The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-05-12


crat'sspecial correspondence from Chica-
gogives the following interesting gossip
rthe benefit of intending Worlds fair
visitors:
What viii It COST" truthful answer
would be, what you please" 1t is possible
70 spend great deal OF money in seeing the
worlds fair. 1t is also possible to save con-
siderable IL one knows how before beginning to
pay for experience. Those who desire to
manage" can find fine for effort here.
The first problem that confronts the intend
Ing visitor Is the gplace to stop. The general
impression outside OF Chicago seems to be that
shelter must be engaged now or never There
Is no doubt this impression Is being fostered
lndustriously by interested parties in Chicago.
Every hotel-keeper is reaching out for con-
tracts with all his might. and at the same time
Is conveying the idea that there is bound to be
dearth OF accommodations. This viii proba-
oly result in the American public paying some
hundreds of thousands of dollars more than is
necessary Contracts made now are a snare
and will prove a delusion nine times out of ten.
Better accommodations and better rates will
be obtained by those who do not make engage
ments before coming here. There will be no
crush This is the best judgment Of those who
have no personal interest in high prices.
The wise fair visitor will give himself little
or no concern about his stopping place until he
reaches Chicago He win leave his bag in
the pareel-roorn at the depot. He win set out
for that part OF the city which he prefers, and
In couple OF hours be will find something to
suit his taste and his purse. He need not take
the first or the second or the third thing shown
him. There will be vast opportunity for selec-
ton, and there will be wide range OF prices.
The ease with which this can be done win sur
prise everybody.
Chicago always was a city OF hotels. 1t is
to-day a city Of almost nothing but hotels.
Chicago has been building hotels Cor two years
in anticipation of this Worlds fair. In the
past six months the hotel mania has assumed
additional phases. IT has prompted the hasty
transformation Of stores and of manufactures
into hotels Groups OF residences and rows of
flats have been erected on plans which will
permit their use for hotel purposes while the
fair lasts. The exaggerated development of
the caravansary idea is one of the things worth
seeing. 1t is Chicagos exhibit for the Worlds
fair. Most of this hotel building and trans
forming is OF such a character that no one
need have any fear of safety.
The papers have sounded some warnings
about mushroom structures. Down near the
grounds there have been erected mammoth
buildings OF which little more is expected than
that they shall stand till the end OF October.
But in the city the new hotels are we'll built
and we'll supplied with modern conveniences.
AS rule il will be well for the visitor to think
twice before deciding that the best stopping
place is that which advertises daily as lin
close proximity to the grounds" All of the
substantial enough. Some not. There is
no particular advantage in locating within
walking distance OF the gates. The transporta-
tion problem no longer exists. For ten cents
one can go by steam cars from the heart of the
city in fifteen minutes to the gates Of the fair.
For nickel the trip can be made by cable or
by elevated road. There is going to be no diff
ficulty in reaching the fair from uptown
The opening day with its 260 900 visitors settled
that
The visitor who locates up town will have a
larger field in which to exercise selection of an
eating place II there is any extortion in res
taurant charges, and any diminuition OF the
diameter of pie. it win be found in the vicinity
of the fair grounds. Up town the stranger will
eat with the Chicago people. He VIII fare as
well and as cheaply as they do. Down near the
grounds, il anywhere. the transient is in dan
ger OF being marked for q special victim.
The European plan prevails in Worlds fair
hotel management. Nine out of ten OF the Chi
cago hotels keep the rOomfng and the feeding
separate The contract applies only to the
room. The guests eats where, when and at
what price he chooses. This is the plan of
living which four-fifths of the people who
come to the fair will find it best to adopt. 1t
may not seem the most economical at the first
calculation, but it means no meals paid for and
missed. II means greater freedom of action.
There are 81 and s. day hotels. including
board and room, but the Worlds fair visitor
who tries the American plan will miss the chief
meal of the day and he will find his expense
account running higher than that OF the one
who lives just as well on the European plan.
AS to prices The charge for a room in Chi
cago-hotel or boardinghouse-ranges from 81
to s. day. The average price for an aver
age room is now 81 day. Some hotel-keepers
willing to contract to give their two
dollar rooms ut any time during the fair.
Most of them. however expect to advance two
dollar rooms to 50 and "a in June and If
they make contracts now they insist on such
rates. The chances are that the twodollar
rooms can be had for g day at any time dur
ing the fair, and it is more probable that they
viii go down to 81 and $50 than that they will
advance to So and g.. Put down, therefore, 50
a day for your room and exercise the privilege
of selection after your come The chances are
strongly that you will do even better than this
IL the money is an object. III you do not come
until after June these chances amount TO almost
a certainty.
For two people in a room the Chicago land
lords do not intend to double charges. The two
dollar room becomes three-dollar room when
two occupy it. And where four people are will
ing to crowd in together the per capita will be
reduced still more.
That" said a typical landlord who is just
opening house with $50 rooms, lis the way we
expect TO make money. These Worlds fair
visitors will want the rooms only for sleeping
purposes. They will be out all day. They will
ullle GROWING at night 10 reduce
the expenses They will come in parties, and
will not mind doubling up. AS for me, would
rather put four into one room at 81 than two in
two rooms at s. apiece. 1t means only little
extra for towels and service. So you see we
can ali be suited. and the expense will not be so
great after all"
1t is well to beware Of the average boarding
house as distinguished from the hotel. The fol-
lowing is from reputable Chicago newspaper:
1t may be unwittingly. or 1t may be with a
mean malice, but whichever is the inspiration,
the fact remains that boarding house keepers
are throwing unenviab1e discredit upon Chica-
go in the exorbitant prices they ask for board
OF lodging. tEF
Rates of living for visitors to the city are
double and in some places just three times
what they were at the same time last year. No
mercy whatever Is shown. and the unfortunate
who does not care to go to the hotels is obliged
TO see himself ruthlessly robbed. Private land
lords seem to have lost all municipal patriotism
in their abnormal craving for money, and dis
regard entirely the promise made TO the people
of the world by the Worlds fair officials that
strangers would not be robbed during their stay
in the city.
A slight rise in prices might have been ex-
pected, as rents and provisions are somewhat
higher. but not even in aggravated cases does
this rise exceed 10 per cent. while the board
inghouse keepers show no hesitation whatever
in demanding from so TO 800 per cent. more than
they formerly did
Investigation bears out all that the Chicago
newspaper alleges. A couple Of hours spent
in a tour of several fashionable boarding
house districts showed that the extortionate
ideas are general Houses where the usual
room expect to charge from $50 to 80 week
- oreor,roo1atfonE The rrivafa