The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-06-24
A New. Yorker
 In Europe
BY PAUL HARRISON

Ab0ard D. 5. N0rmandie, June 24-.-When passenger airp1anes be- gin to tear back and forth across the Atlantic carrying restless peo- pie who want to get somewhere in great hurry, hope they will turn off some of the boilers in the great steamships, thus slowing them down for the enjoyment cf most of us who like to sail.
 As matters stand, 1t seems sa little silly for rival lines to point out the luxuries of their line,s and then brag about the, remark ably short space of time in whics. passengers are able tos enjoy tho3@ luxuries. A good ship Is c plegs ant, well-ordered world in itsols, full of easy conventions, creature comforts and too much good food. always have figured that deck chairs are for loliing; and that lounge bars are for playing lot of bridge with pleasant people, or maybe for just sitting, day after day, and watching the ships green -and.white wake stretching back to perspectiye's infinity and. if you like to think so, the limits of physical reality. Full Speed Ahead
 On the Normandie, though, the temptation is for everyone to crowd around the maps where the days runs are recorded with lit- tie flags, and to question every man in uniform--including the two bcwildered Swedish army offi- cers-about our speed. The stew ards always are reassuring us that still another record is being es- abolished, and Captain Rene Pug net always is just as firm in his dee nial that any attempts at all are being made on any records. Mod est men, these sea-captains. Or careful. The shippers of the Brem- en, Europa and Rex ali blandly disciaimed any thought of speed marks when their ships clipped the records.
 It would be nice if the Norman die were managed like other ferry boats plying smaller bodies of water, so that Q passenger could get on and remain for as many trips as he liked, for one fare. He might spend q lifetime aboard. get married, raise q family. grow old, die, and be buried at sea. Everything required for normal existence, is here, from sand-piles to wheel chairs. shops to libraries, theaters to churches, gymnasium. to hospitals. The French Line frowns on whispers that this ship, costing | $59, 100000 and mostly subsidized by the government against the utter impossibility of making q profit, was designed for conver- sion into an airpiane carrier. If true, 1t seems to me that the company might better claim cred 1t for participation in smart piece of preparedness. Certainly every other government, includ- ing our own, knows exactly to what use each item of It's mer- chan marine will be kept in case of war--how many men each ship can carry, how rapidly, and even where each gun will be mounted. | The report around Paris was thato in a 90-day emergency the Normandie's entire superstruc- ture can be removed down to the promenade deck, leaving land- ing space longer, and 22 1-2 feet wider, than the decks of the U. s. carriers Lexington and Saratoga. The Normandie, stripped of sev- eral decks, almost certainly would be faster than the American, ships. A significant feature of this ves- sells construction, believe is the inverted Y shape of the smoke vents = tunnels rise along the
 sides of the ship and converge in central stacks. Obviously 1t l would be no trick at all to con-
 tinue the tunnels up the sides, or one side, to leave the decks unob- structed for landing planes.
 It Satisfies
 As a passenger ship, though, it
 pleases this passenger very much. I do not know much about Lalique
 glass, which covers the walls of the huge dining room; or about
 Jean Dupas' paintings on glass,
 which cover the grand salon; or about Jean Dunand's new form of \ acqquer-sculpture, which decor-
 ates the smoking lounge in heroic panels. But I do know that the
 uncomplimentary cracks have
 heard come from people whom
 you'd classify as professional hat
 er-of-everything. Each disinter-
 ested artist, designer and decorator
 to whom I've talked prcnonnces
 the ship a magnificent thing. Your
 correspondent, who knows what he likes without always being able to identify 1t, is inclined to string
 along with them.
 | But if there is beauty in util- ity, I think the ships best feature is her engine room. There Is q . sweep of vital purpose that any. body can understand. Thick
 streams of yellow oil turn to roar- |. ing blue flame. and boiler tubes | glow red. Water into steam, Steam Into turbines. WhlfriHf , power into electricity. ktfty-fnur
 hundred volts into motors. Mo- tors into long, massive soiid-siesl { shafts, with q 2s-ton propeller on ] the end of each Of the four or , them. And % . grees ship moves, r churnlng its green and "h'"