New-York tribune., 1922-10-08

put nrniy peeled when he comes to New York
takes homo his experience and peels the hide
Off his fellows in the county seat. and thew in
turn skin and tan the villagers and the farmers
and the workers, who, in their innocence mass
the skinning knife dexterously back over the
rest OF us, and so the balance Of nature is
maintained. We all profit by New York. New
York sometimes peels US little too close to
the bone; we outsiders are prone to forget
%nat we Go to our fellows and give New York
bad name for indulging in the national game
of grab and gouge.
NJ BY this interminable game of grab and
gouge, plus much most useful service. we
nave built up vast inland commerce. And
New York is the capital of our commercial en-
pire. New York is becoming to America what
Paris is to France what London is to the Brit
ish Empire. 1t was not always so. OF old
Boston ruled Philadelphia had her dav Of
triumph and Baltimore certain dominion.
once Chicago had hopes and st. Louis held a
VISION. But as distance has collapsed under
electricity, New York has been drawn nearer
and nearer to the center of the continent and
now she dominates America. Other thriving
powerful interior towns will more or less, be
New Yorks In miniature, New Yorks for their
surrounding territory; but the capital of capt.
tails in America seems destined to be this won
derful city by the Hudson More commerce
roars through its streets in one day than
passed through Nineveh and Tyre in a decade.
More students are crowding into the schools.
colleges and universities every year than ever
gathered in Alexandria And in the thousand
shafts that rise above the numberless canyons
that sink creased, jagged and> criss-crossed
deeply IN the face Of the city is beauty exqui-
site and unutterably moving to the soul The
"topless towers of Troy" held no such glory.
And more than the power and glory of the
place Is the aspiration stirring in the hearts
of these millions of men and women Of course,
these millions are veneered with the soualor of
riches poverty. Their lives rattle around
in dull, little grooves But they do want a bet
ter world than they have. They are all dream
ing of fairer day and time than that which
they are making. They are nobler than they
dare admit. Gabbv, greedy, scofing hard and
cynical as they seem, these millions of Manhat-
tan have their fine loyalties, their high reaches
for justice, their myriad daily hourly habits
OF neighborly kindness and sacrifcial love- If
they really were as mean as passing strangers
see them they would wreck and loot the town
overnight.
is a New Yorker who is about to be plucked.
He does not belong to the gang, for the mo-
ment. He may be banker at the stage door,
an actor at the bank, preacher in the sub
way, a subway guard at the altar or a waiter
nj fhao osf,y III 1,.I A L. -
So we have here the greatest hick village on
the planet. The Rube is the citizen of some
other town-Chicago, Emporia San Francisco.
Gopher Prairie or Boston, and the hicks who
eat each other with little dressing, gobble
down the ruhe. blood, raw and tops and all!
The hick Is forever trying to take off the curse
OF his hickative nature--always trying to get
from the outside inside of something. So we
lind them crowding into the warehouses Of the
wholesalers buying samples at great dis
count. 1t is great game in New York-to
get the discount to buy cheaper than any one
else, to be a wise guy Partly the desire to
save money moves the hicks But greatly they
desire to be unhicked. That desire is the
motive power of New York, where five million
hicks disport themselves for the delectation of
the cannibal lusts of their fellows five mil
when they shall become sophisticated. That
game of hide and seek forms the exterior of
much of the life of the metropolis 1t is an
exciting outdoor and indoor sport And in the
excitement of the game of hick-eat-hick. the
simple, slow moving rube sometimes escapes.
THE hick affects to look down upon the rube.
But the differences between the hick and
the rube are superficial. New York makes the
same kind of fuss over the meeting of the
American Bankers Association that Emporia
makes over the meeting of the State Bankers
Association. Banquets are given where the
food is cold and bad and the speeches by the
leading citizens to the leading bankers are SO
dull that the newspapers pay no attention to
them. Drives around town to see the tall
buildings are in the schedule and free shows
IN the town opera house are perpetrated, prob
ably with local gags for the benefit of the
sisitors. New Workers have ever been urged
~ the local bankers committee to take the
'isiting bankers into their honest 1t is all
ake Emporaar and Kansas City. The town.