Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1898-02-10
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
Apartment House Craze waning-Gooss
and Golden Egg = Deluded Club
women Kester's Gypsies.
Especial Correspondence

of these buildings which are practically
unoccupied, and their owners are natu-
rally in despair. A few years ago one
had only to begin the erection of one Of
these places to be besieged by the appli.
cations of prospective tenants. The rent
asked was so outrageously high that
there was always large profit ON the
investment, even though the autocratio
regulations and disregard for the COM
fort of tenants might have left the
building with half the apartments I'M
occupied. But all this has changed, very
much to the regret of the owners of this
class of property.
A Boon to Tenants.
So many of these houses have been
put up that it is now necessary to pro-
vide something else besides style. Ten
ants are now enabled to pick and choose,
and as there are not enough of them to
go around the price of this class OF
apartments has inevitably deprecated.
The owners of several of these big edi
fees on the west side who have unavail-
ingly tried to get occupants for their
property by means of alluring advertise
ments in the newspapers have hit upon
the plan of keeping the places brilliant
ly illuminated each evening until a late
hour. The idea seemed to be that out of
the thousands of persons passing on
street cars and bicycles there would be
a few to whom this garish form of add
vertising would successfully appeal.
Killing the Goose.
They evidently did not figure on the
possibility of any one commenting upon
the emptiness of the apartments and
arguing therefrom that they were pos
sibly not as desirable as they might be.
At any rate the experiment has not
been as successful as was anticipated,
and the landlords are aweary with try
ing to do that which seems to be an inn
possibility 1t is but one more striking
illustration of the truth of the old saw
about killing the goose that laid the
golden egg. In this case while compe-
tition has been the life of trade it has
also proved to be the death of profits
One form of up to date enterprise
plays upon the susceptibility of the wo-
man $ club. There have been several
instances of it in various localities, but
the most notable example in this city
concerns certain hall which certain
obliging manager has placed rent free
at the disposal of some four or five or
CARNATIONS of women.
Deluded Clubwomen.
While each organization is not exact
~ given to understand that it, and it
alone, is the beneficiary of such generos-
ity, so much is implied, and it is signifi-
cant to note how completely, hook and
all, the clubwomen have swallowed the
bait You attend the meeting of one So
ciety, and you hear so much about "our
hall, and all in such personal, pro-
prietary way, that you can't but feel
that there must be something wrong
when you attend meeting of another
club and hear them talk about their
hall and in way even more personal
and proprietary.
By the time you have gone to three
or four meetings of the several clubs
that, thanks to the courtesy of disin-
terested manager, convene in the same
building, the mem bers of which persist
in calling the place "our hall-wasn't
it just simply lovely in Mr.. Blank to
invite us TO meet here, though it's just
because it's us, of course? He would
never dream Of giving it free to any or
binary lot of women you become be-
wildered. The motif of the disinterested
manager becomes apparent when you
perceive the amount of free advertising
that the scheme brings him.
The women get the hall free, the
manager gets the advertising He has
been known TO serve afternoon tea to
some notoriety loving societies that he
knows will not suffer any light within
their orbit to hide itself under bushel,
and it is rumored that next year he in
tends supplying them impartially with
cut flowers and creme de menthe. All
OF which, to one unacquainted with the
ways and means Of clubwomen, may
sound like great deal for little, but
not to one who has seen much of cor
ganized effort. y
Hester and His Gypsies.
Mr.. Paul Kester who has already
claimed some attention in the literary
world as dramatist, now comes before
the public as pioneer in new field of
fiction. The conventional gypsy, as por-
trayed by playwright and novelist alike,
is distinctly unsavory character, a
cross between a rogue and vagabond,
with capabilities for something vastly
worse. This view Mr.. kester evidently
regards as unjust, and in his italics of
the Real Gypsy, collection of half
dozen short stories admirably told and
published in this city, he undertakes to
give us an inside view of actual gypsy
life.
He is well equipped to speak authori
tatively in their behalf, having spent
much time among the tents and vans,
sharing their primitive bed and board