AMERICAN WAY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 24, 29 January 1934, Page 16

AMERICAN WAY

RAGING THE CLOCK

AN ENGLISHMAN REFLECTS

SAVING OF TIME

When the low-geared foreigner accustomed t• > fho easy pace of Europe arrive!) for tho first lime in the United Mates lie is smitten with it kind of paralysis. Life within those- frontiers appears to him to lit1 ;i mad race around an alarm-clock, with no fixed goal in sight but thfi gra\e, wiites Sir PcrciMil in the "Daily Mail." ]lv must cither fall info step and bo whirled Iron) oue-dny^to the next, with indigestion and discontent riding him like twin furies, or lag behind and become an outcast.on the rim .of time. IJusiness men aru already at their desks at an hour when ho expects to find charwomen sweeping up yesterday'a debris. .Before ho has breakfasted the streets arc filled with an army of workers preying feverishly towards typewriters) and tabulating inmhiuce. They swarm into quii-k----lunch cafclciias, like r;i\cnous locusts whilo his morning is yet young, and strip Iho plattcis clean betore v lowgcarcd appetite can digest even tin; jncnri. ■ '. A NIGHTMARE. Taxis that defy the law of gravity rock him on tho verge of eternity. Morning newspapers greet him tin; night before. Such . discoveries in his first day ashore build for him a very substantial nightmare. The, New Deal in speed further complicates his mental processes by yielding certain surprises of a pleasing nature. Interpreted in terms of seivicc it compels his admiiation. lie gives his hotel-the soiled linen accumulated during'a -week's voyage with the modest request that it bo icturncd, if possible, within three days. Lo! the same night it, is 'found, spotless and still warm from the iron of an expert, in orderly array upon his bed. Clothes from, the piessei1 that aie ex pected before dinner reappear within tho hour. Luggage for a distant city vanishes, as if by magic, from his room in response to a, telephone call and .11 rives a few minutes niter him, in another room, a thousand miles away, in exchange for two pieces of pasteboard. Jsecl drinking water conies from a special tap to avoid tho delay of bringing it in a jug. Ho posts his letters in a' chute just outside ji'is door. Mis telegrams are received by a smiling young woman at a desk which is never closed and shot by pneumatic tube to a transmitting olh'cc. THE TELEPHONE. He wishes to telephone to a fiiend in a city as far away as Zuiich is from London. Memories of leisurely trunk calls iv his own country haunt him as he debates whether ho can afford tho half-hour or more of waiting to be tfut through, lie decides to risk it, asks for tho number, and prepares to read the evening papci. Before ho is comfortably ' settled in a chair alongside the telephone booth lie is "through." Thirty seconds have sufficed to connect him with, the wanted number. If lie goes to a bank to draw money, foitified with passport and other credentials, he expects a mild third degree and an interval devoted to led tape. Before he can produce his pnpeis a cashier, illuminated by the conventional "goodwill" grin, has hououicd his signature and slammed a bundle ot banknotes into his hand. He goes away feeling that tho speed with which the transaction has been concluded is almost ''indecent and an', insult to the highest traditions of banking. On his way out he is surprised to sec bank officials, from the highest to the lowest, planted in full view of the public Around tho unpnrtitionod floor, like shop assistants ready for^ho next Ihing, each, witli his name on a minia» turo signboard at a corner of his desk. Why so accessible? For closer contact with clients and the greater speed of the money machine. The name-plate idea rather pleases him. It is so friendly. "When he goes to the tobacco srtand in the hotel to ask for the English mixture thcy'havc not got, ho knows that tho marcelled and tinted blonde behind the counter is Miss llobinsou. If afflicted with tho soda water habit' he can stroll the length of a long nimble "bar and decide whether lo take iii"; diink from the rod-tipped hands of Miss O'Eioidan or Mi.<-s Cassotti. THE BAD SIDE. The non-alcoholic barmaids carry their iamily names, engraved on neat inctal biooehes fastened to • their blouses.. They arc quick in repartee, but by no means rapid in behaviour. The blight jester who suggests that (heir addresses should be added to their'identity discs will receive a frozen stare or a metallic "Oh yeah?" - But other aspects of the craze for speed - soon become disagreeably obvious. ' Meals are bolted in a way that shows no' mercy for tho delicate machinery dedicated to food. The intent occupants of public restaurants rush in to icfuel; they never really lunch or dine. rL'hcy> can bo seen bowed over the latest time-saving invention, a form of circular china trough divided into compaitnients which bring the main ingrediputs of. tho midday latiou simultaneously within range. ThiK is called a, "club plalc" lunclioonj .- a club, indeed, with which to flog the laggard through his hasty liioal. Ordered by a number on the food-combination card, it is snatched deftly, all hot and quite appetising, from an aperture in the serving hatch —I suspect that a moving platform for quick assembly is concealed behind— ■and.*.brought' to rest by a cog iv the chain of waitresses trained in tbe mass transportation' of, vitamins. He finds it'depressing to watch his •fellow-men' in a better-class restaurant consume ;theia-, portions at a rate that leaves him far behind. There will bo parties of .tense- business men,, .grimly absorbed* in their plates, and mixed groups -with a. social tinge, but subordinating; conversation to the task of eating in a hurry. Half an hour carries them to the coffee stage. Breakfast is a marathon, and dinner, with its inevitable foundation of iced water, drunk copiously, very 'often a' dance still nearer death. i- • • EAKLY DINNER. "When on. tour- he shudders in his armchair in the luxurious lounge car of a Pullman express when, at- halfpast' five in the nftnnioon, a vrhitoliacketed 'negro introduces his "Old Man River"'.'bass voice into the restful scene with the unpleasant news: "Ditinah is :iiow being .served; first ca11.",.' "''■'.. The- next announcement, three-quar-ters of an hour later, is made with greater determination; If the rebel against speed still sits tight, a lonely outcast, amid, empty, chairs, the whip-per-in for tho chef is; likely to bay his last, desperate appeal with an expression which is mingled curiosity and despair, as though to say: "Well, boss, haven't you got the price of a dinner or is. you fast.in"" . . . Now that America has become.1 !iirmind,cd the slaves to speed can -give'j tn* *i*ession-ftsii j>ia*. This country |

possesses the finest network of day-and-night aeroplane services in tho world. You can travel from New York to Snu'Francisco in thirty;six hours, with only brief stops to tako on petrol. Ten, sometimes,, fifteen, aeroplanes leave hourly in both directions, and this traffic way is but one of many reaching to every part of the republic. Yet they arc not fast enough. Soon the time from coast to coast will be cut by three hours. The railways arc building streamline trains that look like elongated, sharpnosed shells. , One destined to enter into competition witli the air routes will begin running next -spring'at a speed of 110 miles an hour. Already a rival line is -experimenting with another model which is ..expected to travel "130 miles an hour. S'jccd, always more speed.