The Meeker herald., 1895-07-06

which compels them to settle or else
stay away from hotels entirely. This
new force Is known as the Hotel Mems
Confidential Agency. 1t was started
several months ago, with few sub
scribers in nearly every city in the
Union. Its scope has broadened out
aud taken in such large number Of
hutels since then that the hotel men
have now obtained control of the
agency, and own 1t almost entirely. The
mode Of procedure Is the issuing of bull
letins once or twice week, containing
the names, addresses, occupations and
descriptions Of those persons who owe
hotel bills. These debtors are reported
to the agency by each subscriber. and
the information Is sent by means of the
bulletins to all the subscribers. The
result has been so satisfactory with the
few hundred hotels now reporting that
hotel men believe that If the several
thousand hotels in the United States
Join the agency the saving to each hotel
proprietor will be hundreds Of dollars
annually. Mr.. Edgar A. WalZ, who Is
the president and manager of the in
stitution, said in regard to its mode
Of procedure: "There are great many
persons who while not belonging to the
class Of professional hotel BEATS who
change their names daily, are still un-
desirable as guests for the reason that
they seldom pay their bills when due,
and in many cases never pay them at
all. Many of these individuals come
to New York bearing letters from rela-
tives who are we'll known, and upon
these grounds obtain credit with the
hotels. One case / now call to mind
was gentleman coming from west
ern state bearing a letter of introduce
ton from his brother, who was the gov
ernor of the state. When his bill was
presented he had no money and asked
for time. The hotel proprietor did not
want to insist upon immediate payment
as the governor and many of his friends
frequently stopped with him. The re-
suit was that the fellow remained sew
eral weeks and departed leaving an I'M
paid bill for several hundred dollars.
at is surprising how politics enter
into this beating of hotels. People
come to New York on all sorts of politi-
cal missions. They cannot In many
cases afford to live In expensive hotels.
and yet must make a show. and 30.
provided with letters of introduction
from well known and ofttimes wealthy
politicians. they live in the big houses
knowing full well that they will have
to "hang up" their bills. The manage
ment feel about these cases very much
as they did concerning the brother of
governor, and allow them to remain
rather than offend many possible fu-
ture guests who will pay.
Our system provides a way of get
ting rid of these fellows without so bad
ly injuring their feelings as to put
them out. All the hotel man has to do
is to show them copy OF one of our
bulletins, containing their names as al
ready owing bills at another hotel.
Here is case in point" said Mr..
Wall. "A man was stopping at one Of
the big hotels In this city few days
ago. The day after his arrival bull
letln was issued from the agency con-
tanning his name and description. The
cashier of the hotel requested him to
pay in advance. The guest asked II 1t
was not unusual to ask payment in ad-
vance and also why he did 1t. The
cashier told him that he had been re-
ported as owing another hotel. Well
replied the guest. that's all right.
will settle now and go to another ho-
tel
ITO this the cashier replied: That
will not do you any good, as all the
hotels receive the same report.
"The man was not beat but like
many other persons, he felt that rs
long as he could make the hotcl walt
without injury to himself he would do
80. He remained ut this hotel, paid In
advance and also settled with the hotel
that had reported him. The agency i'm
mediately notified each subscriber that
his name should BIO Withdrawn from the
bulletins or marked paid"