Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-10-26
FREE.LUNi H PHILOSOPHY.
A Saloon Keeier Discourses Upon q
Great American Institution.

'The most important business feature OF
this establishment is the free lunch We serve"
said the keeper of q saloon not far from the
Treasury building to o STAR reporter abou
noontime yesterday. I'VE make an effort to
provide the best and most elaborate free
lunch to be found in the city of Washington
and We find that it pays astonishingly well; in
fact, our business success is chiefly due to it.
You see the notion Of getting something for
nothing is very attractive to almost every one,
and the average man who would not otherwise
think Of taking a drink between IL and /
o'clock will go long distance out Of his way
to get one If he is offered bowl of soup
with ii gratis. Offer him a dinner and the
temptation is irresistible. That is our policy.
Any one who comes in here for drink between
IL and 2, or from 4 to in the afternoon, is well
come to hearty meal, well cooked and served
in good style by a colored waiter in neat white
apron, who asks each customer quietly what he
will have and brings the soup boiling hot IN a
bowl, with q plateful of oyster crackers and a
snowy napkin, carves the meat, or helps to the
other edibles on the side table; and for all this
there is no charge whatever"
But should think it would cost too much
to payyou," said the newspaper man. finishing
on his soup with gusto and beginning upon
some delicate slices of corned beef and remark
ably palatable beans which had just been placed
upon the little shelf before him.
ONLY EIGHT DOLLARS DAY.
"It is not 30 very expensive" replied the
saloon keeper. ''For instance, this vegetable
soup with meat in it, which you say is 80 de-
hci0us, We can make enough to feed 100 people
for eI5O. That piece Of corned beef, which
weighed 40 pounds when it was put ON the
table, cost $500 at the butchers We get our
meat by Wholesale, several hundred pounds at
a time, and 30 it comes cheaper. The beans We
cook ourselves, and they cost almost nothing,
you know; in fact. they are the cheapest food
In the world. When we don't have corned beef
we have liver, and OF that q dollars worth will
do for one days supply; 4O-pound piece of
corned beef will last two days, nobody being
allowed to cut it but the waiter. Then we have
tripe and pickles, and, for a special delicscy,
from 4 to pm, we serve little Goldfish balls,
red-hot. Why, lots Of people come here at
that time for those confish balls alone. Alto
gether, what We provide in the way Of food
without charge costs US 80 Q day.
And it brings enough extra custom for
turntables TO remunerate you?"
WHERE DEPARTMENT CLERKS "GRuR."
Several times over. This has come to be
the rendezvous Of the department clerks. They
come here by hundreds during the recess in
the middle Of the day and after 4 o'clock in
the afternoon, when their duties are over. To
of daily lunches is q matter OF serious financial
consideration. When he can come here and
satisfy his noon-time hunger for cents and
have glass of beer thrown in he finds it con-
siderable inducement TO patronize this estab-
hshment But, of course, when men come to-
gether there il always treating around and many
drink spirits, 80 that each customer on an aver
age spends Is cents. II he eats cents
worth of provisions and the cook and
waiter cost another cent, We still have margin
Of profit. This saloon never has dull season
and you will see more people in here in one
day than in any other two bar rooms in town.
That is enterprise-in other words, free lunch.
Naturally, some of our patrons are not very
profitable; they come here to eat az much az
they can and they never take anything more
than a single glass of beer. They find il
cheaper than restaurant. But such cases are
not frequent and there are various easy ways
Of discouraging that class Of custom. Did you
say strong or mild cigar, sir?"