The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-25
Poverty Felt in Official
Life at Capital.
The Complaint Made by the
Manager Of a Big Hotel.
But the Big Scramble for the Off ce
Goes on Just the Same.

for instance, the economy which men
occupying places In the cabinet and, In the
senate and other posts of responsibility and
honor are compelled to practice in order te
make both ends meet. AS like as not the
greatest sacrifices are endured simply that
certain style may be kept up In society,
a display made that will please the fash
ionable and avert any gossip as to tn.
stinginess of the official and his family.
When the pinch Of lack of ready money
comes to household In official life, the
greatest sensitiveness accompanies 1t. They
imagine they are under suspicion In every
ones mind. They fear the whole town is
talking about how they are compelled &c
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 mp
on the plainest fare SO plain and scant
that the cook threatens 10 leave because
she cannot get enough decent victuals te
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 cooks salary.
A Poor Cabinet Member.
A few days ago saw a member of the
cabinet out hunting a room for his own
use He did not want house now be
cause his family will not come on till next
autumn. In looking for an apartment for
himself the cabinet gentleman had two
things in view-he must have room with
N nriy fa hoth he ct pn
than a certain sum for 1t. In the course OF
his travels he found great many hand
some apartments and suits Of apartments,
but the price was too high 81 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 al
length within his reach, and the cost II
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 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. lyon would bt
surprised" said he, "if were to tell you
the truth. Senator Blank and his wife
have the incest rooms In my hotel. They
are sumptuously furnished, and Mrs. Sen
ator is very fond of giving receptions iD
them. The rooms are much admired, and
she is deemed very lucky by her friends to
have such beautiful place 70 live. Yet
after the guests are gone the senator and
his wife rig up a 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 theiI
meals i'm their room. should think a sen
ator's salary was sufficient to enable him
to live like other people.
'Home" Cooking.
"But this is not the only case of the sort
have on my hands, y continued the man
ager. "We know Tint a considerable mum
Der of our guests-senators, representatives
and other ofIcials--arc doing the same
thing. They put on all imaginable style In
their clothing and their apartments and
scrape up meals In their rooms. They
spread piece of oilcloth over the heavy
oak or mahogany table which Is so much
admired i'm their drawing room and make
a sort of kitchen out of II. / know one
woman who keeps carriage hired by the
month and who insists that her coachman
shall be attlred i'm the most fashionable
livery, and yet'this woman, to my knowl.
edge has not eaten a good, square, meal,
except when invited out to dinner, In a
month"
President Mckinley complains that he
of his office The rush of callers is almost
as great as it was three weeks ago, when
he was first inauguratod, 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.
ident has had 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 day, to con.
centrate the mind upon their various re-
quests, to understand all the ins and outs
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
offense and TO make sure of sending every
one away in reasonable frame of mind,
even II not wholly satisfied, Is task which
wears man out quicker than the most
arduous physical labor. President McKin-
ley has been IA model Of patience and good
nature, but the time has about come for
him TO shut down on the Office seekers
little and secure to himself time In which
10 attend TO the real business of his Office.
The New President's Secretary.
Mr.. Porter the presidents secretary,
has made good impression upon the pub
lie men and newspaper men who frequent
the White House He has no affectation of
fussiness about him. He Is plain, direct
matter Of fact, apparently sincere. He
stands close To man, looks him In the
eye and tells him in plain words what ne
wants TO know. There is no air Of mys-
terry about Porter. He docs not imagine
all the time that N would be n crime II
some ono were TO know what Is going on
An the White House. He appears, on the
Other hand, TO be going upon the theory
that the people have right to Information
concerning the official acts of their presi-