New-York tribune., 1920-08-07
By Haywood Broun

The king is not dead. They have
torn down his palaces and carted away
the mirrors and the pretzcls and the
pictures OF the dryads but he is with
us in .~ilc. Anybody who keeps rcgu-
lar hours should have no difficulty
whatever in getting drink, but we had
been told that night life in New York
was gone We investing <ed and found
the report inaccurate. Naturally, we
want it understood that our interest
IN the matter was purely professional.
Baptist ministers and reporters can
not afford to be tinicky. Probably our
feelings were harassed just as much
as those of DR.. John Roach Straton.
when he recently went upon a similar
mission. Perhaps more, because we
knew the city when it had it, and night
life is plainly cut in two, though
1t still wiggles.
Up to date we ffave had only one
evening to devote to our work, and
between the hours of a. m. and 3 we
managed to discover two restaurants
Where 1T was possible to procure drinks
at least IS late as dawn. 1t should
sullce to say that one of these is be-
low Thirty fourth Street and the other
ABOVE Forty-second Street. The latter
Is more interesting, since it makes
something of ceremony of service.
we knew nobody in the place. A
man at the door surveyed US carefully
ce1ore ne unclaimed the door and
there was a second scrutiny when we
asked the head waiter if we could pet
IN. NO answer was given, but finally
another man came and tapped us on
the shoulder and motioned for us to
1ollow We stood up, wondering
whether we were to be blindfolded. but
the proprietor missed that touch. The
guide opened a door which led into a
long. dark passage. We followed hin,
closely for some time, thinking thai
perhaps we We're headed for the three
mile limit, but finally he stopped and
TOOK something from a panel in the
Ten dollars!"
When we got back to the table we
looked at the bottle and it seemed to
be quart of whisky. The man with
US said that it was. He was Obliged
to drink furtively, for whenever he nut
the bottle down waiter hurried nm
and threw a napkin over it. Much
dancing seemed to be going on, but we
haven't the least idea whether or not
1t was immoral.
Most of the dancers seemed to be
performing painstakingly. The drink
ing seemed much the same. Cur;ouslv
enough, the difficulties of drinking have
not added to its attractiveness. In the
old days a person could approach a state
of hilarity drink by drink He could
say that everything which happened
was an accident. Temptation, then, was
gentle tug which took one in toe at
time. Under the present system it's
a plunge. Only man of exceptionally
strong character can say to himself,
I'm going to sit down now and drink
pint of whisky" and then contract
for the whole lot at once
For time we thought that perhaps
our lack of interest in night life was
because of the strangeness of the sur
roundlngs. Accordingly, we went early
the next night to Joels, in Forty-first
Street, to see if things would seem the
same as they did years ago before any
of us had heard of Volstead They
did not. Changes in the setting were
lew. The big room still carries the
pictures of Mrs. George Cabot Lodge
and Mrs. Stanley Mortimer and score
of others who to the best of our knowl-
. tUSt anu DclleI were at no tim 3
patrons of the place. The side wall to
the right still boasts "Joel's steaks are
the talk of New York" Perhaps, it
isn't true any more. Since that sign
went up there has been war and a
movement for league of nations and
Babe Ruth has made forty-one home
runs. Still, we can't say that we re-
member very much being said about
them one way or the other, even in the
old days.