Evening star., 1925-01-17
BY EDOUARD HERRIOT.
Premier of France.

PARTS-It will be in error to be-
lieVe that the access OF mechanical
civilization has deprived Americans
of the pleasure and the benefits of
natural living. Nature, she envelops
and cleanses this enormous factory.
Il ia enough to escape the obsession
of sky-scrapers and immense depart
ment stores to go out along the banks
of the Hudson. on the heights OF
which stands the gray stone temple,
the tomb OF Gen. Grant. Turn our
backs to the buildings armOred with
steel that have been built without
scaffoidings and that are topped with
crowns of Moorish pretension. The
supple line of the coast of New Jer-
sey is screened by a dark forest, shell
tering charming wooden villas. The
setting sun tints the river with spots
of orange light.
But the crowd prefers rougher
pleasures. To understand them one
must go to Coney Island. The fete
(Mardi Gras) which, on its final eve
ming. pours motor cars by the thou
sands and persons TO the number OF
4OO. 900 into its incandescent amuse-
ment parks. The first impression is
one of an immense contlagration or
Of a permanent fireworks. Every
thing is in movement, noise and up
roar. Under a profusiOn OF light,
which gives the illusion of MONDAY,
the people of New York. delivered
from their jails, rush to the candy
makers booths. toward the rotisse-
ries which turn out an uninterrupted
stream Of sausages (called hot dogs),
and fill the restaurants which sell an
indefinable mixture under the name
of beer.
Get Thrills From shocks.
The inexhaustible human river flows
along the streets, past the Italian or
Greek rotiSseries, past the Chinese
cafes. past the naively pretentious
astrologers' booths, the tattoo artist
and the hideous four-legged woman.
The brutality of the pleasures Of
fered TO this mass. plungIng after
| JOY, shocks our sense of proportion.
Il is fever of shocks, OF sudden
| fits and starts, a search for vertigo.
| One is carried along into the torrent
with all the languages and all the
races Of the globe.
But around this city of cheap
pleasure for cheap people New ork
has built a magnificent promenade
three kilometers long and swept by
the air OF the sea. Families which
cannot go to the rich watering places
come in hordes on Sunday TO enjoy
the municipal beach. 1t is like the
Promenade des Anglais at Nice
turned over to the proletariat.
There, no clamor. Installed on the
sand Jewish families from the Ghetto
find it quite natural that the city
should spend S3.000,000 to offer them
this place of rest.
Great Exodus of Cars.
Or the same day. Sunday, every
body who owns a motor car leaves
New York to go TO the country. One
has scarcely crossed the Hudson on
the ferryboat. incumbered with
motor ears, before the scene is
brusQuely changed. Tiny villas of
wood or of brick are lodged among
the coral-colored rocks or under the
oaks and everywhere appears the
national flower of the United States.
the golden rod. Motor cars follow
each other without interruption on
the road The motorcycle policeman
gauges their speed and levies fines
on the delinquents. These little sub
urban houses are scrupulously clean
no rubbish, smoothly clipped
lawns, little French garden plots and
trellished vines. But no Enclosures
and no walls.
We followed the fjordS of the Hud-