May 20 Monday – The Boston Daily Globe, p.5 ran an unsigned New York interview done with Sam at the Everett House (not in Scharnhorst):
IT PAYS TO KICK.
Mark Twain Says So in All Seriousness.
Believes in Complaining to the Responsible Head.
Cites Discourtesies in Our Every Day Life.
Approves of Reform and Tells How to Get Redress.
“I Suppose We Are Born Timid,” He Says.
NEW YORK, May, 19 — Mark Twain chatted with a Globe reporter at the Everett house today about the possibility of a great reform in American common life. The humorist as a reformer may seem to be out of his role, but Mr. Clemens had put by the mask and spoke earnestly.
In the course of conversation he was asked if in his last trip to France, from which he has just returned, he had noticed an new habit or fad of the people that differed from those at home.
“I don’t recall anything startling just now,” he said. “I am not one of those travelers who seek in a foreign country for something they do not like. So many people, especially in writing about other countries, seem to view them as if from an eminence, and look down upon and decry what they do not like. It makes not the slightest difference to the people of the country; your opinion is of no value to them.
“I do not like to look for something whenever I go among foreign people that we can adopt at home with benefit to ourselves or advantage to America as a nation. In many years I think we are ahead of all, but I believe there may be good points found by careful observation of other people.
“In the last four years I have crossed the Atlantic 15 times. Every time I get back to New York I see things on every hand that I think are better than what I have just been accustomed to. They keep coming up there, there, there again and yonder, but every now and then I see something that isn’t so nice.
“Did it ever occur to you to notice how discourteous we are as a people in our cities? In common life I mean.
“Yesterday I was in one of these great stores where they sell about everything one wants and where there are a thousand clerks. I was waiting for my purchase when a woman walked up to the counter — an American woman all over (he repeated in a gallant tone, and shaking his head in his peculiar manner by way of emphasizing his admiration of her kind while he deprecated the weakness he was about to report).
“There stood the salesgirls behind the counter. With the air of one asking a favor the woman asked if she could see some article of apparel that goes about the waist.
“ ‘What’s y’r size?’ asked the salesgirl, brusquely.
“ ‘I don’t know,’ said the woman, mildly.
“ ‘Here, measure y’rself!’ and the girl snaked a measuring tape from under the counter and handed it to the customer.
“A purchase was made, and then, from the salesgirl, abruptly: ‘Payfe’t now or send it home?’
“ ‘I will pay for it here.’
“ ‘Cash — cash — cash!’ and that was all.
— — —
“Now, isn’t that the case, over and over again? Are we not all that way?
“Doesn’t a man do the same at a hotel? A stranger enters a hotel office. The clerk glances up, sees that it is not one of the regular patrons and goes on with his work. The man registers and asks — asks — if he can have such and such kind of a room. The clerk swings the register around, scratches a number opposite the guest’s name, and yells: ‘Front! Show the gentleman to X, 13.’
“There is the same discourtesy without a word. The man asked a question. The clerk said not a word except to summon a porter. It is not always what is said to us; it’s the way in which it is said, or the manner of the person that really offends us, and this when we have not been offensive in word or manner, but have been polite.
“There is none of us who relish such treatment as the woman received at the big store. Yet we are silent, or if we complain we do not complain in the right place, and so get little redress.
“Abroad people are not likely to be subjected to such treatment, and if they are they complain to the highest in authority and get better attention.
“Until this time I have latterly on my return from across the water up at the Players’ club, and I have always been impressed with the conversation of the men, who are telling each other of some trouble they had had during the day on the street car or elevated railroad lines. It seems to me an odd thing that there should be such difficulties so frequently, and I asked if the sufferers had made complaint. Yes, they had, but I found it was only to some one about the offender, not to the responsible head. That is wrong. If we want courteous treatment we have got to see to it that complains of abusive treatment are made to the proper people.”
“Do you hold, then, that discourtesy is to be reformed by complaint?”
“I do. Twenty-five years ago the general experience in this country was that if you addressed a railroad conductor you got an insolent or a gruff answer. At that time if you wanted to go from here to Hartford or to Boston, for instance, the chances were that you would have to stand up, and if you asked for a seat the conductor would either tell you disagreeable that there was none or he would not answer you at all.
“I have seen those cars with the aisles filled as those of your surface cars, and a request for a seat would be answered by abuse. One man — I ought not to have forgotten his name, but I do not just now recall it — stood for his rights. He demanded a seat, and insisted that one be given to him. They told him bluntly there were none. They matter was carried to the courts, and it was very promptly decided that a railroad company must give a man a seat or pay damages. Now you have not difficulty in getting a seat if you only insist gently but firmly on having one, even if the company has to put on an extra car. And all over the country now the railroad conductors usually answer you civilly.
Bainbridge Colby wrote H.H. Rogers regarding his efforts to arrive at an agreement with Harper & Brothers for a Uniform Edition:
I have been expecting to hear from you regarding the purchase of the plates of Mr. Clemens’ books. I understand that we had agreed upon the price, and that you were only waiting for a word from Mr. Clemens approving the purchase [MTHHR 155n1]. Note: A contract was drawn on May 23, 1895. See source for more details.