The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-03-26
THE PINCH Of POVERTY
How Il IS Shown In Washington
Officiai life.
a HOTEL MAyAGER's COMPLAINT.

for instance the economy which men
occupying places In the cabinet anc IN the
senate and other posts of responsibility and
honor are compelled 10 practice liz order 70
make both ends meet As like as not the
greatest sacrifices are endured simply that
certain style may be kept up in society
display made that will please the fash
ionable and avert any gossip as 10 the
stinginess OF the official and his family
When the pinch of lack of ready money
comes 10 a household in official life the
greatest sensitiveness accompanies It, They
imagine they are under suspicion in every
ones mind They fear the whole town is
talking about how they are compelled to
skimp and save and scheme in order TO get
along at all. There are plenty of such fam.
lilies in town. Go into their drawing rooms
and you will think you are in the abode
of people who do not care for expenses,
and who have plenty of money to do what
they please with. Go down TO their kitch-
en- and you will discover that they live up
on the plainest fare, so plain and scant
that the cook threatens TO leave because
she cannot get enough decent yictuals to
eat. This Is not an exaggerated picture
There are plenty of families making social
pretensions and giving social displays who |
are not even able TO pay the cook S salary |
A roor Cabinet Member,
few days ago / saw member of the |
cabinet out hunting room for his own |
use. He did not want a house now, be- |
cause his family will not come on till next |
autumn. In looking for an apartment for
hllhsel1 the cabinet gentleman had two
tnlngs In ylew-he must have room with
private bath and he must not pay more
than certain sum for it, In the course of
his travels he found great many hand
some apartments and suits of apartments
but the price was too high. II am poor
man" said the official 'and / have de-
cided TO live within my income. know
just how much L can afford to pay and
Will not pay more" He found room at
length within his reach, and the cost is
only moderate sum per month. In the
same building one of the well paid clerks
in his department., an unmarried man. oc.
cupies apartments much handsomer and
more costly than the modest room Of his
chief
The manager of large hotel or apart
ment house here tells me a great difficulty
he has with his guests is that they will per-
sist in cooking meals in their rooms against
the rules Of the house. "You would be
surprised, 3" said he, 'if were to tell YOU
the truth. Senator Blank and his wife
have the incest rooms i'm my hotel They
are sumptuously furnished, and Mrs. Sen.
ator is very fond of giving receptions in
them. The rooms are much admired and
she is deemed very lucky by her friends to
have such beautiful place to live Yet
after the guests are gone the senator and
his wife rig up sort of coffeepot over the
gas jet. They cook an egg or two. The
senator takes out of his pockets some sand.
witches he has bought down town, and that |
is the way they dine. They do not go to |
the restaurant any more than once day
and sometimes not at ALL They get their
meals in their room. / should think q sem
ators salary was sufficient to enable him
to live like other people.
"Home" Cooking.
"But this is not the only case of the sort
l have on my hands, continued the man. {
ager. "We know that considerable num- {
Der of our guests-senators representatives
and other officials-are doing the same
thing. They put on all imaginable style in
their clothing and their apartments and S
scrape up meals in their rooms They (
spread piece of oilcloth over the heavy | ,
oak or mahogany table which is so much
admired in their drawing room and make
a sort of kitchen out of il. l know one I
woman who keeps a carriage hired by the G
month and who insists that her coachman
shall be attired in the most fashionable
livery, and yet this woman, to my knowl.
edge, has not eaten good, square meal,
except when invited out to dinner, in a 9
MONTH"
President Mckinley complains that he
has not time enough to attend to the duties ]
OF his office. The rush of callers is almost g
as great as 1t was three weeks ago, when q
he was first inaugurated, and they take up
so much time that the president cannot sit =
down and get at the serious affairs of his
office. During these three weeks the pres q
ident has had a hard row to hoe. They
have been after him from early morning .
till late at night. 1t is hard work to re.
ceive hundreds of people in a day to con- I
centrate the mind upon their various re-
quests, to understand all the ms and outs 4
and details and human nature of a long
list of offices and an infinitely longer list
Of office seekers. To keep this up day after
day, always trying to look pleased and pa
tient and cheerful and to avoid giving Q
offense and to make sure of sending every {
one away in reasonable frame of mind | n
even If not wholly satisfied, is q task which
wears man out quicker than the most
arduous physical labor President McKin- a
ley has been model of patience and good u
nature, but the time has about come for n
him to shut down on the Office seekers a
little and secure to himself time i'm which
to attend to the real business Of his office v
The New Presidents Secretary.
Mr.. Porter, the Presidents secretary, n
has made good impression upon the pub.
lie men and newspaper men who frequent
the White House. He has no affectation of
business about him. He Is plain, direct.
matter OF fact, apparently sincere He h
stands close to "a man, looks him In the {,
eye and tells him In plain words what he :,
wants to know. There is no air of mys. 7"
terry about Porter. He does not imagine 81
all the time that IL would be crime II a
some one were to know what Is going on m
In the White House. He appeaFs, on the >,
other hand, to be going upon the theory -
that the people have right TO information N
concerning the official acts Of their prosi- g,
dent and right to be treated properly o.
while they or their professional represent -
atives, the newspaper correspondents, are