The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-11-03
LODGING HOUSES THAT PAY.
A WOMAN EXPLAINS THE SECRET
or HER SUCCESS.
Causes Of the Failure OF Many Women In
the Business Amount Of CAPITAL Re-
auired - Principles Ia Stick To
Lodging Houses of the Future.

hSUtSnth WV
II Is estimated that fully seven-eighths
OF the lodging houses In Manhattan are
conducted by women. There Il probably
no other industry In this island that includes
20 large a number Of independent pro-
p~rietors, and each proprietor Is necessarily
backed by a respectable amount OF capital.
II may further be said that there Is no
other industry representing 30 much capt.
tai and affecting 30 many people hat Ia.
In the main, so poorly conducted with refer
ence TO It's customers and clients and re-
turns 90 small a profit on the amount in
vested. Still, further II may be said that
there Is scarcely any business which offers
better opportunity for ordinary business
ability with some capital.
The new bachelor apartment buildings
have naturally robbed the lodging houses
Of some well-paying tenants. But bachelor
apartments renting at from $40 TO s2S a
month have not appeared as yet to any
extent. and 1t Is the tenants Who can pay
from s. to % a week that are the mainstay
Of the landlady who rents furnished rooms.
A study OF how most women come TO
enter this business reveals many a sorrow-
full story. While a very few undertake
It because they see particularly large profits
in it as compared with other lines Of invest
ment and employment. most drift into 1t
because II seems almost an only resource.
These women usually have a very little
bunch Of capital and they reason that they
will risk II under their own management
/ II thew invest il in a lodging house.
A woman finds herself deprived Of a
husbands support. She may be q widow
with a bit of life insurance or she may have
some little dowry Of her own left, or a
brothers loan, or a mortgage on a farm.
| to begin some enterprise with. What Is
more natural than for her to decide that
as she knows all about housekeeping she
can succeed In keeping a lodging or board
Ing. housef
It's conditions more or less, and is not un.
familiar with some OF the requirements OF
a business dependent oil the elusive city
lodger. But il she Gomez from the country
town she Is handicapped. She has to learn
how to reckon In the terms OF rents five
times as large as she has ever paid before.
and she has to learn from experience how
slippery mani Of her new tenants can be.
The wonder is that 30 few fail. A num-
Der Of real estate men have concurred in
saying that scarcely one In ten OF all these
women eives up the ship. But this fact
| does not indicate how many exc out a
miserable living with a margin OF
receipts over their expenses. 1t does not
| tell the story Of the wretched accommo-
dations that are given to dodgers who may
| not have the time TO look for better quarters
or who have themselves always lived In
such forlorn places that they are not
squeamish.
For the lodging house, keepers range
through nearly the whole social scale,
There are landladies who rent out hand
somely appointed suites and appear
themselves each evening In dinner toilettes.
There is the other extreme who never lake
OF their dirty ~calicoes and never sweep
their stairways and let their houses steam
with ancient odors. II is often the case,
too, that the latter class can show a better
percentage on their investment at tn. end
Of the year. But this In not necessarily
30. for in the hong run H. Il order that pays.
TIT type OF lodging house that succeeds
best is the kin that is conducted by one
Of the ableet business women OF New York.
Five years & che started with nothing
and she has built up a prosperous business
she turned her attention TO the possibilities
OF properly conducted lodging houses.
She found a couple OF somewhat IRE gularly
arranged houses between Fifth and Sixth
avenues above Fourteenth street, which
she leased for five years. Then she in
vested some 81 eco In improvements, con-
Meeting the houses, making available suites.
getting as many small rooms as possible.
putting In several new bathtubs and fur
nishing freshly with plain but substantial
49, ~ NV 49, 49, @f~
efficient servants she could find.
The immediate impression made upon
entering these houses was OF n snug, orderly.
spotlessly clean and h,lsiness-lke estab-
lishment. The rents Of the rooms were
moderate, and no pledge Of long occupancy
was required. In two months every room
was taken, Last summer she added 10
these houses three lofts In a continuous
building, which she split up with solid par,
titions into a series Of smaller rooms, and
furnished with the same plain eXCeDence
Of the first houses. BY last August she
found herself with a house Of sixty or
seventy rooms, all Of them rented on yearly
contracts at moderate prices and now shs
hrs a growing waiting list Of applicants
who want 10 take leases In this hotel-like
establish meut.
She chRtt.d with uneypected candor Is
20 her own methods and as To the privileges
which she believes are now required in
operating a fun i-hed- house
1T may he that ] have made much more
profits than ! could have expected "A yea
ago when ] TOOK IA" first Of these houses,
she said. but l knew should succeed
for went into IL determined 10 act On the
Connect and fair and rgid hurlnrss methods
which ] have followed ever since started
my trst hitla fancy goods store i've ears
ago There's onlN one way, and that In
10 Hv. a fair e4uiNalrnt FOR what YOU re-
o.iNe ~" more, uu lrHs and tLa daily !abor
b. 90 ne lat all the rlds are kept up With
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kisN th.y don't Aia Wi,n thry D,n't
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thN,f'
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