The Washington herald., 1920-04-18
New York City
B, o. o. McIntyre

pany displays a sign, reading.
Don't write = WIRE" The other
morning people going to work saw
the handiwork Of some wag be-
meath 1t. which read: Don't, for
hsaven's sake. try to phone-take a
taxi"
It was meant IN a jocular vein,
but there is much truth in II. Tel
ephone service In New York has
become a tragic affair. 1t is almost
impossible to get a number and
when one does 1t is generally the
wrong, number.
1t Is not unusual to see some
telephone user growing apoplectic
] in any telephone booth at any time.
At times they stamp out bawI out
the poor telephone girl. and walk
away.
The newspapers are nlled with
indignant letters. and still the
service grows worse. Tho COM
pany was, Of course, hard hit by
| the recent epidemic, when hundreds
of girls were temporarily of duty,
but there is no epidemic now and
the explanations do not satisfy.
New York depends upon its tele-
phones more than any other city In
the world. Particularly is this true
in the wall street district, where
all business practically Is transact
ed over the phone.
The largest single user Of the
L.. Nd uya II
the investment bankers, who sell
all their stocks by telephone, the
statesmen never making a personal
call. The reason is to save time.
Thirty men are at the telephones
from o'clock until 8, calling up
people not only in New York but
within a radius of 200 miles.
In fact, the day of the city sales
man, travelling from customer to
customer, is slowly passing. The
wholesale houses, manufacturing
establishments and jobbers are do
| ing the bulk of their business by
telephone. The buyer would much
rather have a proposition presented
by phone 1t eliminates the time
lost in small talk" and the heart
of the matter Is reached in a hurry.
That is why any failure in serv-
ice Is a heavy blow to business in
terests. Just now there Is talk
that telephone operators will be
dispensed with within a year and
the automatic telephone substituted.
The telephone experts seem to
think that this is the only way TO
remedy the matter.
1t is unusual to see a great pub
lie utility running advertisements
to discourage business but that is
what the telephone company is do
ing. They are asking people to
use the telephone only when it is
necessary and to cut down their
calls as much as possible.
New York speaks to every part
of the United States hourly. One
firm has a telephone bill OF $500 a
day for service to San Francisco.
Chicago and New York talk as
nonchalantly as neighbors back
home talk over the back fence.
New York has some curious ideas
about art and business. Just where
business leaves off and art begins
Is an unsettled matter. What is
gallery and what is a shop is
even more complex. Dollars seem
| to Sgovern. Critics seem to think
that anything in an art gallery
may be, reviewed at length but
when it is in a shop window 1t
smacks OF advertising, not realizing
as they should realize that every
Fifth avenue gallery sells its wares.
The case in point is on Fifth ave-
nue. Knoedler's art gallery and
DreiCer's great jewelry establish
ment Is next door. In. the window
of one is a painting-very beauti-
| full but there are many beautiful
paintings. In the Dreicer window
! is a glorious vase-one of the most
magnificent specimens that New
York has ever seen. 1t Is SO ex-
quisite that II should be at the
Metropolitan. And yet nothing Is
said about this vase.
/ S J. Kaufman. in his chronicles
! in the Globe, m SO far as | have
noticed the only man to mention
this vase-and yet crowds line the
sidewalk to see it every hour in the
J day. Kaufman sounds the courage
| Gus note in an article in which ne
says:
1T is strange that nothing has
been said about the vase in Dreicers
| shop window by art critics. More
| fuss should be made. About this
vase or any other glorious thing
anywhere. The ultimate value is
| that of making every shop an art
| gallery. II will have the cfec. of
| making the man Of business :Cel he
mas an art duty to the community.
| It will give him a status lie hasn't
now. He will look to the things he
sells until everything he sells will
| lie worth a place in a museum. We
propose shopping with an art angle"
That is truC-talk.
Two vaudeville acts were .empor-
arily retired for revision in New
| YORK this week. The managers will
not stand for anything sfnacking OF
the risque. 1t used to go-but 1t
| will not go now even in the bur-
lesque theaters. The world is, grow
ing better. One Of the best paying
acts in vaudeville is a team, COM
posed of a man and woman. There
isn't a suggestive line in their pat
Ter. In fact. every line Is superbly
clean and the atmosphere surround
ing the act is of a high order Clean
lIncss is not only next to yodliness-
it pays. Even on the stage.
The high traffic towers on Fifth
avenue guiding traffic by the swift
coming and going of glaring yellow,
green and red searchlights give a
new verve to the grandest street in
the world. Up atop of a bus one is
fairly thrilled by the mood of the
avenue-hard, plangent, glittering.
intensely material. It is a proud,
exhilarating thoroughfare. and fills
the mind of the visitor with
strange liveliness. 1t is here that