Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-10-22
NIAGARA IN BIER.
A Dull Season and why-SeusibIe
Views Of u Hotel keeper-A Rev
OlutfOu I'm Hotel Prices.
Editorial Correspondence Of The Star.l


views OF the falls under both OF the aspects de
scribed by Dickens; shining and glowing like
molten gold when the sun is on them, and when
the day is gloomy, "they fall like snow, or seem
to crumble away like the front of great ch ak
cliff, or roll down the rock like dense white
smoke" The Niagara season is over of course
though all the year around a certain number OF
visitors find their way to the falls. Niagara
continues TO be the paradise of counting couples
and of the newly married, and the few visitor,
to be seen were quite evidently of one or the
other of these persuasions. There is reason
for all this. Nowhere else are there such dan
gerous precipices and abysSes, making il i'm
peratively necessary that the male arm should
encircle the female waist. Nowhere else is
there such opportunity to illustrate the oak and
ivy business; and the guide books continue to
parade the awful fate of Miss Martha Rugg,
the spinster, who for want OF male arm to
cling TO ''fell over the bank, and descending "a
depth of lis feet was dashed on the sharp
rocks below"
This has been
A DULL SEASON AT NIAGARA.
1t has been dull at all the watering places, to be
sure, and the popular theory of the landlords
in explanation, is that everybody went to Eu-
rope. But l find one hotel man who explains
it in more Ineligible way. This is Mr.. james
L. Fulton, the proprietor of the international
Hotel at Niagara. Mr.. Fulton is an active,
business-lke man, who, commencing as clerk,
has worked his way up to the proprietorship OF
one of the finest pieces of hotel property in the
country. He says -" This has been a bad wear
| for the hotel men. 1t has made me feel pretty
| sick, and have been looking into the matter
| TO zee where the difficulty lies. Some will say
| that the great summer hotels were empty this
| year because the health and pleasure-seekers
all went TO Europe, but this is a mistake. L got
| into the secret in a trip up into New Eng
| land not long ago. At country hote,
there L found a house full of first-csSs
| guests, who had been there through the
| entire season. There was nothing attractive
| about the place; the surroundings were dull
| and uninviting, and the smallest riI tina;
| tIickles over Niagara presents more attractions
| than could be found within fifty miles of this
| country hotel. Yet il was crowded, and with
the best class of people, and who came to stay
for the season, while Niagara, the creates;
wonder of the world, has been visited only BY
| birds of passage, who stay a day or two and fit
| elsewhere. on looking further found that the
cause was really a matter of price; the mode
| rate prices charged for board was an inducement
| to even wealthy people TO make arrangements
| to stay for the season. | have made up my mind
| that the hotel business of the country is on
| false basis. We must come down and give the
| public the benefit of the declining prices
| since the war. The shoddy people have
| PLAYED out. They haven't q coat to their
| backs, AID scarcely a shirt; and the hotel.
| people have got to rely upon the business
| men of the country for their custom; and
| the business men are apt to count the cost be
| tore deciding where the family shall 20 for the
| season single man stopping for a day or two
| doesn't mind the difference of dollar per day
more or less, but when it comes to a whole fam
| lily it is a matter for consideration, even for
| wealthy people. 1 accept the situation, and
| propose next season to make an entire change
of base. l shall reduce the price per day from
| S4.50 to $3.50, and for weekly and monthly board
| still more proportionately. | have large and
expensive hotel; have invested all the profits in
| improvements. and the Niagara season is
| short one; but propose TO test the experiment
| of keeping nv house full for the entire season
at low prices, instead of half full at high prices
| Niagara, with its supreme attractions, ought 10
be crowded all the summer, and mean TO IN AXE
| the experiment of lower prices TO bring people
| here"
NIAGARA FBNCED IN.
| | asked Mr. Fulton if the feeling raised
throughout the country by the "fencing in
| of Niagara had not had something to do with
the falling OFF of visitors.
Fulton Undoubtedly it had but there was
| good deal of injustice in that clamOr. As yon
| will see, the only place really "fenced in" is
| Prospect Point on the brink of the American
| Fall. This was a very dangerous and exposed
| point, and for the safety OF the public it was
| necessary to build a parspet wall along the
| precipice at a heavy expense. An enclosure
| was made here with q trifing admission fee of
| 20 cents, (and not much more for the season.
intended to be barely sufficient to pay interes.
| on the cost of the wall, which wall as you will
| see, not only ensures safety, but enables the
| spectator to get view never before attainable,
| directly oyerhanging the American Fall. There
| is really no more reason why there should no.
be small toll to pay the interest of the cost OF
this improvement than there should be a toll
for crossing the bridge to Goat Island.
q. But would 1t not have been better for the
II FALL atNg - -
| made the view free?
| A. The difficulty is there is nobody here able
| TO stand the burden for such Improvement
| The community here consists of a few hundred
| people, mostly poor people. The consequence
| is that the Porter family have had to shoulder
| the cost and get what returns they could in the
| way of tolls
| @. What about the extJrhons of the hack
| men?
| A. Here, too, there is injustice in the camor.
| Formerly there was undoubtedly cause for the
| complaints, but now the hackmen have been
| put under restrictions. Every man is required
to he licensed and under 5000 bonds for his good
behavior. The regulation price is 81 per hour,
| but through the competition it is virtually but
l 81 per hour. II they charge more than the reg
ular prices 1t is the passengers fault If he does
| not expose them"
| There is undoubted truth in what Mr. Fulton
says that the Improvements III AIDE in the way OF
| parapets, bridges, &C., were imperatively
| needed for the public safety and convenience,
| but as matter of 'business" am satisfied the
hotel men at Niagara would find it to their ad
| vantage to club the amount requisite to pay tn"
| interest on the cost of these improvements, and
| throw them open to the public as free as air
Niagara, the Yosemite, and Mount Blanc are
objects of colossal grandeur that belong ID all
| mankind and the idea of "fencing them In" Gre
| ates a feeling of impotence that would not be
| felt in regard to pettier works of nature.
BUFFALO AGAIN.
| The time allotted was rather small to ''do
| Niagara" but our obliglng entertainers had the
arrangements so well made that we were put
| through the general round of sightseeing here
| with neatness and dispatch. OF course in this
| October weather we did not care to take a bath
| in the Cave of the Winds, or to linger long in
| the penetrating spray under the American
Fall. Niagara, in its Indian summer suit and
with its wealth of foliage, brilliant with all the
| dyes of Nature, had charm beyond that of the
summer, and, perhaps, looked its best. To the
| lovers OF nature, Niagara should be most at
| tractive in autumn, when the fsshionables with
L their m a l. a hav cd