New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-08-11

'N'"e' III way or MIS- own He says to himself
apparently: Il know shall offend my guest by
an lmpudent piece Of extortion and he will never
come here again if he can help it, But IL he does
not another Will" And Of course the victim
cannot always help it. The hotel often has a
monopoly, or what is practically equivalent to a
monopoly. 1t is so on many of the tourist routes
| IN Scotland and some in England Where
there is not monopoly there is often a conspir-
acy One hotel is as bad as another and as dear
and whichever you so to you will wish Won had
tried the other
w nat the proprietor or mana ger-and a mama
ger Is generally worse than proprietor-does not
really take into account. 10 the increasing facili-
Ties Tor holiday emigration. and the increasing
disposition of the public to take advantage of
them he relies. perhaps. the terrors Of the
Channei. But the Channel service has much
improved within the past ten years that the old
fears of this terrible passage are dying out They
were mostly supersttions. Half the people you
talk to believe that ii is always rough | have
crossed this little streak of silver sea a thousand
times. and the has been really heavy per-
| haps dozen, or. to be liberal. twenty times 1t
was only the other day / saw in Punch a
serious recommendation to the British public to
run across to Calais or Bculogne and back the
same day. Very likely Mr.. Punch's readers
Punch was not the discoverer of this plan. 1t is
many years since a friend. to whom have ever
been grateful. recommended 1t to me as a trip
which gives you within minimum of hours the
maximum Of fresh air and of change. You may
leave Victoria Station in London at II in the
morning-Sunday morning for choce--roach Ca
las at or quarter past in the afternoon. lunch
there-a very tolerabe lunch, French, not Eng
sh-stroll about the quaint old town for an hour,
return by the boat leaving at a. and be in Lon
don again at 1:15. in time to dress and dine. And
you are sure to meet people you know coming and
going. But to this SORT of thing commended
to the British public in the pages of a British
periodical might well give the British innkeeper
pause, and shake his hitherto partly we'll founded
reliance on the Channel as efficient hndrance
to foreign journeys.
Messrs. Cook he has olg regarded as his nat
ural enemies for though that enterprising firm
conduct tourists about the painless wilds of
Warwickshire and through the Businesses of
Scotland they undoubtedly tempt to dis
tant excursions a hundred natives for every one
whom they encourage to explore the beauties OF
these British isles. But not Messrs Cook nor
The Times" nor Punch" nor all the other
means of enlightenment and warning open to the
innkeeper. suffice to reform him, even to i'm
prove him in those particulars which make him
hateful to those who -ome under his jursdic-
ton.
| am almost tempted tc gay hope they never
will For though the delights of travel within the
four seas are many. and to an American are more
numerous and more fascinating than to anybody
else 1t really is for the interest Of the Brton that
he should be encouraged TO exchange them for
those to be found elsewhere. In time he will
prove corrlgible amenable TO influences which
are not British. and may return from his voy-
aging with mind more open than at present.
Did / ever tell YOU of the man whom always
thought typical of his countrymen In their
unregenerate state? II was a channel steam
er; Of the olden Kind. and indeed the new
are not in this respect much better. He sat
down In the stuffy little cabin. the keel
and at the STEM to truly British meal Of half
raw cold roast beef and stodgy Turks head
bread and he passed his knife through the
loaf which cuts like putty he exclaimed with a
sigh OF long deferred triumph: what comfort
il Is TO get back to good English food once
more" How much do you think travel had
taught him? And 1t is probable that. in view Of
him and Of others like him. thousands and hun
dreds Of thousands Of others. the British inn
keeper may not be far out In his calculations
Of continuing profit to be made out OF continuous
ill-treatment Of his customers. g. w. >