The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-06-05
SALOON AND COFFEE HOUSE.

Reason why the Coffee House Has Not
Been u Success in This Country.
The New York Christian at Work
contains symposium of opinions on a
scheme outlined by Robert Graham for
the establishment of coffee houses in
this country. The opinions come from
clergymen, philanthropists, temperance
workers and public men, and are all
favorable to the undertaking of such an
enterprise. They claim that the coffee
house is the most efficient instrument
with which to fight the saloon, and
that, as established in England, it has
proved a great success. 1t has checked
intemperance, been useful as a start
ing point for other reforms, and in al
most every case has proved remuner-
ative in a money sense. With so many
arguments in its favor, it is not strange
that the attention of social reformers in
this country has been drawn to it.
The failure of past attempts to es-
tablish coffee houses has been almost
wholly due to want of business man.
agemcnt and the neglect to recognize
the difference between the social con-
Those who saw the coffee house sue.
ceeding abroad, and proving faithful
and efficient ally of the temperance
cause, imagined that it was only ncceS-
sary to establish the same institution
here to meet with the same success
The result has been that the coffee
houses established in this country have
been almost invariably failures, giving
little or no aid to opponents of the
saloon, and proving financial loss and
Encouragement to those who started
them.
One of the chief characteristics of the
successful coffee house must be the
social feature. 1t must be made at
tractive, and the frequenters must be
made to feel that they are not in
truders, no matter how long they may
remain. This is a characteristic of all
English restaurants. They are ar
ranged with coy hooks and comfort
able sofas and chairs, where customers
can sit and chat at their leisure and
remain as long as their disposition
suits them without feeling that they
are intruding. There is an atmoS-
phere of contcntment and comfort
about them which is as attractive and
appetizing as the bill of fare itself.
One person or a party of friends can
sit at table undiSturbed for hours,
and, within the screens which shield
them from the observation of most of
the other customers, rest and chat at
their leisure.
American coffee houses, on the con-
trary, have almost always been ar
ranged on the plan of the typical
American restaurant, with two or
three rows of tables running down Il
long, narrow room, with hardly space
enough between them for customers
to sit. The whole affair is suggestive
of haste and discomfort and restless
ness. Such a place has no attractions
for woriingman after a day of labor.
Human nature revoltS against the ar
rangement and the class to whom the
enterprise appeals is repealed instead
of being attracted. The fact that
human nature must be taken into ac-
reformers lose sight of. There ought
to have been enough failures of we'll
intentioned effort by this time to en-
able men with an eye to business, as
well as to reform, to establish coffee
houses and make them successful by
adapting them to American wants and
habits. -Philadelphia Press.