Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-15

1t is the same story with all the "attrac-
tons" In 1889 the oriental dances and the
"tin de steele" dances were new. The Cairo
street contained them, with the other pay
ing shows in one definite place. 1t was a
long, brilliant promenade gay with light
and noisy with the concentrated hurrah of
all the pleasure-seekers of the exhibition.
To-day the paying shows are scattered.
There are twice too many of them. They
are too much alike. And, worst of all, the
premium demanded for concessions, added
to the extravagant cost of the buildings
the result of competition), handicapped
them hopeeSSly from the first. There was
a month after the opening day when the ex-
hibition was not ready for visitors. During
that month their expenses ran on with no
income to balance them. The result is beau
tiful cages without birds inside them They
cannot afford to pay high-class artists, and
the economical public is glad to have an ex-
cuse to pass them by. Around the ''attrac-
tons the atmosphere of gloom Is thick
enough to affect any one who gets within
restaurants have already gone into the
hands of their creditors.
The restaurants Of the grounds are suf-
ferng severely, one and all, except the
cheap Duvals, whose success points the
moral of this exhibition The DuvalS with
their 12-Cent beefsteaks, 7-cent soups and
1o-cent vegetables, are taking in 10000
francs day each. They meet the require
me repeat it-a phenomenally cheap lot.
Each day the papers publish the number Of
visitors or the day previous. Yesterday
there were 10000 paying entrances. Ger
tain Sundays have registered almost 10000
admissions. Yet these figures are deceptive
L have heard it estimated that not more
than half of each days actual public mer-
its to be classed as useful visitors or
bona fide VISITORS Thanks to the almost
nominal price of tickets, the great loafing
population Of the Paris unemployed Paris
on-the-spree, observation-disclosures and
Paris taklng-a-day-off finds its way in
side the gates to swell the crowd-and that
is all. They are not useful visitors-they
are respectable loaferS and timekilers They
spend nothing.
There are handsome, weIl-kept restau-
rants that are not averaging twenty lunch
cons or thirty dinners a day. When they
have tried to cut down expenses they ONLY
succeeded III cutting down receipts. When
they have tried to increase the receipts they
only succeeded in increasing the expenses
Their Hungarian and Roumanian orches-
uas pass the collection plate among the
scattering patrons after each moroccan
Mendicity again, What is more humilia.
ting than to see an orchestra chef an ar
tste, descend to soliciting small coins? Tc
gather ill few extra francs the restau-
rants have resOrted to vestaires in which
they ask you to deposit your cane or UNI
Drelia, or your coat. If you do not pay
on retaining them you will be asked (,
you have not forgotten something. Order
your dinner. 1t is the head waiter who
takes the order. Two other walters dc
the service. The wine man comes for tho
wine order. If you do not tip this latter
in advance your wine will come up shaker
and muddy. If you do not tip the head
waiter you had best not visit that res!au.
rant again. The fancy-garbed walter girls