Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

CHAPTER I

They had four hours in New York between trains. The one thing Babbitt wished to see was the Pennsylvania Hotel, which had been built since his last visit. He stared up at it, muttering, "Twenty-two hundred rooms and twenty-two hundred baths! That's got everything in the world beat. Lord, their turnover must be -- well, suppose price of rooms is four to eight dollars a day, and I suppose maybe some ten and -- four times twenty-two hundred-say six times twenty-two hundred -- well, anyway, with restaurants and everything, say summers between eight and fifteen thousand a day. Every day! I never thought I'd see a thing like that! Some town! Of course the average fellow in Zenith has got more Individual Initiative than the four-flushers here, but I got to hand it to New York. Yes, sir, town, you're all right -- some ways. Well, old Paulski, I guess we've seen everything that's worth while. How'll we kill the rest of the time? Movie?"