The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-21
TO HOUSE VISITORS
Ample Accommodations at the
Worlds Fair City.
THE MATTER OVERCOME N FACT.

| Hotel System Ever Seen in the World
Hotels on the Route to the Fair and
yeritabIe Thicllet of the Structures
About the Grounds.
WORLDS FAIR, June %. = Especial -
On the way to the exposition today was
much amused by the sign which the owner
OF q schooner from Racine, Wis, now an
chored in The harbor not far from the
steamboat landing, had hung over his
craft. 1t read ike this: What is The
! matter with these for cool rooms? Airy,
nice hunks and rooms for rent here" On
the deck Of his vessel he had built q large
cabin, as big as an ordinary two story
| frame house, and it was within this, we
were left to infer, that he had his airy
rooms. The beTths, nice and comfort
able" consisted, no doubt, Of hammocks
slung tween decks.
This floating hotel serves as very good
| illustration CT the manner in which every
| thing has been converted into a hotel il
| Chicago For once it looks as If Chicago
has overdone it. She has gone too far. At
this date not one room in ten in her I'M
| paralleled hotel equipment is occupied.
The most remarkable development of the
| hotel system of a city ever seen in the
world has taken place right here within
| the last year. 1t is simply amazing. Sup
| pose you start from the center Of the city
| and ride to the south, toward the Worlds
! fair grounds. Why it is hotel after hotel,
| either side your route of travel, as far as
the eye can see. Not little hotels, either,
but great monsters rising above the roofs
of all the surrounding buildings. The
! nearer you get to the Worlds fair the
thicker these structures are. Some of
them are among the largest hotels in the
world; larger even than the big ones which
| Chicago had before the Worlds fair struck
the town. Around thefair grounds, a dis
lance of q mile or less from the gates, is a
thlcket OF these vast structures, besides
| scores and scores of smaller ones.
Most of the men who went into these
hotel speculations are going to lose money
Scarcely day passes now without mark
ing the failure of some man who has got
into water over his head. There will be
more failures before the season is over.
Not one in ten of the landlords is likely TO
make any money. Already nearly one
third of the exposition period has passed,
and there is no crowd in the city The
great inns yawn for the guests who do not
come. Bankruptcy stares many of the
proprietors in the face
1t is true that the crowds are coming.
Next month, and the following months,
will, no doubt, see a vast assembling Of
10 la Il
making some concessions, and the vaca-
ton season approaches. Perhaps there
are $1,000 strangers in Chicago now. A
month hence shouldn't be surprised if
there were $4,000 In September and
October there will be jam. There is no
doubt about that. When the harvest is
over and the cooler months of the autumn
have come, Chicago, with all its wonder
full facilities for accommodating vast
crowds, IS pretty sure to have its hands
full. But [ think the hotels will still lose
money, or at least four out of five of them
will
The landlords have to pay rent for six
months, or from the date they took pos
session. For six weeks they have run
with very little business, and at consider
able expense. It viii be at least another
month before they will be able to earn
large profits. Only the last two months
will pour into their Golfers the golden
stream which they have been looking for !
ward to.
In my opinion the hotels will have to !
wait till many of the furnished rooms are
filed with guests. never anywhere saw
anything like the display of furnished
rooms there is in Chicago today. In going
from the center OF the city TO the fair by /,
the cable line, we have ride of eight
miles, or very nearly eight miles, and there
isn't a moment in the journey during |
which one may not look out and see all the /
way from one to a score of signs of rooms /
or apartments to let. They are as thick |
as bees in clover field. They are on the /
principal streets and in the intersectino /
thoroughfares They are in the Easements /
and up to the sixth and eighth stories Of /
tall blocks. They are in humble cottages, |
and in the handsome, stylish houses OF /
wellto-do people. There appears to be a .
craze for letting out rooms.
On the south side of Chicago there is .
population numbering more than half a .
million souls. 1t is my candid judgment /
that these half million have laid their .
plans to take in fully half million more /
as roomers during the Worlds fair. They /
there aren't likely to be enough people in /
Chicago, even ia October, to fill so many
rooms, but the fact that the rooms are /
ready and waiting for guests, and that
there is the keenest sort of competition for /
customers, is encouraging TO the man or
woman who lives out of town and who is
thinking about coming here later on for a
week or two at the fair. Already we see
the effects of this competition Rates are
coming down all the time. One may now !
get rooms here almost at his Own price. II
he is willing to go some distance from the
fair gates This Is not en objection, at
least not very serious one, for there are
plenty OF cable and horse car lines, and
these are admirably supplemented by
large number Of omnibuses, carry -aIls and
coaches which run from the whole hotel
and roorning district TO the Jar, Charging
passengers from 10 TO Is cents q ride
There are restaurants scattered all
through this district, too, and hence one
may live within Convenient distance OF the
fair 81 about any price he IS wiling 70
pay.
Let me give nay readers little advice in
the matter OF room hunting. Don't pay
more than one-han the price that IS first
asked you. l Was out a few days ago look-
ing for two rooms, communicating. The
gentleman / vas getting rAen fcr wanted
something pretty nice, and was wiling 10
pay for il. II -aoC!erate-s.zed hotel moi
more than three quarters Ct 2 mile from
the fair | found rooms which / thought
would suit. ard asked the rrice.
They are so q dsy. or SO a week, said
+ha landlord and chez0 a. shat Later |