The San Francisco Sunday Call Mary Tremaine Hayes Lit |'IHB1 HB politeness, is she dead?" is I the question recently asked by I a French newspaper. But oh, "ye gods and little fishes"! this question has long since been settled in San Francisco. Politeness, as/ It was understood by our .grandmothers, even • our mothers, Is,not only dead, but so safely laid ax^fey that even Its ghost does not walk. • That Immortal definition True politeness is to do ud.stj . The kindest thing In the kindest war. * was written when the world was young —before the day of the trolley, the ele vated, the subway and the automobile; t before the discovery of steam and elec tricity. Sir Walter Raleigh was not catching a 5:37 train to Burlingame when he took the time to remove his coat, turrrthe sleeves out and throw It in his liege's path. Also, this defini tion was' written during the epoch be tween the toga and' the * hoopsklrt, when woman was the creature of mas culine care; when the heart of man expanded with a sense of lordliness, as * his strong arm was swung out over i».e head of clinging woman. Present day conditions have evolved , their concomitant results, but we are desltag with now with effects, , not * eauswx There are cities in. our south ern states today where the spirit of our I*l d school politeness still exists. To , 'trie grown up In this atmosphere, where he ghost of the cavalier days still »/talkT3, the spirit of your bustling west »rn city presents a worldwide contrast. There a lady, on entering a streetcar, may be assisted to stejj up by a cour teous strAger on the platform, upon entering the car be given a seat by a gentleman, who raises his hat, and says, "Please take my seat, madam." And, upon leaving . the car, place is made for her to move through the crowded aisle. In Baltimore and Rich mond even the gripman not infre quently calls to a lady running to catch his car, "Don't let me hurry you, , madam. Take your time." And the car waits until the lady has had time to make it comfortably. This was the contrast that confronted me, a stranger' within your gates, upon reaching your city., last Thursday, struggling alone over your fog 'drenched pavement with my stiff ; knee. Incumbered with suit j■, • -■--.-•--.- --•■.- -■.-..: case, grip and umbrella. "Step lively, mum," the, conductor Jon your Market street shouted at me as 5 I . signaled him to wait, "you got to hustle •If you want this car." Panting and . flushed I reached the car, elbowed my • way through a knot of men on the plat t form who had not made way for me, and stood clinging as best I could to a strap until a Chinese sitting; in front of me reached his corner and got/off. On s both sides of the ... car; sat men of all sorts and conditions, buried in their - papers, refusing to see an inch beyond % ; their noses. / Instances of gentle courtesies shown strangers on streetcars, trains and waiting rooms occur, I admit, in places.' not considered strictly up to date, and "" it took me less, than a day to fill more plates than I could carry of San Fran-' Cisco's "up to dateness" caught alive." *- Before the car had reached my trans fer point I realized that the spectacle of A car filled with standing women while • the seats are occupied by /men is so common among you as to create no ' comment. But the argument .used in defense thereof is as , threadbare as the offense—that the poor,; tired man had worked all day and deserved his seat. The first instance of politeness I wit nessed in your city was from a work ingman. - From his clothes he was a plasterer or painter. His coat .was daubed with the sign of his craft, his shoulders; drooped after the manner of the tired, but when/a; wcftnan boarded the car witn a child in her arms he arose, punched her in the ribs as the car gave a lurch, and motioned her to the seat he, had vacated. Here, of course, was mere humanity, and although it came nearer to politeness than anything I had seen; so far, it was not prompted by the spirit of courtesy. Several/men had looked up as the woman entered and looked away again. This was a pitiful commentary on the falling of j •western standards of both politeness and * Kindness. Neither the sex nor/the' condition of this woman, had availed to/ evoke the spirit ol.courtesy that reposes/ in undisturbed peace on J your shores. A decade ago, even In San.- Francisco. : I dare say, a man who would do a thing like this would feel boorish and " un comfortable,. although he might persist. In his' selfishness from pigheadedness. .............. .. ■ , Today he. holds his head up with no thought of being below par, custom evi dently having ; made his conduct pass for decency. Howell's; reflection on the dead body of his friend "as "the silent witness of his absence" might be used'with much fuller force anent your . present day deadness of politeness. Dead?- "v7hy, bless you, we would have forgotten that such a thing had ever lived but for the chronicles In song and. story. Is, there a woman in this.town who Is not almost.every day of her life, if she is down .town during the, busy' hours, pushed out of the way as a big hog of a man, by . reason of his ; greater strength, crowds" into the car to get a seat first? Not because there is such a crowd, he- may* not be able to get a seat at all, but; because • he ' prides him self upon the fact that he is "up to date" and a .hustler. This thing of letting grass grow under your feet, his manner proclaims, isi a bad thing. Hus tie anyway! .Naturally, then, this hus tler who has crowded .into the car be fore you, when he is ready to leave.the car, takes the occasion to straighten out what he chooses to call- the; abuse of the Sutter street car management In in. slsting. that the exact fare be dropped into the hourglass. " Other "hustlers" and many women 'may" be behind him, but he • takes his own .good .; time to raise the- blockade from the door.' He, is a great big mm with * a great big fine opinion of himself arid the rest of the* world really, doesn't matter so very much, when you come right down to cases. " . -./ -'„..,;, ■ „"■ The Powell street line, t I surmise, drains one of the very,best districts of the city, but on the Powell street cars I have >seen; instances of the most fla