Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1876-04-13
THE CENTENNIAL.
Tho Circular Addressed TO the British
Peeple-Some Interesting Incidents Rela.
two to tho Centennial.

Tho Circular Addressed to the British
Peeple-Some Interesting Incidents Reia-
tive to tho Centennial.
The following from Colonel Sandford,
the British commissioner, was written
at the British headquarters, on the Gen
tennial grounds, for distribution in
Great Britain and Ireland. It is re-
view of the situation from foreign
standpoint, and will be read with in
terest
The success oi exhibitions has been
hitherto imperiled from two opposing
causes-unreadiness and over-readiness.
Unreadiness on the part of the exhibi-
ton authorities, or possibly the rail-
ways, or probably the exhibitors, or,
still more probable, the combination OF
all, resulting in buildings unfinished,
railways blocked, and exhibits undis-
patched.
Thanks to the energy of the director
general of the coming display, MIR. Cos
horn, the buildings in Fairmount park
are thoroughly ready, and every pre-
caution has been taken that experience
could suggest to insure completeness in
every particular for the opening day,
the tenth of the coming May. There is
still remaining the great question OF
over-readiness, or in other words, the
unaHimity with which hotel proprietors,
lodging house keepers, and cab drivers
united in an unholy league, and a un.
animity worthy Of better cause, to
fleece the unhappy visitor.
De naortuis nil nisi bonuna, and 1t
would be unkind to speak harshly OF
1873 and the pleasant Kaiserstadt by
the Wien, but truth obIges. The first
of May, 1873, saw everything from the
zenan,el or small roll upwards advanced
fifty per cent. from the prices Of the
previous day; hotels not ashamed to ask
ten gulden for bedchambers au cin-
quiene, no larger than bathrooms, and
cabmen, unable to realize to how large
an extent they mulct the stranger, went
on strike.
We shall now endeavor to show how
Philadelphia is determined to carry out
her title of Getty of Brotherly Love, Z"
and to arrange so that sojourners within
her walls may not only have, in Ameri-
can parlance, a good time of it during
their stay, but also carry away with them
kindly memories.
From the first it was seen that all the
hotels in the city, carrying out even to
their fullest ability for packing, could
in nowise accommodate even oDe-tenth
of the expected visitors. The Centen-
nial board of finance, with Mr.. Welsh
as president, therefore took the matter
into consideration, and several schemes
we're proposed to meet the deficit of ac-
commodation; it was, however, found
that to be successful the management
must be responsible and the arrange
ments practicable. To build was out
of the question; what was required was
to utilize the spare accommodation the
city affords.
Therefore survey was made by the
engineering department of the exhibi-
ton, and it was found that there was
total of 127, 900 houses in Philadelphia,
ranging from mansions downwards. An
association was therefore formed, to be
called "The Centennial Lodging House
Agency" The four railway companies
into the city, namely, the Phiia-
delphia and Reading, the Philadelphia,
Wilmington and Baltimore, the North
PENNSYLVANIA, and the Pennsylvania,
who, next to the promoters of the e1hi-
bition, are most interested in its sue
cess, were invited to cooperate; they at
once saw the necessity, and the scheme
was set on foot. --...
Canvassers, well acquainted with every
ward and district, were sent out, and q
house to house visitation commenced,
the result being that II, 900 bedcham-
bers, in private and boarding houses,
have been secured by contract, and an
made by the company with
the proprietor of each house to accept
the coupon of the company as payment
in full.
This coupon will entitle the holder to
a bedroom, an American breakfast (even
the very,details of this havebeen settled),
consisting of fruits, meats, and vege-
tables, including the favorite dish of po-
tatoes fried in milk, stewed tomatoes,
etc., supper and attendance, it being
wisely determined that the dinner ques-
ton was a nuisance to sightseers, COM
pelling them either to return home from
long distances, or to pay twice for the
most unnecessary meal.
To fully understand the bedroom &C
it must be said that in
Philadelphia every house has its guest
chamber, invariably one of the best
situated and most handsomely furnished
in the house; there is always bathroom
with a supply of hot and cold water,
and the free use of the drawing-room;
for ali this the uniform price Of the
coupon will be So to 50. so per day, the
dollar to be taken at three shillings and
sixpence. The large chambers, if
pressureshould.. occur, will accommodate,
and in fact are intended for, couples,
married, or two friends, giving q total
lodging by this company to $4,000
The old hotels in Philadelphia, by ad
ditions and other contrivances, have in.
creased their capacity fifty per cent, so,
taking their previous limit of guests at
10000, this would allow for Is, 600, and
taking the three new hotels, two imme-
diately facing the entrance to the exhi-
bition grounds, recently built, at 5000,
would make q total hotel accommoda-
ito. of 10000; one of these, the Globe,
having no less than 1000 bedrooms.
The hotel prices at present range
from $3.50 at the well-known and ad-
mirably managed Continental, through
S3. so at the Collopade, the handsomest
hotel in the city, down to 81; but at
meeting of The hotel proprietors IL was
laAo..ainod 70 nnaka ON nniform increasa