speed, Elegance and Luxury : 343 



of their operating lines was the winter cruise. Liners that otherwise 

 would have been operating during the winter months between Amer- 

 ican and European ports with a half or even a quarter of their nor- 

 mal passenger sailing lists were diverted to carry out cruises to the 

 Mediterranean, to South America or to some other warm and invit- 

 ing region. At first these cruises were of limited extent and duration 

 but as the idea demonstrated not only its value as relaxation but also 

 as economic enterprise, the range and the importance of the cruise 

 increased. Even world cruises became popular and profitable. 



At the start, one of the factors that accounted for the rapid growth 

 of the cruise idea was the existence of American prohibition. The 

 number of Americans who disliked having total abstinence thrust 

 upon them was legion. They tired of poor liquors and imitation 

 wines. Many who in normal times enjoyed a moderate use of wines 

 and spirits refrained from drinking at all because they feared to con- 

 sume the injurious and sometimes poisonous substitutes that were 

 sold. The cruise, whether long or short, offered a ready means of 

 escape from prohibition America. 



Possibly there was an excess of cruises during the 20's. They fell 

 off in number but did not die even during the years of the great 

 depression. The soundness of the cruise and the cruise ship have been 

 demonstrated by their survival and current popularity. 



The full development of luxury liner services is directly dependent 

 upon the size of the ship. The large liners now accommodate a pop- 

 ulation that is the equivalent of a small city afloat — a very wealthy, 

 highly selected city. Nonetheless it is governed by economic laws 

 just as the city ashore is and it has to arrive at a certain size before it 

 can afford to support some of the special services even though the 

 major lines are heavily subsidized and even though some of the serv- 

 ices have been introduced for pubHcity and advertising purposes 

 rather than for utility. 



It is interesting to see how the size of the Atlantic liners has 

 grown during the last half century. The steam liner, characteristic of 

 the nineteenth century, probably reached its best expression in two 

 ships that were built in 1889. These were the sister ships, the City of 

 Paris and the City of New Yor\. Originally built for the Inman Line, 

 these ships were long and low and racy in appearance with hand- 

 somely designed clipper bows. In appearance they were quite different 

 from our present straight steel stiff-sided ocean mammoths. They 

 looked more like very large elegantly appointed steam yachts. They 



