The evening times., 1897-03-10
HOW OUR GUESTS WERE FED
One Hundred and Twenty Thou
sand Dollars for Provisions.
SOME PROBLEMS AT MEALS
Merchants Regard the
Inaugural Business as scarcely
Above the Nortnal-What 1t Took
to Feed One Thousand People at
Breakfast and Dinner.


Inauguration was how the immense GROVE
that was at first expected was to be Ian.
died and fed This problem was settled
satisfactorily, but very few people know
how it was done, and how much it Cost.
Some OF the railroad people estimated that
all Of the railroads would bring to the city
100000 visitors, and this looked alarming
as the committee on public comfort, in
one Of its last reports, showed that they
had Information of places where from
twenty to twenty-five thousand people
could be accommodated with meals at one
time.
Ii the railroad estimates had been cor
rect, it would have required ten hours TO
give 100000 people breakfast, with 2O,-
600 seats available at one time. In other
words. if the first 20, 900 sat down at
a M. it would be O'Clock in the after
noon when the last set OF 20, 900 W would be
finishing its great collective breakfast
And again, as it would be possible only
to seat the first 20 900 at dinner at 6 p
M, the last &C, 600 would be at dinner at
4 O'Clock in the morning, or the whole
crowd would begin dinner ON one day and
finish it Oh the next.
The fact is. however, that no such con-
tingency arose. There have been several
estimates OF the crowd. The conservative
estimate is 90, 900. who came in on trains,
Out it is not at ali unlikely that the people
from over the river and from the near
suburbs generally sweiled the grand total
to $4,000. On the day after Inaugural
ton it was evident from the people on the
streets in the evening that comparatively
few OF them -availed themselves of the
limit OF their tickets, but got out of town
on the first train. In the old days, as in
Grants time, and Hayes aud Garfield's,
Inauguration week meant whole week
People caIne in early and stayed as long as
they could. The exception this year is 'ac-
counted for by the fact that there is very
little loose money in the land.
The railroad people had one opinion and
the inaugural authorities had another. The
first intimation that the inaugural COM
ndttee had that the crowd was not coming
was obtained from the civic committee,
the applications to which were very few,
and quite early in the game some clubs
which bad engaged quarters Cancelled
their engagements and paid the forfeit.
The public comfort committee probably
made the best estimate a { the number COM
ing. In view OF applications for rooms
and cots, they registered about $4,000, and
there were probably from 5000 TO 10000
whocane and made their ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
after arrival. The committee was able to
handle the crowds at the depots expefli-
t:ously by reason OF it's coed assignments
and the intelligence OF its corps of 140
messengers. That from 10000 to 10000
people made up the sum total Of those who
came from any distance is further proven
toy the fact that there was no discomfort
at any of the hotels or boarding houses,
and that the numbers at each, including
outsiders, were fed at breakfast from 6: 80
TO IL a. m, or in about four hours, and
dinner was served without inconvenience
TO all, from p. m. until p. m.
1t is easy to estimate the cost Of feeding
any multitude, when any large given num-
Ter of the crowd is fed at one place, as at
a hotel AT one hotel figures We're given
last night for a thousand at one meal.
The meals were, OF course, not the regular
hotel menu, but was OF first-class sub
tantial fare, tire large items of which were
the beef and the ham.
at one such meal thousand people ate
500 pounds Of beef and AZ 8 pounds of ham.
The beef cost $50 and the ham $50. and
the incidentals, such as bread, potatoes,
coffee and samp biscuits, ran the cost OF
breakfast for a thousand up to $500. The
dinner was a more elaborate affair. This
same thousand ate beef and ham, and In
addition thirty turkeys, .fillets of pheas-
ants, thirty chickens in cold salads, and
fish, making the cost of the whole about
$3.50.
From these epicurean statistics, which
are very nearly correct, 1t cost $3.50 to
give 900 people breakfast and dinner,
or about S22, 900 a day for 1000 people.
There were only three days of which this
is true. the Sd, 4th and 9Th instants, so
that the outlay for the raw material for
the three days was only S66,000.
One hotel steward was frank enough to
show that, while the cost of the beef, ham,
turkeys, etc., for one day was
S5I0 for thousand guests. each OF them
paid So day, or a total per diem Of |
$5 900. He explained, however, that there |
wss not too much profit in this, when adj |
ditional help, rent, service, etc, were de |
Quoted. The usual force of cooks at this |
hotel is ten, but they employed twelve adj |
ditional cooks and dozen additional |
kitchen maids, two additional clerks, and |
six other gentlemen to ''tend bar" as they |
phrase it. The difference between $50 |
a day for provisions and $4,000 a day |
receipts is nevertheless very large and the |
50 per day was figure raised over the /
usual prices.
In this accounting it makes no difference |
whether all of the $4,000 people stayed /
at hotels or only 10000 of them at hotels |
and 10000 at the various boarding houses, |
because the price Of the provisions was |
the same, and that there were not more |
provisions bought is very likely from what |
the commission merchants had to say yes
terday. A reporter for The Times made |
the rounds OF the commission merchants /
square, and they were unanimous that |
there were no supplies laid in, muchin ex-
cess ofthe normal, for inaugural week. One
said that, for instance, in the
matter of poultry, the stock in cold stoT-
age was sufficient, and that neither he nor