The times., 1900-12-28
IN THE HOTEL CORRIDORS.

The old hotels look complacently upon
| the erection of the new" said clerk at
! one OF the city's ancient hostelries yes
terday. This hotel revival is a hopeful
! omen. 1t means that she town is broad
! ening, and that the volume OF travel is
Increasing. Improvement in hotel accom-
modations is both the effect of increased
| patronage and also cause of IL. Many
| persons will be attracted to Washington
| by reason Of the magnificence Of the new
| establishments. Many will spend the Con-
| gressional season here when they can do
| SO In hotel grand and exquisite in its
! appointments as the New York uptown
modern hotels. But 1t is a mistaken idea
TO think that they will drive the old
hotels to the wall, provided OF course that
the management OF these old houses Is
| enterprising enough to lay new carpets.
put In new furniture and use little paint
| now and then, so that the old ones may
| not become 'ratty.'
| Wien a man forms the habit of going
| to hotel 1t Is difficult thing to induce
him to go to another. This habit Is a
strong one. He has stopped at my hotel
| so long. or gone to 1t SO often. that he
considers II in a degree as home. He feels
proprietary interest In it, and is in
| clined to resent any reflection that IL is
not the best hotel In town. An accusa-
tion against the hotel at which man stops
| Is usually construed by that man as an as
| sault upon the soundness of his Judgment,
and he will usually reply to 1t by clinging
the more tenaciousiy to the old house He
gets TO know the clerks the walters. and
the bell boys. He knows the way to the
dining room, the parlor the writing room,
and other points of interest As RUE Il
gives man good deal of satisfaction to
boast of his familiarity with the hotel. for
1t allows him covert way of letting
other people know how often he comes to
town. and therefore what an experienced
traveller he is
Now, on the other hand. a hotel may
be too magnificent for the average trav-
eler or persons of the middle class There
are many persons who do not go to Ger
tain New York uptown hotels for the rea-
son that they are too grand A great
many people do net feel ct home. or COM
Portable. in such surroundings, and unless
their clothes are of the latest and the
best, they appear to disadvantage in such
a setting. Then, too, as a hotel rises IL
the scale of magniicence. the cost of
stopping there as a rule increases The
hotel bill proper may be little jf any
higher. but the incidentals cost a great
deal more. One does not feel like flip
ping nickel to a bootblack who is a
ell-groomed white man with a suit of
livery on that cost more than the
clothes you yourself weary The ordinary
tip seems hardly the thing to give to the
prosperous looking English waiter who
dresses much better than the average
business man does at a social function.
You feel ashamed to call for scent
cigar at the news stand and it is un-
comfortable to wait for the change after
buying a newspaper or postage stamp
IL you stop at one of these hotels on the
European plan. the cost goes higher. Few
have the courage to walk out and go to
an ordinary restaurant for breakfast or
other meals, and man is tempted to
order bigger and more expensive dishes
than he needs Just to keep up APPEAR
ances.
But the very fact that these hotels
are so expensive as to keep off the aver
age middle class man and his WIFE at
tracts people who otherwise would not
go to a hotel at all.
'tYes, sir. the new hotels may come. but
the old hotels viii stay"
group of Representatives comfortably
settled in big red leather chairs, and
blowing wreaths and cloudlets of tobacco
incense toward the golden ceiling of the !
Arlington lobby, yesterday were discuss
ing coming legislation. One OF the inter- |
estfng suggestions which came from the |
group is that two OF the bitterest strug- |
giles OF the last session will be repeated |
during the present one. One of these |
fights was over the pneumatic tube seq
tion in the Postofilce Appropriation bill !
and one was precipitated by the Navy Ap- !
preparation bill between the partisans of |
the photographic Office and the Coast and |,
Geodetic Survey
At the last session the pneumatic tube /
appropriation was defeated in the House |
after a violent controversy, in which IL !
was charged time and again that certain |
Government officials had made money in |
highly improper manner by the adoption |
of the innovation in a limited way by the |
Government An appropriation smaller |
than that which caused the fight In the |
House was inserted by the Senate and in !
sisted upon by the conferees.
The House. after long and agitated |
voted against the duplication of |
work by the photographic Office and the |
Geodetic Survey but the Senate was op- |
posed and the House at last yielded On /
that occasion Mr.. Cannon met defeat at /
the hands of Messrs. Foss and Dayton Of /
the Committee on Naval Affairs, and it is I
admitted that Uncle Joe does
not relish successful opposition to his
ideas. and that for such things he has a
good memory. The monotony which has
broken when the subjects named shall
come before the House.
Claud F. Morris. of Fort Benton. Men. |
was in the lobby of the Arlington last
night. and 20 a group OF friends made the
prediction that the men who will be elect
ed to the United States Senate ny the
OF the Mountain State are w
A. Clark and E. C. Duer, the leading
banker and cattle man of eastern Mon
tana. Mr.. Morris says it is unwritten law
in the politics of Montana that one Sen
ator shall come from the country west |
of the Divide and tne other shall be from
The east. Mr.. Clark's residence is Butte.
a little to the west of the Divide. and
Fort Benton is on the east. Mining inter
ests predominate on the west, and live
stock and agricultural interests are para
mount on the east side of the State Mr.
Morris says that Mr. Duer is a man Of
marked ability and of sterling worth. He
S a pioneer having settled at Helena in
he early sixties and his integrity has
lever been called into question in single
business transaction. Though Mr.. Duer
las not figured conspicuously as a rarti-
san, he was identified with the anti-Daly
wing of the Montana Democracy.
Wilbur F. CogsweIl. formerly of Wash
ngton City. but now citizen of Oregon,
,aid in the lobby of downtown hotel yes
erday that the current of opinion in his
ldopted State is that ex-senator Corbett
will be elected to succeed Senator Me-
Bride, whose term will expire March 8.
''The proposition to revise the boun-
larles of the Congressional districts in |