by pleasure resorts.
 Few places on this whirling planet have escaped the tourists purse, by reason of rapid transit. Morocco is linked to Alaska. Manila to Nova Scotia, Athens to Hawaii. Tokio, to | Eagdad. No star of Empire has pene- trated into the furthermost recesses of | land and sea and mountain as have i the Americans in search of something l they call health, recreation, curiosity, or pleasure No matter what the name, the pursuit of new lands goes on; the national desire for change driving us on from heat to cold. from snow to pine, from moist to dry air. RUNNING FROM If one took a cen THE CLIMATE. sus of the open ing and closing of city houses, and followed the itinerary of most of our people for one year, one would easily come to the con clusion that the majority of us are running from the climate. We might |appear to the Martians as weddings, as humans who could not stand any degree of the thermometer. Our rich have a variety of houses to which they can escape when any phase of the weather is against their liking. Most of us escape the heat by going North in summer, the cold by going South and to the Pacific coast in winter. the wet autumn on the Eastern coast by going to the Virginia and Carolina mountains. the humid spring by running to the dry lanes. Nothing in the way of climate suits us more than two months at time. How the very rich stand the strain of quickly and constantly shifting their habitation is the query of the lazy ones. They whirl about the earth like motion picture films. and they must 5eel this rapid action . necessity, or they could not go on with It. Tn their train come the people with moderate wealth; the movement lessens as the money decreases; and, as the tail bf of the comet, come the semi annual vacationists.
 All in between is an unceasing whirl of atoms seeking few weeks of variety in various climates some wherever certain sports are seasonable Once upon time we "staid putt. Now we copy the birds and the fish. Does the constant movement improve as? Would we give it up even if 1t were proved that we deteriorated under it? How much has 1t become . national trait. one as deeply rooted as the French trait of staying at home? On the surface it seems to improve us That Is all that the casual ob- server can see. It broadens our view point. it certainly contributes to the brotherhood of man in it's sane sense. Whether or not 1t promotes creative. ness, or strengthens the literature and art of nation. is a deep question, The significant things we have done. bur national contribution to the worlds forward movement. are so unique. so entirely American. that they show no influence whatever of travel or the study of other nations.
 From our Democracy to our high buildings we are alone in our en- ueavors Whatever we have learned by whirling around the planet we are not imitators. When we get ready to create we are pioneers.
 We have handed the steamship. the locomotive, the submarine. the airplane, z the telephone. the cable. the sewing machine. the cotton gin. the skyscraper.