The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1879-10-17
Growth Of the Hotel System.


The people of New York have always
been noted for doing things with rush.
Late in the 'tforties" they found that
they had no hotel worthy of the name;
that they had no house fit to entertain
tined to be one of the great cities of the
world. Two or three years afterward, in
1901 or 1862, the demand was more than
supplied by the opening of the magnif-
Gently appointed st. Nicholas and Me-
tropolitan. Then began the new era of
extravaganza and wastefulness which has
since ruined many an American hotel
keeper. Up to this time, it had not been
fashionable for private families to live in
hotels, but little by little, O certain class
OF lazy and fashionable women, d1scov-
ering that their delicate organizations
could no longer Withstand what they
called the drudgery of housekeeping,
gravitated toward the new hotels, and
soon the st. Nicholas, the Metropolitan
and the New York, which had meantime
become prominent, were well patronized
by families. With this increase and turn
In the character of their business, the
New York hotel-keepers found them
selves forced to make radical changes in
their housekeeping. Instead of an hour
for breakfast, they were obliged to set
apart four hours, and instead of the old
chathng-dish system to introduce new
one, under which every ''guest''
had now ceased to be ''boarders'' should
have meal freshly cooked to order The
dinner hour and the dinner bill of fare
were extended in proportion, and every
thing went swimmingly until it was pro-
posed by the st. Nicholas proprietors to
increase their rates to So and So so day.
Their patrons strongly objected to the
increase, and some of them, having been
abroad, began to talk loudly of the
European plan;" but when the aristo-
cratic Breevort was opened, many of
them discovered that even at cost of
So 50 a day the old system was the cheap
est one for the public. Meanwhile, the
number of hotels rapidly increased until
the supply became greater than the de-
mand, and very few of them made money.
Indeed, when the splendid Fifth-avenue
was opened, in 1859, every one predicted
it's speedy failure. But the war and
flush times came, and carried it and
other leading hotels into a haven of
great prosperity. In 1868 the price of
board advanced 20 81 and SIS day, and
for time to keep hotel was to make a
fortune. But, of course, this phenome-
nal and unhealthy prosperity could not
continue. The crash came, the names of
nearly all the great hotel men figured
prominently in the bankrupt courts, and
the proprietors of to-day have to suffer
for the short-sightedness Of themselves
and their predecessors. The fact is that
one class of Americans who live in a
hotel expect too much for the price they
are willing to pay. They expect even
greater attention, better service, and bet
ter fare than they received just after the
war, but still insist that they shall be ac-
commodated at from 25 to 80 per cent.
less than war prices. They are SO ac-
commodated. The hotel-keepers lose
money on them, and their more liberal
or, in most cases, it would be better to
say, their foolishly extravagant neighbors
are actually feeced to help pay for their
support.-N. Y. Times.