Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-04-03
MODEL COFFEE HOUSES.
SUPPLYING CLEAN FOOD AT THE
 LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICE.
A Question Which Thoughtful and Phil lanthropic Persons Have Studied-A Field for Practical BeEevolcnce-Phtt- adelphia's Model Coffee House.


 Thousands of brain and hand toilers take their midday meal in down town restaurants. It is within the memory of most people when this practically unknown here. The growth of the city and the extension of the limits of residence districts have served to bring this about In this respect Chicago is merely having the same experience as Paris, London, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and the other large cities of the world.
 The great metropolitan centers have also long had to do with the matter of supplying to the people the clcanest and most nutri- tious food at the lowest price possible. Thoughtful and philanthropic persons have studied the question in it's economic and moral bearings, and the experiments made in other cities have generally been very sat isfactory and successful The coffee house of Great Britain is known the world over. The British workman is as familiar with it as with the church or chapel he attends, the vocation he follows or the vernacular he speaks. It is place where he get for from three to five pence from six to ten cents) a substantial repast of good food and coffee, tea or milk, served in a cleanly man. ner, in a respectable place, to which he could take his wife or daughter, or some ones else daughter. The same conditions and classes are to be found in America as in London or Liverpool, Glasgow or Manchester, Birming- ham or Bristol The cities of the United States like New York and Philadelphia, Bos- ton and Chicago, have had growing up the past twenty five years the same lunch or res taurant system which has long obtained in the cities beyond the sea.
 CHICAGO RESTAURANTS.
 Chicago is as well supplied with excellent restaurants as Paris or New York, according to it's size. No visitor from the near or far east fails to compliment this city in these particulars. The travelled, cultured and we'll to-do classes recognize and appreciate such comforts and conveniences more readily than any other. There is, however, a portion of the community whose members are not often heard on these matters. They are not the opulent or middle classes, but the wage work CTS. How many places are there down town where respectable shop girls, for example, earning from S3 to S5 and S6 week, could afford to go and get warm noon meal, or even a lunch, suitable to a brain or hand worker! There are restaurants without number where persons earning from $1O to $50 or $1OO a week can suit themselves as to the bill of fare, and yet how does the cased stand with respect to those who cannot afford to pay more than 50, 75 cents or S1 week out of their hard earnings for lunches, and
 
 food in the middle of the day2 The w. c. T. U has undertaken and maintains lunch establishment where healthful plain, nutri- tive food can be obtained at about cost, but ill the nature of the case this coffee house can do no more than suggest what might be done.
 In the average restaurant all articles of food cost five cents or Inultiples of i've There are several establishments where from 5000 to 1, 1000 persons are fed daily. The charges are reasonable, the coffee, rolls, milk, etc., are excellent, the places scrupulously clean and neat, and the service all that could be wished; and yet many of the working people are unable to patronize them because of the scanty wages they receive, and the strict economy they must constantly exercise. In some of the experiments in Great Britain, Philadelphia and elsewhere, there have been maintained eating houses for just these classes, and they have been successful. Why might not some of our philanthropic citizens find in this a field for their practical benevo- | lences Is it not worthy of attentiona | PHILADELPHIA's MODEL.
 | A model coffee house has been maintained l in Philadelphia for years It began in one room. The food was good, well cooked, clean 1 and cheap. A pint of the best coffee, with cream and sugar and roll. cost five cents. It was no charity. Patrons paid for what l they got, and got what they paid for. The idea was not one of profit, but purely of phi lanthropy. It steadily grew in favor, and | its generous founder, leader in the Society of Friends, has had it enlarged time and again. Then room was opened to women. The workingmen were benefited, and work. ing women came to be by the addition of the l department for them. A reading room was | added in time, and hall that would seat BOG | persons.
 l Other coffee houses have been established on the same general plan The original re freshment room, opened in 1874, has growr to accommodate 400 persons at time, and
 over 5000 meals are served daily. The bil
 of fare provides for some seventy articles
 whose cost is from three to ten cents. Thi: will give some idea of expense to customers
 Oatmeal, grits, mush, stews, pot pie, codfisf cakes, liver, eggs, potatoes, corn, peas, anG tea, coffee or milk, with bread, five cents
 peaches, frozen custards and melon in season six cents; beef, veal mutton, ham, fish ol
 baked beans, eight cents, and sirloin steak
 chowder or egg omelet, ten cents. The dishe are large, and are described as ample for al
 the requirements of the inner man. Thi
 model coffee house has no cigar stand, al
 though very high prices have been offered for a corner to sell tobacco. The idea of tn Philadelphia coffee house may lead som
 philanthropists in Chicago and elsewhere t
 go and do likewise.-Inter Ocean.
 The Romans Not Dancers