St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-15
THE LODGING HOUSES.
A Peculiar Business That is a Source
of UnfaiIing Profit.
Different Kinds of Houses and People
Who Patron1ze Them.

Nothing is truer than the old saying thai
"one-half of the world does not know how
the other half lives" and the person who
first used the expression must have had in
mind the cheap lodging houses which are
to be found in every city in the United
States. In Minneapolis the lodging house
business has grown to tremendous pro-
portions and has always been a source
of great and unfailing profit to the proprie-
tor.. One man came to Minneapolis with
SAG. so in his pocket. His first move was
to rent small tumble-down shanty, which
he converted into lodging house, charging
10 and Is cents for beds, according to the
location. His business soon increased. and
in few months he was enabled to remove
to larger building. To-day he is running
seven houses and has bank account that
would astonish many people who knew him
a few years ago.
A moments thought will show why the
business is profitable and why the pro-
prieter can
SOON RETIRE WITH A FORTUNE.
The first step toward starting lodging
house is to procure the upper floors of some
business block, the more central the loca-
ton the better. The large rooms are then
divided off into smaller rooms, perhaps
seven feet wide. In each room is placed a
single bed, which has most alwaS seen better
days, and which was procured from a
secondhand store by the enterprising pro-
prietor. In the lower class of houses,
washstands and chairs are conspicuous by
their absence, the guests being supposed to
do their washing down stairs in the main
office.
About the only ''help" generally kept
around such house is an old woman or
some horribly homely girl to make up the
beds in the morning and transact such
other domestic duties as may be necessary.
A cheap, small boy to remain in the office
and receive guests and summon the pro-
prietor in case any one feels at all conscien-
tious about
PAYING FOR HIS BED
in advance. The cheaper lodging houses
are not, as rule. as clean as they might
be, and it has been said that more than one
person has been aroused from his slumber
to engage in chase after the nimble
and troublesome bedbug. At night,
when room, say seventy-6ve fee
long and twenty-five feet broad, is
filled with sleeping men, separated
from each other only by thin partition
reaching about three-Quarters to the ceiling,
the air is not of the purest. but the uncon.
scious sleepers mind it not in the least
Some of the proprietors of the lodging
houses have become almost independently
rich and have placed their houses on more
pretentious footing. Here the stairs lead.
ing to the Office are carpetsd. three OF foul
pictures ornament the walls, and a
HALF-HOTEL-LIKE AIR
prevails. In these places an effort has been
m n in chor
the rooms contain strip of carpet in front
Of the bed. chair and a small wooden
washstand. These improvements seldom
extend above the third floor, and after
reaching that attitude tho rooms grow small
and waShstandless once more. The price:
in one of these houses ranges from 25 cents
to 81 per night, and for the latter money
bed can be obtained about as good as cal
be had in any hotel in the city. OF
course there is not electric button, a push
upon which will summon porter, but it il
just as well perhaps. The people who pat
ronize these houses are not confined to any
one class, but embrace all classes and
nearly all nations. There may be seen the
street hawker, the laborer, the gambler
and hundreds Of others. Strangers coming
to the city in search Of work are also pa
irons OF these places. Not having muct
money they naturally go where cheap bee
can be obtained, and here they
SLEEP ON SoUNDLY
as the richest man in the city does in his
handsomely furnished chamber. Not un.
frequently the cunning face of ''crook' Of
sharper may be seen at cheap lodging
house. and the detectives, when they wan
man and have failed to find him in othel
places, generally turn their attentions here
and III many cases succeed in
finding their man. The proprietors
as rule, are very accommodating wher
honored by a call from all officer, and show
him through the building with the utmost
respect The idea that all lodging house.
are in reality but designation houses is
mistaken one. Of course it is seldom thai
any questions are asked if a
MAN AND WOMAN
come there and register as man and wife,
but let it be said to their credit, the proprie-
tors of none Of the houses in Minneapolis
care for that kind of custom. Some OF
them have gone so far as to refuse to let a
room to q man when accompanied by 8
woman. This has in some cases driver
away profitable customers, but in the Ions
run it pays, and one proprietor has said he
would never again let woman sleep in thu
house.
Very few thefts are reported from lodg
ing houses. Perhaps there is good reason
for this, as most OF the guests have nothins
worth stealing, and those who have know
how to
TAKE CARE OF IT
so that no one will get it. The lodging
house is peculiar institution in many re
spects, and will doubtless continue to re
main so until the great question of how