lidity of business buildings, great
blocks that house thirty thousand souls in the working day, and these
buildings have the same air as their London brothers; that is, they
seem to be monuments to financial integrity (just as mahogany
furniture, with a certain type, is an indication of "standing and
weight") rather than offices. And if New York buildings are, on the
whole, more distinguished, are characterized by a better art, they are,
on the other hand, not relieved by the humanity of the shops that gives
an air of brightness to the London commercial area. In New York "Down
Town" the shops are mainly inside the buildings, and it is in the
corridors of the big blocks that the clerk buys his magazines, papers,
"candies," sandwiches and cigars.

The interiors of the buildings are ornate, they are sleek with marble,
and quite often beautiful with it. They are well arranged; the
skyscraper habit makes for short corridors, and you can always find
your man easily (as in the hotels) by the number of his room: thus, if
his number is 1201 he is on the twelfth floor, 802 is on the eighth,
and 2203 is on the twenty-second; each floor is a ten.

Up to the floors one ascends by means of one of a fleet of elevators,
some being locals and some being expresses to a certain floor and local
beyond. Whether the fleet is made up of two or ten lifts, there is
always a man to control them, a station-master of lifts who gives the
word to the liftboys. To the Englishman he is a new phenomenon. He
seems a trifle unnecessary [but he may be put there by law]; he is soon
seen to be one of a multitude of men in America who "stand over" other
men while they do the job.

The unexpected thing in buildings so fine as this, occupied by men who
are addicted to business, is that the offices have rather a makeshift
air. The offices I saw in America do not compare in comfort with the
offices I know in England. There is a bleakness, an aridity about them
that makes English business rooms seem luxurious in comparison. I
talked of this phenomenon with a friend, instancing one great office,
to be met with surprise and told: "Why! But that office is held up as
an example of what offices should be like. We are agitating to get
ours as good as that." After this I did not talk about offices.

The "Down Town" restaurants bring one vividly back to London. They are
underground, and there is the same thick volume of masculinity and
masculine talk in