“WETTED AMERICA"

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19784, 7 March 1927, Page 3

“WETTED AMERICA"

MEW ms EXTPAVAGAMCE MQUOB RAIDS SUSPENDED. New York. Philadelphia. Boston. San Francisco,. Chicago, and other groat American cities witnessed last year the biggest and “wettest" celebration of New Year’s Eve since Prohibition became law. It is customary for Americans to book seats in hotel dining rooms, restaurants, and cabarets for Now Year’s Eve, and thm time the charges for guests were proportionate to tho overwhelming demand. For a party of four, it is estimated that the cost was about £5O, on the following scale: Four seats at a theatre, £l4; four “breathing soaces" in any high-class night club, £l6; two quarts of alleged j champagne and one quart of villanous Scotch whisky, £10; tips and extras, £5; leaving only £5 for cabs. Hotels, for New Y’ork festivities, are cheaper than night clubs, and a great deal more respectable, but. even here the leading establishments charged £2 for a sandwich supper, with ice cream, jazz music, and ice water. However, all space was booked, and. since the Prohibition director kindly intimated to the American metropolis that raids were temporarily suspended, the river of “hard" drink and bright gold flowed unrestrained. The impulse towards scenes of extravagance witnessed in Now- York is mainly seasonal, but it is also influenced by the fact that there has been wonderful prosperity during the last year, I and that, despite some ominous signs . regarding the future, there is appar- ; ently no prospect of any immediate de- ; cline of importance. The unpreceden* ed building boom, however, shows signs ' of deflation, and the agricultural inter- j ests, representing roughly 60 per cent, j of America’s industry, are suffering l from serious over-production, with a corresponding slump in prices.