"SECOND CABIN"

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 146, 21 June 1924, Page 16

"SECOND CABIN"

GAINS IN DIGNITY SINCE THE WAR. Second class on ocean liners is not nearly so negligible nowadays as it was before tho war. Officials of steamship companies have pointed this out, travellers have felt it, and reporters are beginning to realise what it means. The second cabin must always be included in searching for interviewing ppssibi]ities. A representative of orie of the small new European countries came tp the United Sta^s lately to discuss with Secretary Hughes a debt of millions due his Government, states the "New York Times." When his boat arrived a shipping reporter went over the passenger list to check the eiivoy's name. He failed tp find it until" he looked at the second cabin sheet.

"It is not uncommon to find Government officials and even persons of title fro.m Central European countries travelling second class," an official of a transatlantic line explained. "Many qf these countries are so poor, or their J.irrenciea have depreciated so much, that their representatives can no longer afford first-class passage. Even though they _ are travelling at their Government's expense, they liave a limited amount to spend and must keep within it. In tho second cabin, westbound, \yill be found, also, a good many persons, of quality from Central Europe to whom j,he economy of second-class rales makes an appeal." Sharing the decks and dining-room with these men and women, he added, is another class contrasting strangely with them. This type travelled in the steerage before tho war. "They believe that by coming second-cabin they will have an easier landing at New York," he said, "than if thoy came third-class and parsed through jillis Island. Though it, is true that second-class passengers land at tho same pjers as the first-class, the immigrant law applies to all classes; and a secqnd-cabin passenger who is nut admissible under tho law cannot enter tjie country any easier than if he travelled third-class."

On. east-bound voyages the character of the second-class passengers is' entirely different, he went on. Ships goipg to Europe take out prosperous Americans of European birth who are bpurid for their native countries for a holiday. The number of English. Scotch, and Scandinavians who travel in this way is especially large. The standing of the second-cabin everywhere, in fact, has risen since the passing of the day when 75 dollars would buy a first-class ticket with-a seat at the 'captain's table. As the price of tirst-cabiu passage hus gone into the hundreds of dollars, students and educators have swum; almost entirely in|p Kecond-cubiii. " Occasionally Americans are found who preler this chits.