San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-10-08
AGENTS FOR THE LIGHT.
A NEEDED MOVEMENT.

Yesterdays LIGHT informed its
readers that the Masonic fraternity
are organizing public comfort COM
mittee to take care of the Masons dur
ing the fair" The men who travel to
the east, as a rule, are not unmindful
of their brethren, and in thus ar
ranging for the comfort of their crafts
men who will attend the fair they are
not only following out the tenets of
their order, but are setting much
needed example to their fellow citi-
zens. San Antonio has not boarding
houses and hotels enough to accom-
modate more than forty per cent. Of
the visitors who will be in this city
during fair week if the weather re-
mains pleasant. The other sixty per
cent. will find themselves in close
quarters for accommodations if no
concert of action Is taken by our citi-
citizens to provide for their comfort.
1t is unworthy the character and rep
utatlon Of any man to bid guests to
his dwelling and make no provision
for their comfortable entertainment
when they arrive. What Is not cred
liable to a private host is certainly
not less discreditable to public one.
San Antonio by her advertisements
and by her invitations to the general
public to attend her fair, has invited
the people of this and neighborlng
states to enter her borders, aud for
the time being become her guests. at
least to the extent of providing COM
Portable shelter and food supplies for
all who come. Because these visitors
expect to pay for their lodging and for
the food they eat it by no
means follows that the citizens have
no hospitable duties to pay the per-
sons OF those who come. The people
certainly have right to expect that
provision will be made for such &C
cOmmOdations as are necessary, just
as much as we have a right to expect
that they will pay for the accommo-
dations they enjoy. To speak or
think of leaving these people to shift
for themselves is not only ungener-
Gus but it is foolish, and will prevent
future attendance at any fair we may
be inclined to hold. 1t is not q senti-
ment, it is a hard fact. We must
provide shelter and sleeping accom-
mOdatiOns for those who cannot be
lodged in the hotels and boarding
houses. We cannot in decency turn
them adrift to forage over the city
for shelter, to find it or not as
may happen. We must take
intelligent action and devise before
hand for the needed accommodations.
A committee of active, intelligent
members should take this matter I'M
der advisement at once. A canvass
of the city should be made to see how
many of our people will open their
houses and give rooms and beds to
those who come, for a reasonable re-
Enumeration. The restaurants will
provide food, and that need not con-
Germ the committee, but rooms with
beds must be provided for. The peo-
pie who have spare room should not
wait to be urged by the committee,
but should respond most heartily to
this and other public intimations of
what is so urgently required. A full
list of those who will furnish
rooms and beds, with the pum-
Der they can accommodate, should
be prepared at once and placed in the
rooms of the fair association so as to
be added to and consulted for refer
ence as application may be made
from time to time by mail for quar-
tiers in advance. When the fair opens
the committee having this matter in
charge should hold themselves in
readiness to give direction to those
seeking accommodations, and let Wis
itors see that thew are welcome and
that intelligent provision for their
comfort has been made. If this is
done San Antonio will have COM
mended herself to the good will of all
who come and her reward will not be
small. If this is not done, and visi-
tors to our fair find no provisions for
their comfort outside Of our meager
hotel accommodations, the next fair
will be slimly attended and San An
tonic will be posted far and wide as
inhospitable, churlish and undeserv-
ing of the patronage of the public.
AS she sows in this thing so will she
reap, and seeding time is mighty
short.