The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-24
THE AMERICAN HOTEL.

The following translation of an article in a
recent number of Die GGrtenLa1tbe of Leip-
sic is curious and interesting, as presenting
the views of German traveller, though not
altogether Just in it's criticisms, taken from
an American standpoint
Gin these days of rapid and cheap cem-
munication, when time and space seem
almost to disappear, and when luxuries aud
enjoyments once limited to the few are
within the reach of the many, the privilege
of travelling has also extended to the multi
tude All the world now travels. A direct
consequence of this increase of locomotion
is seen in our modern hot els-those mon
strous establishments to be found in ever
growing dimensions in all our large cities, as
well as at those other points where the tide
of travel is strong and constant. Like great
barracks in appearance, hundreds, even
thousands, of guests are in them at one time
sheltered, fed, and surrounded by all the
many comforts demanded by the present
generation. In Paris and London, on the
Rhine and in Switzerland, in Berlin and
Vienna, every year there arise giant hotels,
each one on larger scale and more magnif-
cent than the last. But it is in the United
States of America that the largest hotels are
to be found-in that country where the
number of travellers reaches daily higher
figure than in any other.
AlUQOuSn our QOC6lS are cosmopolitan IN
their character, yet the features of nationality
are not lost in them; and the most marked of
any other in its national peculiarities is the
American Hotel. These peculiarities, whether
advantages or defects, arise clearly from the
characteristics of the people who are to be
the patrons and supporters of the establish
ments The American is an essentially social
creature; he loves crowd and prefers to live
surrounded by one. He is even born often
s,sa ton hot
are more births of twins in that country than
elsewhere. He goes with a multitude to
school, and to the higher institutions of
learning. He travels by rail or by steam
boat, surrounded by crowd, and his greatest
delight is what he calls mass meeting. And
at last he often dies en- masSe, for in no other
country on the earth are there so many peo-
pie killed at once by railroad accidents, boiler
| explosions, etc.
'sTrue to this principle, the American calls
that only good hotel which numbers its
guests by thousands, or at least by hundreds,
| and which can offer him an elegantly-fur-
nished suite of parlors, where he can receive
his friends, and where his wife and daughters
can exhibit their wardrobe to appreciative be-
holders. He would scarcely believe that the
quiet doorway, with its stately porter the
only being in sight, could lead him to the
first-class hotel in Europe; and the idea of
dining en- fauaiHe in a plain, comfortable
room at such hotel would seem to him un-
sociable and absurd. On the contrary, he
likes to fight his way through crowd of
smoking, splitting men, filling the vestibule
and overfowing into the street. up to the
desk, behind which in calm dignity sits the
man who is to be his ruler as long as he re-
mains in the hotel.
''Woe to him if he has failed to telegraph
his coming Either he is informed that there
is no room for him, or he is conducted to one
in the seventh or eighth story, which he is to
share with several other occupants. This
last, however, is of no consequence to him,
for he has no objection to sleeping in COM
pany. Indeed, he will sometimes expressly
desire to be put in the same room with others,
if not in the same bed with them A Presi-
dent of the United States once shared the bed
of renowned statesman while travelling,
and during the night they took counsel
together concerning the affairs of the nation.
There is one popularity to be mentioned
about American hotels. The rooms are all
the same price, whether they are spacious
rooms on the first floor OF small rooms under
the roof, with only space for bed, wash
stand, and chair. The poor traveller is, there
fore, at the mercy of the proprietor, or his
man of business American chivalry towards
ladies Cin which term they include all white,
deeently dressed women), however, is re-
markable, and generally secures to them
good attention, while the rest of the race
must take care of themselves. Men are not
excluded from the ladies' table, nor must
they pay extra for the privilege; but if they
take their meals with the mixed multitude,
it may very likely be by the side of the pro-
fessed gambler, who is seldom wanting in an
American hotel. If traveller is fortunate
enough to be acquainted with the autocrat
behind the desk, he may obtain more con-
sideration; otherwise, if he asks for room to
himself he will probably be told in surly
tone, and with a look of surprise at his
temerity, that the house is full. And, indeed,
in hotels on the most frequented lines of
travel this is not mere pretense, but corri-
dors, reception rooms, and parlors will often
be found filled with beds to accommodate the
overhowing number of guests.
''The same tendency is shown in their
meals Unless an American is surrounded by
a noise and confusion which indicate to him
that he is only one of a multitude, he can
scarcely enjoy the excellent dishes with which
an American table is always supplied. But
the traveller, ignorant of the customs of the
country, will be amazed at the manner in
which his modest request for dinner at a
specified hour is met; and still greater will
be his surprise if, arriving at a hotel after a
long and fatiguing journey, during which he
has had nothing to eat or drink, he finds the
dinner or supper over, and is coolly told that
the dining-room will not be again opened
until after such and such an hour He cannot
dine to suit his business or other arrange
ments, but the time when the meal
is to begin is announced by a
blood,curdling beating of gong or ringing
of bell, or by laundering knocks at his
door. And alas for the unhappy individual
who may fondly imagine that he can choose
his own place at the table and 'perhans he