The Press., 1884-09-11
FREE-LUNCH FEEDERS.

''You wish to see an out-and-out free lunch fiend ?" remarked the keeper of one of the leading saloons of San Francisco "There is fellow over there at the lunch counter now that lays over anything in the line that it has eyer been my misfortune tt encounter" sffE xFsSf3E E 5 Yes, there he stood the incarnation O the type of lunchers which 1t had been the reporters desire to observe for week past, and if another week had been de voted to the study and habits of the spe cies and the whole town secured for a bet ter sample, he couldn't have been trotted out. He picked out the tender pieces o1 meat with his fingers, gulped down plate of pea-soup without taking more than hal1 dozen breaths, sampled the pickles and helped himself literally to large pieces o1 bread, upon which he plastered butter enough to make boarding house mis tress faint if seen upon boarders slice then grasping link of bologna i'll one hand and filling his pockets with crackers, he started for the door.
 .tThat fellows had a square meal and a drink of whiskey for 10 cents, remarked the saloon keeper, as the lunch fiend van. ished through the swinging door of the re. sort. Where do you suppose the profit 
 The reporter gave it up. ''But there are less swinish lunchers, of course 2
 ssYes, to be sure. There are gentlemen and there are hogs to be met with here as we'll as everywhere. But this free-lunch institution Is one of the worst swlndles on man who attempts to make an honest living that know of. There's no use of talking, 1t is a fraud.
 sWhy don't you stop the practice of keeping lunch-table then p s5 -.ssl
 Might as we'll close up the place and be done with it," replied the saloon-keep- CT; sit would be suicidal to my business interests. No one will patronize saloon for any length of time where there Is not an array of eatables on hand. Then, too, there is 8 certain class who would never enter saloon if the practice were not i'll vogue. Of course we might dispense with that class, as they are often more expense to us than what they bring in to the mon- ey drawer amounts to. l know free lunch dude who is supposed to eat at res meals at the counters of saloons on this street. If all the saloon-keepers could combine against the system they could make twice the money they do, and it would be benefit to the public, as they would get much better liquor than is given them now. We could afford to do it, you know"
 Perhaps the man was right. There are other reasons why the system is perni- cious, and one is that the nibbling at these lunches, as indulged in by the vast army of drinkers, is not at all conducive to health. On the contrary, physician of the city assured a reporter recently that that the system was to be blamed for the impairing of many good digestion. Cases had come under his notic. of ills which he was confident, from remarks made by the patients, were primarily caused by partaking of lunches at various periods during the day between meals. Dyspepsia, liver disorders and disarrange- ment of the digestive organs generally were pointed out as the result of the free lunch. The institution is essentially American, and nowhere in this country do the lunches attain such excellence as in San Francisco bon-ton resorts. All drink ing places make some pretensions toward their maintenance. Some vie with each other in the matter of choice and tempting displays. The lowest resorts. take the leavings from hotels for their tables, and in a country town, where there is little o1 no competition, plateful of crackers is often made to do justice as free lunch.