The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-10-21
THE HOTELS OF WASHINGTON.
THE HOTELS, THE q GATHERING PLACES
or WASHINGTON SOCIETY.
The Ebbitt House, Riggs, Wizards ana
the Arlington H0teIs-Their Char
acterIstics and Patrons,

Washington, October 1G. 1877. I
When went to the Capitol this m orning
was told that the Democratic Senators would
not push the contested cases to-day unless the
Radicals forced the issue. Knowing both the
fact that tho Radicals would not force the issue,
and the reason why they would not. lost in
terest In the Senate and went over to the House.
There | found the main business Of members to
be That of raiding the new Doorkeeper In behalf
of the myriad applicants for the hundred and
odd small places In the gift Of that functionary,
This state OF things was. equally with the Sen
ate of little interest, 50 resolved towrte letter
on o subject which carries only an incidental
interest in politics, but which really plays an
important part In the sum total Of public affairs.
/ refer to
THE HOTELS OF WASHINGTON
British economists tell us that the gauge Of
civilization 10 found In the classification of
tastes, habits and pur,uits, that the highest
state OF civilization involves the closest gre
gariousness on the part of guilds. classes and
denominations among mon: that London
is the most perfectly civilized city In the world
BECAUSE though twice as large as any other
city In territory and population, there Is no city
In the world, great or small. in which the
stranger may 80 easiy find his way to the sent
OF any particular branch of trade or of industry
which he wishes to flnd. This is indeed true
London has Its localities not only well
defined, but historically pointed out
and advertised. Its Commercial District. It's
Financial District its Warehouse District. its
Bazaar Quarter-in fact everything. from odg-
inR-houso to palace and from a bit of ribbon to
o cargo of coal, is classified. set apart and al.
most labeled with nomenclature that has be-
come traditional. In that great metropolis Of
the world the names of streets have passed into
synonyms of special Industries and traf1cs.
current wherever the English language is
known. Lombard street Ia synonym for
money-changing as current In America as in
England-and so on ad ltbiton.
The same order of distinction is observed In
the theatres. the parks, the public halls and the
hotels. Everywhere we see the operation of the
Anglo-Saxon Partially for order and positive
convenience-th tendency to save time and
ahridge locomotion, 30 as to transact the largest
possible amount Of business with the least pos
sible trouble and expense. There can be no
doubt that this classification OF great masses of
population and of interests into such de-
fined order and with such plain sys.
tenn is. as II Is claimed to be, at once
q triumph and a trophy of civilization. |
as this science of classification
progresses, we shall ultimately reach the ideal |
city OF the future. whose shopping districts |
shall be defined by law and where the green |
grocer, who invades the street which is the do
nuisance. or where the cattle-drover, who regis
ters ut the hotel freauented by statesmen, may
Pc put out by the cglored porter without re-
ainly be g lofty flight of the angel Of cvliza-
ion and 1t Ii certain to be delayed until other
'eforms are effected nearer the surface of the
But without imagining extrayaganzas. LEFT ma
consider the, facts relating to the subject first
,n washington st t n my Judgment is in
N the American continent That is to saw IN H,'s
ocial sense. Now when speak OF
THE SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON"
must not DO understood to refer to those
Q those mobs Of boys. alike beardless and
rainless, who chiefly dance its germnna and
make its fashionable calls. This precoclous In
ociety." but there It's title ends. Sensible
eople, who really constitute the society of the
atoaa as cagta generally regard the ns
2ns 81 successful revolt in the nursery
With thus much of reservation then let me-
rocee s upon the hypothesis that Washington,
Social sense is the most highly civilized OF
american cities.
There are various reasons why the hotels Of
sassnlngt9n should pc OF greater relative i'm
u other places the bulk of the important and
nnuential population ts permanently resident
r ~ era In homes r So that their hotels
iinment OF the unknown wayfarer. At all
vents. In cities like New York Chicago. New s
lere is between hotel and resident life is based |
pom commercial rather than upon social con-
But hereAhe hotels frequently shelter
THE MAGNATEs OF SOCIETY
self. Here 1t is not the sojourner at the hotel
no II giai OF an Invitation to The home of a
lend In the suburbs but 1t Is the friend in the
lburbs who seeks the society of the magnate {
For these and other reasons the Washington c
otel ACQUIRES an impor ance peculiarly its i
,nt Lyefy hosei IN washington is by some
g nation. The register teens with autographs n
!, the great. and every room has held states t
inner you jostle the rulers of the land. and {
sn ~ the sar,ro are biz with destiny
lis on It's obstetrics and gives them an interest a
There are four really great hotels in Wash t,
gton, two great restaurants and two colossal n
harding houses.
THE FOUR GREAT HOTELS b
2 the EbhiM House: own d and managed by i
leo Q Willard: Wizards Hotel. owned by u
snsy maapd mRd managed by John Coke {,
d managed by Roessls: and the Riggs House n
a,ch has lis fame me- all before it. The Two great g
s. |
o two colossal boarding houses are called tha
ltional and the Metropolitan.
rhese hotels have gradually fallen into lines T.
runs" OF special patronage until they have II
CURED something OF the distinctiveness of a
aracter noted above as the British test of civ ~
zation; "A dstnc,iveness which. is not tn be a
and in the hotels of any other city in the land.
THE EBBTTT HOUSE Il
the society hotel. 1t is the resort of the army al
q navy almost without exception, and the CT
pecial Mecca Of managing mammas VINO s,
me hither to bring out their daughters in lie
ishington, society" The proprietor. Mr.. al
lizard, makes a first bid for this particular ii
SIS OF custom by carefully attending to the la
tward attractiveness of his house; YOU know
q the outward habiliment that chiefly catches
eye OF he society female; and thus Mr.. viii
d beckons the sweet creatures unto him
9 Ebbitt stands at the corner of Fourteenth
Il streets. and occupies, one, quarter of an
mense block. bounded by the two streets n,
med Thirteenth. 4 and Pennsylva Avenue. IL
light French style of architecture, clean 10
lite facade and general airiness. give 1t the
pearance Vt a watering place rather than a IN
Y hotel. The outward effect is fully sus- AZ