America To-day, Observations and Reflections

The Project Gutenberg EBook of America To-day, Observations and Reflections by William Archer This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: America To-day, Observations and Reflections Author: William Archer Release Date: July 22, 2004 [EBook #7997] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICA TO-DAY *** Produced by Karen Dalrymple and PG Distributed Proofreaders AMERICA TO-DAY OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS BY WILLIAM ARCHER NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1899 CONTENTS PART I—OBSERVATIONS LETTER I The Straits of New York—When is a Ship not a Ship?—Nationality of Passengers—A Dream Realized LETTER II Fog in New York Harbor—The Customs—The Note-Taker's Hyperæsthesia— A Literary Car-Conductor—Mr. Kipling and the American Public—The City of Elevators LETTER III New York a much-maligned City—Its Charm—Mr. Steevens' Antithesis—New York compared with Other Cities—Its Slums—Advertisements—Architecture in New York and Philadelphia LETTER IV Absence of Red Tape—"Rapid Transit" in New York—The Problem and its Solution—The Whirl of Life—New York by Night—The "White Magic" of the Future LETTER V Character and Culture—American Universities—Is the American "Electric" or Phlegmatic?