New-York tribune., 1885-01-18
VALYS AND TALKS IN THE CITY

When John r. McLeau-was here recently. dropped IN
20 see him for n few moments at the Fifth Avenue Ho'e
He had just in. and the table in his room was COW
cred with letters, which he rapidly opening an"
after glance at their contents throwing into tho nre
Its abominablc, aoominable." he said. "Why 90
nothing In New-York but open mail from people WIN
want INC to buy something. or nave hiS
picture taken, or go somewhere iHc'o
all advertisements in some form vi ''"V-
There oughi TO be wayin which guests couio oe
tected from such pests" BY this uine inc ihs' 'S
had disappeared in the ire aud we began another topic
but Yesterday i'm the room of prominent gentleman az
nm uptowa hotel was given permission to go through
his mail which he told me would tnd Ike NJ NC
Leans every respect There were eighteen app@eas @
Three were from theatres, soliciting his presence n
eash) at the evening performance. Three were from
merchant tail RS Offering TO make mp English gooas
begged the guished honor of pointing his camera
OF the distinguished gentleman for whose photos'aDh
the whole world said 10 be impatienty crying An
other to print bis RctgTs , sng oioSrIPy pa
reporter whose card had been sent u ana an lteINeM
refused say that he had seen anoheI H
look to he crushed to unless he accorded the
same privilege TO the writer summer hote fequeS,e
the recipients attention te its salnbrlOns locaon au
adyantagcs These may serve samples The names
TO which to address such letters are obtained ohi ''
lists OF prominent arrivals in the morning papers
GLOW docs my name get into the papers r. some pub
lie man often asks For about fifteen years one man
fn N,wYok has made business of visiting all the hotels
nightly to look over the registers and pick out the
names OF prominent visitors for publication MS name
is Joseph d. Lennon He Is short rounu-iaced JoiS
young man whose eyeglasses ana piack mus
tachs are known to all the hotel men, Win
whom he is favOrte by reason OF his good nature
and long auaintance He began this work when the
Metropolitan Hotel was "way uptown Oiiglnaly ne
gathered the names for THE TRIRUNE only Now he sup
IIes ali the papers His nightly round begins about
O'Clock the Hotel Buckingham Fifty-lhlrd-st. ana
Fifthave and it is nearly midnight when ne reaches
Printing House Square, are the hotels ne
must visit and widely distributed over the city In
ar hp has hepn
become familiar with the names or nearly every
COngTessInan Governor. Senator or pnbhc man o!
any kind in the country. lie Is in fact walk
ing directory of public men. sometimes an enort
Is made to evade public mention OF the arrival
here of noted personages. but Mr. lennon has realy
discovering any such attempt, ana IL rarely
succeeds.
IA hat manufacturer said to recently: When first
went Unto abusness IN 1862 the hat trade was all in
lower Broadway Every store both sides OF Broadway
from Rector-st and point opposite down TO Whiteha-
st. was occupied by wholesale hat dealers. except that
Nc. 80 was occupied by the Adams Express Company
Those were the days when business paid In the nush
tmes at the close OF there days when Won
could not have found ten Of hats unsod among all
the wholesale dealers | remember times when tofore
IL a. M had sold ont OF goods We mad. ana
one and another OF our neghtors would drop in and
report state Of affairs until 1t was shown that
not two wereo be found In the whole trade The
profits usually So case-four times our present
average profits At times number OF cases would come
IL when trade especially active aud we would IN
crease the price to 50 profit and get IL too Tho trade
we went up to Canal and Mercer SITS The trade grad
ualy crawei up town along Mercer Greene aud Broad
and Houston sts and Broadway between Prince ana
Houston do not think the up town movement VIII
Continue very fast The hat have plenty or room
where they are and there to be no reason why
they should move There is 50 much competition at
present that there is very little profit Tne south NOR
walk manufacturers will not lose much If their factories
are shut down FOR time"