The Washington herald., 1920-12-28
New York City
Day by Day
By o. o. MCINTYRE.

NEW YORK, Dec. 27.-The art of
.throwing q blun" reaches rare
heights in this far-famed metropolis
TO call on a business man these
days and not discover hta he is in
conference" is as futile as hurting
arose leaf into the Grand Canyon
TO hear the echo.
II one drops into the office Of a
button-hole maker he must wait un-
til the conferences" is over A
conference" in Manhattan means
that the boss Is out. hasn't come to
the office yet. or Is playing a game
of checkers with the shipping clerk
It has become painfully overworked.
Somehow the New Yorker has the
idea that being in a conference"
gives him a halo of grandeur. A
new buyer from the West dropped
into a skirt manufacturers office
and was told to wait a little while
as the manufacturer was in CON
ference"
"oh," the buyer said. "I wouldn't
disturb him for anything. I just
wanted to place a $4,000 order
and he walked out Three statesmen
and the manufacturer himself ran
after him for three blocks, but he
had changed his mind and was
going to buy elsewhere.
Hotel clerks make a great deal of
side money by being accompliss in
one Of the most prevalent forms of
four-fiushing. They watch out for
mail for people who are not regis
tered there but who use the hotels
stationary to give out the impression
OF
inns In return they get a few dol
lars a week in tips from each four
husher-
The smart Fifth avenue jewelry
shops have long since refused to
sell their boxes for jewels and other
articles to hundreds who seek to
buy them. The idea is, of course,
to purchase jewelry on Avenue A
and then have it wrapped up in a
Fifth avenue jewelers. box. One
man made quite a comfortable liv-
ing selling imitation package boxes
of exclusive houses until stopped by
a court order.
Theater box office men are daily
asked by ticket buyers to punch
holes in the coupons with the official
ONCE punch This means that the
holder has complimentary tickets"
He shows these to his friends to
give the impression that he Is
highly favored in theatrical circles.
Al 4 dinner given by a young blood
several years ago an actor was hired
to impersonate David Belasco and
drco in for a few moments so the
kost could call him Dave" and ap-
Psar to be on terms of easy fam
iiiarity. As most of the guests were
chorus girls the hosts stock went
up 100 points
"Clang! Clang! CIang! Out of my
way. I'm a fire engine" A bare
headed man gave this yell as he
dashed through a crowd in front of
the public library the other after
noon He upset several women and
was trying to dash through a plate
glass window when he was collared.
At the police station after he had
been cooled down he said he had
taken the first and last drink of
whisky. He got 1t on the East Side.
They called it raisin whisky" he
said, and 1t certainly made me raise
hell"
The New York office boy-that
naughty, laming-haired autocrat of
the outer gate-is the first to feel
the pinch of salary reduction. Dur
ing the war almost any freckled-
faced pea shooter could get SIS and
SIS a week for talking back to Wis
itors- Now they are getting SO a
week and in many places the salary
is 50. The employment agencies say
that by the middle of January the
IS a week ONCE boy will be general