A. Conan Doyle on America
A. Conan Doyle on America is an article published in The Examiner (San Francisco) on 9 december 1894.
A. Conan Doyle on America
The Author Has Seen Some Things That Pleased Him and Some Quite the Contrary.
VICE LESS FLAGRANT THAN IN ENGLAND
He Notes With Surprise That Street-Car Lines Tear Up Thoroughfares as They Please and People Submit.
NEW YORK, December 8. — Dr. A. Conan Doyle sailed by the steamship Etruria for Liverpool to-day, after a lecturing tour of nine weeks. He was accompanied by his brother, who, armed with a camera, has been his traveling companion.
"I have traveled as far west as Chicago, and as far south as Washington,"
said Dr. Doyle. "The city which pleased me most was Philadelphia. I did not find that city as quiet as I had been told it usually is, but that may be accounted for by the fact that I visited Philadelphia on the night following the football match between the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton College, and I can assure you I was not particularly impressed with the 'slowness' or the quiet of your 'Quaker Village,' as I am told Philadelphia is called. In fact, I found it about as noisy a city as I have ever visited, and I was justly surprised.
"I notice that the Philadelphians are given to athletic sports of all kinds, and I saw the result in the physique and general build and character of the men I met there. I think Philadelphia savors more of an English city than any other city in America, and perhaps that accounts for my being more pleased with it than with other cities. I have visited."
TALK ABOUT POLICE.
"In every city I have visited,"
Dr. Doyle continued, "the citizens all talk about their police, and I will frankly state that I find policemen much rougher than any I have ever met with in European countries. They seem to be given a despotic power that the foreigner would not submit to for a moment. I met only the police of Detroit, and went on a "slumming" expedition in that city, guided by police. I think your detective force is undoubtedly very expert, and as a whole will compare favorably with our Scotland Yard.
"I have not attended any of the sessions of your Lexow Committee investigations,"
the speaker added, "but I have read all of the testimony in the newspapers, and the evidence of official corruption has made my blood boil. I cannot understand why the people have not risen and crushed the police force out of existence. It seems to me almost incredible that such a condition of bribery and blackmail should exist in a civilized country without a popular uprising. In England such a condition of affairs could never reach the magnitude it has assumed here.
TRANSPORTATION PLEASED HIM.
"I am greatly pleased with the transportation facilities in this country. I think that in the matter of railroads England will compare favorably with America; still we have no such service as that rendered by the limited trains. Your Pullman cars were a disappointment to me. We use them abroad, but we understand how to heat them, and apparently your railroad managers do not. To ride in a Pullman car for twenty-four hours in this country is the hardest work I have done since I have arrived.
"Your tramways in the cities are serviceable, but in your elevated railroads I found something to delight me. The easy, comfortable cars, high speed and general comfort of elevated trains, is something I shall always remember.
"I have been met most cordially by the people of this country, and shall carry many pleasurable recollections of my visit. Your women are charming, and your men. are easy to get acquainted with. The men are not surrounded by that palisade of coldness that one meets on the other side. In fact in takes but a short time to become acquainted, and I already know more persons in this country after my nine weeks' stay than I would meet and know in a year on the other side of the ocean.
SAW BEAUTY AT THE SHOW.
"I visited your horse show, and while I did not see many fine horses I certainly did see many handsome and charming women. As a society event the horse show will compare with any of the social functions abroad.
"Washington I found very interesting, but would have been better pleased could I have visited it when Congress was in session. I had a letter of introduction to President Cleveland, but as I visited Washington on the day following the election I thought it would be in bad taste to call at such a time. I regret that I did not meet him.
"As to the people — that is, the public — of this country, if you were to take in hand persons from the Strand in London, and the same number from Broadway, and mix them up, you could not pick out the Americans, but if you were to take 100 from the Bowery and 100 from the East End of London you would have no difficulty in identifying the Americans at once. The Bowery type of American is certainly 'tougher than the East Ender of London. "As to the social evil, of which there is so much talk in the newspapers, I can safely say that vice in this country is not to be compared with vice in England. In England it is flagrant and open, and one meets with it everywhere, but in New York and in this country generally if you want to find vice you have to go and look for it. I regret very much that I was unable to devote more time to studying the social question in New York. The only glimpse I had of it was in Detroit.
"I am greatly pleased with your clubs and with the literary men I have met. There is genuine hospitality in the clubs, which is very pleasing to a traveler. I have met many newspaper men, both in New York and in other cities, and have formed many cordial friendships among them. Your ministers are much more tolerant than those of England.
THINKING OF SAN FRANCISCO.
"I find a certain philosophical resignation about Americans which astonistes me,"
Dr. Doyle continued. "Your tramways deliberately tear up the streets of your cities, leave huge trenches for citizens. to ride or drive into, the companies run their tramways to suit themselves, and the public calmly looks on and bears the annoyance.
"In England, should the tramway corporations try to ride roughshod over the public, one man would cry out and the cry would be heard in three hours from London to Liverpool. The cry would be taken up by the newspapers and there would be a stop put to the annoyance without delay. But here I find the tramways pay dividends of 24 per cent, run things to suit themselves, and, in fact, the citizens are continually under the thumb of the corporations."
Dr. Doyle said that he was not pleased with the American bar, referring to the saloon. He said that in England all drinking was done at tables, but here one had to stand up to the bar and drink, pay and get out. There was no comfort in the American custom.
Dr. Doyle said he had nothing in his mind at present in the literary line, but that Sherlock Holmes would not be reincarnated. He was dead, for good and all. He said he would devote a little time when he arrived in England to some dramatic work he had in view, and would try to return to this country in June, when he would go to Colorada for shooting and hunting, of which he is very fond. He said he would not lecture again, either here or in England.
