26th Oct 1924
Hotel Martinique, Broadway and 32nd St, New York City.
Dear Mother,
I can write faster with the old pencil and so as I had a lot of news and lots of correspondence to get through I hope you will excuse it.
I posted my last letter from Chicago as I waited for some snaps to be developed and then enclosed one or two but since then lots has happened.
We left Rochester on the Thursday night and got into Chicago the next morning - spent the day in looking around the city. It is some place and quite easy to find one's way around in. In the morning we visited Marshall Field & Co retail store which is the largest in the world so you can imagine what it is like in size. They employ 9,000 hands, the building is 13 stories high with 3 basements and occupies an entire block in the busiest part of Chicago. They have 9 refreshment rooms continually in operation and 3 cost price cafes for the employees. They have their own schoolroom in the building a nursery for patrons kids and music room, rest rooms of great size and in fact are a complete world in themselves.
On Saturday we took a rubber neck wagon around the city but it proved to be a dud as the guide had no voice for this job and we could not hear half he said but the drive was good. On the Sunday we went to church in the morning and I am enclosing a folder we received there. She is some church. In the afternoon we did a vaudo show and at night a theatre. On Monday we visited the Camerons stock yard and saw that. It is the largest plant in the world. They kill 1200 pigs an hour. 350 cattle and 1000 sheep and we saw right through the whole of the processes but will tell you more of this on my return. We left that night for Detroit but while in Chicago we saw four theatres in the four nights and they were all good. The ones we saw in order of my preference were: Zeigfeld Follies (opening night), Topsy and Eva (Duncan Sisters), No, No, Nanette and Abies's Irish Rose. The first two were especially good.
Detroit is a dirty city and very cold the two days we were there. It is hard to find ones way about as the streets go in semi-circles but we saw Dodge Bros plant where they employ 19000 hands and put a car out every 50 seconds. The next day we saw Fords plant where they employ 70,000 and put a lizzie in the freight cars every 15 seconds. They are both marvellous plants with wonderful systems. Later that afternoon we sailed from the car city on the "Greater Detroit III" down the lake for Buffalo. It was a great trip and a great boat and arrived at 8.30 next morning. A chap we had previously met on the train and who lived at Buffalo met us at the hotel and took us in his car to see Niagara 23 miles away. We went over the border into Canada and saw the falls from there and here words fail me. It is a sight of wonderful grandeur to see the tons and tons of water tearing over the top of the falls to fall hundreds of feet below and throw up a spray that hangs continually over the surroundings. We came back to Buffalo and were treated to lunch at the Buffalo Athletic Club. We spent the afternoon around the town missed seeing Jack Demsey by half an hour at night and raced for the train to New York and arrived here at 7.50 next morning and this is the city of cities to date for us.
Broadway is 14½ miles long and the avenues branch out from it in this fashion [Z-diagram] so for a start it is a bit hard to find ones way around. However so far we have been in their taxis street cars, elevated and subways or tubes as they call them and have only got out of our way in the tube system and that was because we could not see where we were going. On Friday night we saw Tex Austin's Rodeo (the one that was at Wembley) is it at present a Madison Square Gardens and it is a good show as the broncos and steers can buck like fury and the boys and girls can ride and so we spent a good night. Last night we went to the world largest theater to see Berne or Vaufo rather the theater was good the show was woeful.
Yesterday we spent in making a few purchases and also preliminary arrangement for our passage to England on Saturday next. Tomorrow we will finish all our business and then start to see things in this berg.
I called into Cooks yesterday to see if Jack Sulman had gone through yet and apparently he has not as there is mail waiting for him there so I may see him before we leave.
I received a letter from you in my arrival here but methinks some of your letters must be going astray as I have only received 4 letters in 8 weeks!
Kath Broom is my best correspondent and I got two from her to your one which to me does not seem right as you are a good correspondent and not likely to miss a mail. However I was glad to hear you were all well even to Mack but sorry to learn Miss Benson has rather a fancy to Fred. She is likely to prove expensive unless closely watched but pleased to hear he is still playing good tennis and I hope he beat Skvenson. I sent him (Fred) a card but am still waiting for hear from him and also Chas to whom I also sent a card and a letter.
Bill is still improving and I think can go fairly well now although he still has to keep to the vegetarian diet. He does not think he is coming home with me but will stay in England for 3 or four months and then come home.
I forgot to say out of Chicago we went to a Closed Motor Car show and it was good as all the American cars were there and I saw the Ford Lincoln for the first time. It is good looking but I still prefer the RR for looks.
Last night was Saturday and we saw Broadway at its best. It is a wonderful sight I'll tell the cockeyed world. It is ablaze with electricity and the advertising stunts are marvellous. As far as one can see is nothing but electric lamps of every colour and not here and there but in the millions on both sides of Broadway.
I never dreamt it could be as dazzling although I had often heard of the bright lights on Broadway.
This is a big city full of jews and dark skinned races from Southern Europe. Nearly every second person is a foreigner as we understand Americans although I suppose they are naturalised subjects or born here and therefore a dinkum bit of Uncle Sam and no wonder they are chary about picking a brawl with other nations as no matter who they picked on there would be a million or more of that nationality resident in the States that could cause a lot of internal trouble.
We went to see a chap yesterday who came over with us on the boat and it was quite good to hear a bit of real English spoken again. We are going out with him again tomorrow.
There is no class distinction in this place as far as we can see. They all mix up together and the only thing that counts is the $. The more of these one has the higher he rises in society no matter what his real social standing would be in our country.
Well this is the result of an hour and three quarters effort I think that is quite sufficient for once and so will close as I will be writing again before we leave for London on Saturday next. I hope you are all still keeping well. I am as fit as can be and still putting on weight I think although we have seen no scales to try ourselves out on since leaving Rochester when I tipped the beam of 9-11.
Love to all
Gordon
Bill joins me in his kind regards and well wishes to the family.
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