grant • boorlsriness one could encounter anywhere. The first instance was at the crossing of California street, where the Fairmont, - the University club and a large apartment " house face each other. A young man, dressed at/least like a gentleman, boarded the dummy and eat beside; me. Taking out his fare, he deliberately reached across; me. when he might just as comfortably to himself and much more - comfortably/to; me have reached;his arm behind me to the outstretched hand of " the con-: ductor. The ru,deness /of his . manner was lost upon: -4 the chap -.himself—he, fairly 'reeked/ with * the Ingrowing con sciousness of /'being himself he had leaned < against my'shoulder, breathed in/my face, ; jostled my hat, crowded ' me down upon . the ; next pas senger, just % to get his nickel- to/the^ conductor. Such an instance of awk wardness and rudeness as this is, after all, only a pitiable ignorance—a lack of that finer/sense of things that must be innate or does not exist at all. This fellow may belong to. one of your best clubs,' may be a successful; man in his line, may be kind hearted at the core, but «he will never be a gentleman neither -was his-father-before him and his mother was riot a lady, I don't care who he is. He is modeled out of coarse clay. The only place where such rude ness may, be s€en in the south would be in a "Jim crow" car. < / Another illustration of my charge of the ; San Francisco j man's! lack ; of ; polite ness occurred on the : dummy rof /this same; Powell street 1; line. At the inter , section of, : Powell and Market 'streets a number/ 0f..: ladles were waiting for a Jackson; street car. When It stopped a strapping six footer made lunge; pushing ladles right and left, and ensconced'himself in the end of the seat on" the dummy. I was by this time so interested in my thumb; nail /studies I purposely.:- stood in the corner J beside him, waiting to fee what/would happen. And : I found i what . I respected * Sitting/at; an easy"; angle that took /up// space enoughsor// two,'/ he lit -f a cigar and puffed the smokef into my face with a self-satisfaction quite beautiful to see. As the; car/ filled up other ladies were crowded into /my,, small space, But this man held his ground without even an effort to .move / down. At Buchanan street he got off and \ ran up ? the steps of a '/substantial: house with marble steps. No doubt one of your represent ative San Francisco business men, prob ably a good citizen, but a cad f"'A'' :-: V U ; •; Many minor instances /of/the'! lack-of politeness rather than downright * rude ness came// under ;my notice, both in homes /and; public „ places, * but {the "next thing that/ suggested your western barbarism/ was my lirst visit/ tor/your. beautiful. park. SJIt was \ a glorious day for a stroll and a bask in the sun, and, taking a book, I betook myself to the street entrance to- find ra shel tered scat in/the, sun f and /enjoy/ the MYSTERIOUS CRIME LAID BARE POLITENESS IS KILLED IN SAN FRANCISCO , 0. U. R. Hustle Is Accused of the Murder A Woman Visitor to the City Makes the Startling Discovery and Secretly ' Gathers Evidence That En ables Her Jo Point the Accusing Finger -■/.., -■*, ■'-. //■;' i:'--;„ .-.'"'';.- ■'-.■ ■•-—■: ■ v-; ■'..-'■ *■■ '/'"■■ ■'".;. ,/: .. ■'[■■ '.; f .•■-' ''■..■',/>:' : -/^'/ ; "/SV;-J;v .*/*'"> />_-.: Are YOU An Accessory Before Or After the Fact? blue skies and flowers. The first seat Jj passed was occupied with nursemaids and/their/little/charges,-the 'next seat by a pair of lovers, whom God forbid to be disturbed. The next few seats were not In the I sun, so on I walked until a turn in the path brought me out of the shadows. Here stretched a row of ; several benches all In the bright sun shine, but all occupied by men. Vainly I looked for a place among them, but \no one offered either to move along to make room for me or to offer his seat. At last I stppped to ask a man I met to direct me to some sunny open place where I might find a seat. Very kindly an^ definitely he directed me to a quiet, sunny nook, neither T raising his hat nor removing his pipe as he did so. "Thank you for your < courtesy/ -I said,/trying to pur a double meaning Into my words as my glance swept his hat and pipe. "Oh, that's all right," he answered cheerfully,/ as he '..went his.way. //The/ standard sof politeness i you / set for' yourselves is, naturally, the stan ; dard adopted by the foreigner who comes to your shores. Consequently, what do you find? Insolence! Your lack iof politeness Intensified Iby imitation ' : becomes 1 insolence, with If no one but yourselves to blame for It. When your gorge rises at seeing four or five young Japs strung out on the seat of a ferry station while American women stand, why do you talk about exclusion for all Asiatics, and dilate upon the incident of the Red Lacquer bridge? What of courtesy do they see among ; vmi to emu late? When we go down to Chinatown PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE SHOW THE MOST COMMON DAILY OFFENSES AGAINST POLITENESS I OFTHE AVERAGE MAN] to ; shop; and are /answered , theater. '.'All right," says Ethel,/"just leave my ticket at the box office \ and ': I'll; get arounrt soon as I can." Jack is;a/good follow/and Ethel a nice girl. They ; have a' pleasant even ing, perhaps go arid:have something to eat after the;: theater. Then, as "Jack lives in the Mission and Ethel in: Union street,/ he puts her on her/car at th-i corner, says v "goodnight" and ,■',. "good bye" arid.'off he/goes to catch- his own carhis duty done,/ IWhat ■ have you to infer from '■■ this re sume of existing conditions, you peo ple/of; San Francisco? ; "The politeneaa. is she deadr/ The preponderance of evidence leaves - but "- one answer, - Th* .world/) is kind, the world /is/ philan thropic, the world, we insist, is good. But the politeness, she is undoubt*-^ dead. ■ .'■ ,P ■ • /As we have lived past /the day/of Jeweled J snuffboxes, kneebuckles. lace frills and powdered wigs, we shall also endure, despite the death of gallantry. We shall have liberty and equality in stead/of/ noblesse - moment,/; v.i know it is you who have brought about the changed conditions. So hustle along ;in '-« your boasted up-to-da»eness and good luck to you as you f;