The age-herald., 1897-09-26
The Business NotWhat It Used to
 Be and the Reasons.
TOO MANY 60 AWAY TO SHOP
Too Many Others Prefer Cottage Life-DingIey Provision as to Personal Apparel Expect
 ed to Aid Native Hotel Men.
From the New York Sun.

FrOm nShfly every hlg summer motel In the north this season came the state Gnent that business was exceedingly poor. Mos. of the expensive places were mot half full and but few had anything Nike profitable season. The managers of once popular resorts shook their heads in despair and talked about the decline in the summer hotel calling; they grew sorrowful in recalling rhe gocd times ten or twelve years ago when every famous hostslry was full to overfiow.ng fsom the time it opened its hospitable doors, with the first hot wave, unil nipplng autumn winds caused Ghsm to be closed.
 Hotel men, especially those at summer resorts. as rule do not bother thsm- selves to reason out the why and where fore of pcrplexing questions. It is com monly thein habit to take things easily and be content to wonder why a certain vexatious state of affairs exist. Some wondered tl1is SeasoIn if their houses were empty because fashlonable people do not care to go ito summer hote,s any more; some whether Europe exeTted a greater attraction on American people; others hinted that the Woful lack of guests must be due TO the fact that folks preferred living in summer cottages, and still others merely gr0aned thar for their lives they could see no reason why the summer hotels were mo longer more than half full.
 One hotel man in .ihis city who owns a large hostelry by the sea and another in town, says he knows why the summer lhotel business has declined to such extent, and he thinks the Dinghy bll is going to give lit a. regular bonn next summer
 Tt will be hard for some people to un- a1H hN clothing should affect the summer hotel business" said General Eearle, " but fl does just the same, and fhe new clause in the Dingley bill that is fbothering the heads of the ladies so much Is going to completely reVolu iolrAize the summer ho- tel business. Why? HeAetofere when our people could bring thousand's of dol- lars worth of stuff from the other side Hnto this country free of duty great numbers went abroad every summen 10 do their shopping. No one could blame them for that, for they could save summers expenses on tthe clothing they purchased as they landed it here duty free The provision in the act of July 24, 1897, reganding The free entry of wear ling apparel and personal effects of per sons arriving in the United States is go- ing to put a stop to this hegara to En- gland and the Continent every summer Uhe consequence will be bhaa the people will stay at home and patronize our summer uesorts.
 UGKV6 IlHL more t1lan Ole-n1lI or the people who go abroad go there to shop. They can't go sightseeing, for most who go have been many times be- fore and hhere is nothing much left for them to see. They certainly do not go on account of superior hotel alccommo- datlons, for oun hotels are far better hlhan those abroad.
 ''The summer hotels this year did no.h- ing like the business they had done in fomner years. There were many reasons flor this other than the one already as- signed. Hard times had a great deal to do with at. A great many people did mot leave the cities at all, and many who did go went to cheap resorts Low-prced ihcdels and boarding houses did a big bus dness this year. People were economizing in every way.
 Again, people aro living more and more in cottages every year. They go. to summer hotel for a season or two or perhaps three, and like Hhe place so we'll blrat they decide to settle there perrna- nently. We lose a great many customers dn this way every year.
 'Tf we can stop this smuggling, then people will quit going abroad and squan- derfng their money on the other side They will stay here and spend 1t among Itheir own people. and this will not only help the summer alotel business but every other business. Take ouu rich Banlilies; they make their money hcre and spend it there. People who do that are not patriotic. In Paris alone Ameri-
 
 understand rhe new clause has a1ready made itself felt in some of the stores or, klhe other side. and that is something for an American citizen to be rhankful for.
 There is no reason why this city should mot be e famous sumemr resort e0cept that We do not make it attractive enough. An of the big hotels In town should be from one-haf to two-.uhirds something to attract the people from fhe other side here. The city should be beautiful with trees and flowers and there should be plenty of places for peo- ple to go to, in the way of amusement. Our theatres are shut tight and when strangers come to town during the sum- mer there Is nowhere for them to go url- Jess they go to Coney Island or some nearby resort. The steamship compa- mics should also make favorable terms to attract the people of Europe to this, country. The ocean liners go over flIll. Ibut they come back empty. and there ss, Ino reason why they shouldn't be full both ways; the companies would be gain CTS by such a tnalrasaotion, as we'll as everybody else.
 r'English people arc economical and they don't spend their money trayeFng as We do, but if we offered them suffi- cient aatraotions and the steamship com panies made bid for their patponape they would begin to flock to our shores All this would have bearing on the summer hotel business.
 'I voice the sentiment of all bote1 ,,,eo, when say thal5 the prospects for heavy trade at all the resorts nexs summer arc most encouraging. The failure to buv on the other side without paying duty and the good times which are upon us VIII crowd all the hotels. expensive and otherwise. The large numbers of peonle who did not get out of the towns and cltdes at all this year. and others who shortened thetr sojopnns at the re- 'sonts for economical reasons will be more GXtrayag'ant fh9n avar u,nur tbn+ busiress is looking up and I'm sure that a year hence theae will bc another story Ito tel! abort the wonderful rise in the summer hotel business"
 Blond IndiaDs.
 -/From the Ohio State Journal:
 One of tf1le mysteries of Mexico is