The Washington times., 1934-04-13
True To
!. Type
3Loafers in Plaza
Only Real Sign
Of Recovery
By GILBERT SELDES

Everybody is explaining every
thing by the simple thought
that recovery has started in a
spectacular way and the pros
poets for the future are bright.
The Ennarayers say they
did it and the skeptics say that
recovery would be infinitely
faster If the NRA eclipsed itself,
but everyone agrees that the
thing has arrived. The begin
ming at least.
An old disbeliever myself, I
have resisted the contagion as
long as possible; yesterday I
Succumbed. Actually succumbed
to spring more than to pros
perity. AS Swinburne. put it,
winters rains and ruins are DER,
and all the season of SHOWS and
sins. Or something like that.
The thing that persuaded me
was the plaza at Rockefeller
Center. I recalled a great deal
Of advance anger about the
whole building project, criticism
Of the buildings and criticism Of
the idea of building at all. Now
the Sunken garden and the foun-
tain justify the endeavor.
] am still abashed by the huge
golden statue, but the spectacle
Of New Yorkers who were OBJ
viously not the unemployed. yet
were idling in the sun, made me
think that recovery and repeal
and lot of leisure might yet
make New York a civilized city.
A Place to Loaf
The plaza there is big enough
for movement; it is isolated
from traffic, and it has, at cer-
tain hours of the day, a lot of
sunlight, I do not know whether
the whole Center is a good ex-
ample Of city planning, but I
think that if every group Of
buildings in the Wall Street
sector, or in the Loop in Chi
cago, had such an open space,
we might get over solitary dis
advantage under which Ameri-
can cities have always labored:
that they afford no place for
loating. Except to professional
, loafers.
. I understand that a cafe.res-
taurant at one corner Of the
plaza will spread to a terrace
and serve food and drink in
the open. It is no romantic
longing for the cafes Of Paris
that makes me think this is a
great idea.
It is the practical thing that
I like to sit down and do moth
ing, for an hour at a time, and,
that I would rather watch hu.
man beings than moving pic
lures during that period. Civ
tl1zatton means finding more
and more agreeable ways on not
being busy And it is one of
the 'rgest businesses in the
world which has supplied New
York with the pleasantest place
, to drop business and BUSINESS
entirely. . .''
III Recovery Is Dull
I uiisht ven note smother
symptom s0f recovery: the eco
nomic situation has grown un.
believably dull. It was my dis
I covery back in 1881 that the
depression was exciting-its
only Excuse for being. so far
as I could see, as it wasn't
a necessary depression and ex-
listed only because some people
were stupid and a lot Of others
were dull.
I think that until three or
four months ago the excite
ment continued. Mr.. Roose-
velt's first year was a positive
crescendo nearly all the time,
so loud at moments that you
couldn't hear yourself think,
which may have been part of
the plot. Now, for me, the ex-
citement is over.
During the worst two years,
I had less work to do and
more money than ever before;
now the situation is reversed,
and while other things remain
interesting, economics fade. In
a few years we'll all be wish
ing for the return of the great
depression days-just as we
wished for the return Of the
great war days. And we're
likely to get both our wishes.