The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-08-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HASKIN. Director.
Washington, D. G.
DETROIT ATTRACTS TOURISTS

with cameras, umbrellas, maps, milk
chocolate and air the other parapher-
MALTA indispensable to sight seeing.
People who used to buy round trip
their journey to Detroit, managing to
get here before the first gorgeous lus-
ter is worn off their wedding rings.
Everywhere you turn you see a
large yellow sightseeing bus. and it is
always sagging under a heavy load.
One of these departs from the sight
seeing headquarters. every half hour
during the day, and as each passenger
pays two dollars for the trip. you can
see that the bus company likes tour
lists.
But all the facilities of Detroit are
equally overpatronized. Every ferry
boat which leaves the Woodward
avenue docks is packed with admiring
tourists; every trolley car carries its
quota of inquiring strangers; ever
lunch room has its party of excursion
lists, while the hotels do such a tflriv-
ing business that an arriving guest is
usually ushered to his room just as the
baggage of the former occupant is
going out the door. Indeed, it is often
necessary to sit patiently in the lobby
waiting for a vacancy to occur. Pro-
vtded you can find a place to sit, that
is, because the tourists also monopolize
the Hobbies. 1t is impossible to walk
about without humping into one of
them, and as for the elevators, they
fairly creak with them.
The Elevator RebeIIed.
In fact, the elevator We were in the
other morning did more than that
1t rebeIled. one instant it was float
ing rapidly upward, and the next in
slant it had stopped midway between
two floors. Immediately historical
giggling broke forth among the
feminine passengers, who were visit
ing school teachers while the only
other occupant, a small. foreign-look-
ing priest, was obviously disturbed.
Apparently he had INST become accus-
toned to the dizzy activity of Amerf-
can elevators. = shalK have TO report
this, he said when the porter came
with a ladder This is what comes
of elevating whole conventions at
once"
One of the reasons Detroit attracts
so much tourist travel. of course, is
the fact that it advertises itself so
extensively. No one will deny that
Detroit is one of the most attractive
cities of the middle west. 1t has a
personality and charm quite~different
from the rest, but this charm is ap-
prectated by none quite so much as
by Detroit In its own estimation.
Detroit is perfection. Beautiful and
Dynamic Detroit" is the modest term
it has selected for itself, and the only
way in which you can get 1t to admit
any possible faults is by yourself pre-
tending a violent infatuation for it.
We have discovered that if you want
to be taken into the confidence of a
city and given a private view of its
closeted skeletons, you have only to
follow this method. Criticize it, and
you will have every citizen rising gal
lantly to its defense, but praise it and
they will point out its unpleasant fea-
IN IN ha p q
| local chamber of commerce will for
get itself under these circumstances
Thus it was from the Detroit Cham
Der of Commerce that we learned that
while Detroit is beautiful and dynamic,
it is also unhealthfully oYer-croWded;
that it is full of petty graft; that the
housing conditions in its negro section
are disgrace, and that everybody
is becoming more or less peevish ow-
ing to the terrific tension of rapid
money making
Detroit Has Nerves.
Detroit makes the impression of
| running chiefly on it's nervous energy,
under the CONSTANT menace of a nerv-
| Gus breakdown. OF course, the rapid
accumulation of millions of sightseerE
as well as dollars, is a narrowing bust
1 ness, so that the citizens of Detroit
cannot be blamed if they do appear a
/ trifIe preoccupied and cross. AS one
| book stores remarked, It's bad
enough to hove a rush of people like
this all during the hot weather, but
| the questions they bring with them
are worse"
The tourists, however, do not seem
to notice any of the city's faults. They
are too much immersed in the problem
/ of their own meanderings, and too de-
| lighted with the many really delight
full sightseeing opportunities of De-
7 -. &c
position.
Belle Isle park, one Of the most
beautiful natural Fairgrounds pos
| sessed by any city. is located on an
/ island in the center of the Detroit
river, about three miles from the
heart Of Detroit, and is reached by
ferry. The ferryboats making the triT
are equipped much the same as ex-
| cursion steamers, with an upper deck
containing comfortable chairs. and
pleasant cabin. 1t requires an hour
| to make the round trip to and from
Belle Isle. but many of the passenger:
bring their lunches and remain or
Fthe ferry all day. thereby getting sew
eral hours of river travel for the price
of 5 cents
| Besides an aquarium and small
zoo. the park also contains eight base
ball diamonds, several tennis courts
a five and a half mile automooile
shore drive, a large boathouse whicf
supplies canoes and roTboats for boat
ing on the canals which wind thrt
the park. and an excellent bathlnl
beach. always crowded during th'
summer months
4 Bargain In Real Estate.
Pere Isle. too. possesses romantic
h;stor,-. It was bought from the Chin
peva and Ottawa Indians in 1853 fo1
eight barrels of rum. three rolls %
tobacco, six pounds Of vermilion ane
a belt of wamDum. the total value
being $1,000. Rattlesrakes were 81
plentiful on the island at that tint
that it was necessary to put razor-hacl
hogs on it to get rid of them Thi
eve If the name of Isle au Cochons- &
Hog Island. subsequently changed Il
Belle Isle by the early Detroiters
During the Pontiac conspiracy 1t wa
to Belle Isle that Pontiac retired afte'
the discovery of his plot to massacre
- H.