Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-06-16
From the Ns,o YorE Weekly Dgg Book
STRIKE AMONG THE NABOBS-BOLT OF THE
METROPOLITAN HOTEL

l 'AAbALAA4 <A-hOANN LII NABUbC-bOLI OE IHE
METROPOLITAN HOTEL.
Everybody, or nearly everybody who reads the
newspapers probably knows by this time that there
| has been movement among the hotel proprietors,
in this city, to advance the price Of board to stran
gers from two dollars fifty cents day to three dol
lars Everybody, however, does not know that this
movement, at this time, owing more TO the high
price OF cotton than the high price of beef The
| pretense was that provisions were high and the
hotels could not afford to feed people for two dollars
fifty cents head but the true reason for the effort
lay IN the fact that the northern travel and business
were over and the southern pleasure travel lust abou
to commence. Cotton was high, planters were rich
and southerners proverbially LIBERAL how could
there be a better time to put up prices than the
present? True beef had risen two cents a Mound
and gormandiser would eat half pound a dav.-
sugar, too, was high, and loss Of at least one cent
more was felt on that item. Flour and potatoes
were little lower and cent Of the loss was gained
on these two items but then butter and lard poul-
try and other ''hxlngs, were high, and reckoning
everything together, it was evident that the aggre
gate cost OF keeping man at one our irst-class
hotels was from two to two and half cents more
day than 1t was last year. To some this was sufi-
clent reason for an advance in the price Of board
and so the company were called together 10 form
combination to ''put up the fare" Several meet
ings were held and the question with all its BEARINGS
fully discussed.
Those in favor of "highering," as the newsbovs
say, dWelt long and eloquently upon the high price
OF Oeet but the knowing ones Winked and said cot
tOn--sOuthern travel-humbug The proprietors Of
the Metropolitan, the first of the large and maguifi
cent hotels in this cty-whieh attracted the atten-
ton OF the world by its elegant and costly furniture
its spacious and cOmmodioUs rooms and its sumptu-
GUS table, looked upon the whole movement as s
catch penny affair, and refused 10 have anything to
do with It, They said that they had had much ex-
Perlence IN hotel keeping had been in the business
more than twenty years, and although they spent
more and more money every year, and intended to
continue TO do So for the comfort and luxurieg of
their guests, they could make money and we're
making mOny at present prices, and would ioin no
combination for the purpose Of advancing prices.
The truth is, the managers of the Metropolitan
nave the faculty Of sailing along just the confines
OF eAtraYagance without going into it.. In other
words, they know exactly how far to 60 and give
ther guests all the comforts and luxures that hotel
can Afford without the eXravag ance that dazzes the
eye but doe not please the taste The consequence
IS their house is always full of the very best class OF
people IN the country, and is beyond question the
most popular as 1t Is the most comfortable hotel in
the city.
The fashion of the Metropolitan Hotel is that Of
the rst class Of wealthy people in this city; and not
that Of gamblers, snObs politicians and level bedi-
Zened spectators Of which New Ork is always full
And TO tins fact the prOprieors owe as much as to
any one thing, their great success in business
IAey nave but few or no unpaid accounts their
books. Each hotel has its peculiar class Of guests,
and the Metropolitan right in refusing to raise
the price whilst it enjoyed the patronage of that
class which know as well how to keep as enjoy its
wealth. and never tries to make money by 'sponging
on its landlord"
Southern travellers and merchants are indebted to
the Metropolitan for the stand its proprietors have
taken IN their Defense and we commend It to their
attention with more than ordinary pleasure, not
only on this account but because we feel assured
that whoever enjoys II Injuries and comforts week,
through our influence viii thank us for it.