New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-02
HObOken
Laughs Last
By William M. Myers
n ME pet joke town of the stage has
outwitted its critics.


outWltted It's critics.
n That little, mie-square city of
Hoboken across the river-the goat
OF comedians and the Little Germany" of
the kast-has, in the last two years. be-
come one of the greatest ports and military
centres IN the world Dubbed, ridiculed
and abused in the old days, this Jersey town
is reeking with wealth and prosperity to-
day. Up to a few months ago it was the
Farewell City" for the two million Amer
lean fighting men off to war; now it is the
welcome City, as they return, victorious.
Hoboken shopkeepers who used to live
from hand-to-mouth before the war are
wearing fur-lined overcoats this winter and
their pocketbooks are buIging with gold
backs. Not in history has city been so
entirely transformed. River Street. along
which the great army piers are stretched.
used to have string of saloons 1t was dam
gerous for a woman to travel there after
dark. But where the ginmills formerly
were are now the comfortable and honey
huts and headquarters of the Y. M. C. A..
X. of c., Red Cross, Y. W. c. A. and War
Camp Community Service, with their omen
freplaces, amusements and goodies to eat.
The proprietor of tiny cigar store in
River Street, who formerly ordered few
dozen packs of cigarettes at a time and
then worried for fear they. might get stale
before he sold out, gets them by the thou
sands to-day. A smile of prosperity has
succeeded the frowns of small business. He
has bought home OF his own and his wife
and he take turns running the automobile
he was able to buy with his profits of two
years.
little further up the street small tailor
ing establishment which was forlorn be-
cause of lack of patronage is brilliantly
illuminated. The proprietor, who formerly
did all the work himself, and even then had
plenty OF time on his hands, has no fewer
than half dozen assistants and just now
they are overworked night and day mend
ing and pressing uniforms or sewing on
wound and service stripes for returned
fighting men.
Many of the shops used to be German.
Whether it be the sign of the times or what
most of the signs read: French and
American This or That But good many
of the owners appear and talk out Of har-
mony with the words over their doors.
And who in Hoboken two years ago ever
dreamed that some of the wealthiest women
of Manhattan would ever grace River Street?
Riverside Drive and Central Park West as
we'll the finest New York hotels have
been represented in River Street 1t has
become a fad and patriotic duty for these
women to go in their limousines, take their
lunches and wait for hours with baskets of
fruit and candies to welcome home the boys
on the transports.
Thousands of officers, men, young women
and others are stationed at the port of en-
barkation, city in itself, in the old Ham
burg American Line piers and Offices
Many of them live in New York temporarily,
but just as many board in Hoboken. All of
them spend money there every day
Whenever one of the big Transports such
the Leviathan or the George Washington,
docks with cargo of returning American
heroes, hundreds of dollars are spent in the
little shops candy and tobacco. In five
minutes million bags of candy and packs
of cigarettes are tossed by pretty girls and
fashionably dressed women over the high
steel fence behind which the men are lined
ready to board trains which will take them
TO camp.
Night and day soldiers and sailors pass
tHA OuSh tAC tOMii. 4Hcy Speuu more money
in two minutes than the civilian does in an
hour. There is never a seat left in the
showhouses for other than uniformed men
usually (unless they buy their tickets in ad-
vance,; the soda fountains are TANNED and
the restaurants thrive twenty-four hours a
day.
Patrick R. Griffin, Mayor of Hoboken, saw
his city going to ruin when the military cH.
Gals took hold of the piers and ordered the
saloons closed. He tried to keep them open
by making an appeal to the President who
agreed with the military officials, and every
drinking place in River Street and half a
mile to the west of the piers was closed
down tight. This included the bars of sew
eral hotels. 1t also pun cabarets and dance
halls out of business
They won't joke about Hoboken on the
stage any more. If they do it will be be-
cause they don't know what they're talking
about. Over in France the bows used "a
say Heaven, hell or Hoboken by Christ
mas!" Those who have come back en- the
transports are darned glad it was Hoboken.