The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-31
CHEAP AND COMFORTABLE.


Cheap and nasty is phrase which has
been applied to many articles of inferior
quality. but to none of them does it more
fifty apply than to cheap lodging houses
in large cities. since their cheapness is allied
TO all forms of nastiness. In the large cities
thousands OF young men Of good character
and honorable purpose are compelled TO
seek such places while temporary or per-
manent residents because they have not the
means 70 purchase shelter elsewhere. The
result is that in thousands of cases young
men who with half a chance would have
become useful citizens have been engulfed
by contamination with the foul associations
OF the cheap and nasty lodging house and
have joined the army of loafers and Grim
inals.
In New York it has occurred to one of
the men whose name has always appeared
in the lists Of nillionaires to build hotels
for the special accommodation of poor but
decent and worthy men. His name is D.
o. Mills. and last week he opened Mills
House No. 1. In appearance this hotel is
as palatial as any of the high-priced hos
telries. The walls are of Indiana limestone
and white brick, the building is ten stories
high and contains fifteen hundred lodging
rooms. Each room has at least one win
dow, and some have two. The single bed
is of the best material, with wire-woven
springs and a hair mattress, good blankets
and linen The cost Of this room is 20 cents
a night. There are two lavatories, with
one hundred washstands in each, and a
laundry where washing can be obtained at
a moderate cost, and another where those
who are very poor can wash their own
clothes There is also an immense parlor
for library, reading and smoking room,
which is free to all who take a 3O-cent
room. There is also large dining room,
III which meals can be obtained for from 10
cents upward. All Of these public rooms
are elegant in furnishings and appoint
ments, while the courts are decorated with
potted plants. This house cost s., 1000
In his remarks made upon the opening,
Mr.. Mills disclaimed being a philanthropist.
He had seen the great Importance of
cheap and well-kept hotel for poor and
worthy men, and he had invested his mon
ey in the building of such public houses
knowing that they will prove a good in
vestment. A second house of this descrip-
ton is nearing completion, and others will
be built at an early day. A workingman
can have a good private room in fine
hotel, a BATH three meals day and all
the advantages of a reading room for $3.50
a week. A man going to New York to find
employment can live at the Mills House
cleanly and respectfully for half the money
he would pay at boarding house, with
few of the advantages offered by the mil
lionaires hotel.
If Mr.. Mils's experiment shall prove a
success, and there is no reason why it
should not, he will be of the great bene-
factors of the age in spite Of his disclaim-
err. He will do more than the preachers of
social economy with their fads, and by saw
ing poor men their self-respect will do more
for society than those who are not able to
recognize the fact that mission houses and
preaching cannot do much for men and
women who live in squaior's