Evening star., 1902-03-15
Unique Establishment Which
d 81
Has Become Very Popular
IN NEW YORK CITY
WITHIN REACH NOW OF MODER-
ATE sALARIED CLERKS.
How the Menage 10 Arranged and
Something About the Domestic
Economy Thereof.
Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star.

special Correspondents OF Inc Evenlng Stat.
NEW YORK. March IA, 1902
The bachelor fiat idea Is rapidly gaining
ground over here among young men OF quite
moderate incomes. Only few years ago
the New York men who had bachelor hats
were exclusively gilded fellows OF leisure,
club men and FOUNDERS. who fitted up their
plants in detailed splendor, each OF them
with ''man''-otherwise. a valet-and
cook and all of the other necessary attach.
ments of a luxurious domestic menage ex-
cept the wife. In those days the bachelor
fiat scheme was looked upon as something
away out of the reach of male persons
who had to work for their livings and who
received comparatively small salaries for
their work.
But at the present time there are thou
sands Of bachelor flats all over New York,
held in the names of young fellows who lead
tie strenuous lives of clerks. 1t is won-
der that they did not long ago discover the
possibilities of the plan as applied to their
pccketbooks. AS q method Of lodging the
New York boarding house, than which there
are few worse. take them all In all. on the
face Of the inhabitable globe, the bachelor
fiat scheme for young fellows who would
otherwise be compelled to seek the shelter
of the boarding house, 1s admirable and
eminentfy practicable.
AS a general thing. two men go into the
thing together and in common, on the
share and share alike basis. Often enough
three, and even four. young fellows, all of
them employed during the day, form these
fiat copartnerships and live mighty snug.y
when they get things well a-goins. A
pretty good four-room bachelor fiat, with
decorated walls. tiled bath room, porce-
lain tub, and all that, can be rented in
New York for from $25 to $35 per month
reference is now had to the class of bache-
lor flats that have been brought within the
grasp of men who work, and not to hose
gorgeous institutions in which the flats
Oh, better in their case the departments
are rented to the jeunesse doree for s., 900
or 5000 year. These moderate-prced
bachelor flats are to be found In pretty
good neighborhoods, too. beyond 90tn street.
Comparison With Room Renting.
N0M, when 1t is considered that only an
exceedingly modest single room can be
rented in a New York lodging house for
from $25 to $35 month, this item Of the
bachelor fiat expenditure, when divided up
among two or three or four men, foots up
a pretty considerable saving in year, leav
ing aside the question Of the superior COM
fort of the fiat. The young men who take
the fiat club in to buy the furniture. About
as cozy little plant as need be can be
fitted up for a couple of hundred dollars,
pictures bric-a-brac and all. and each Of
the men going into the scheme always has
a lot Of embellishing truck Of his own to
add to the ornateness Of the establishment.
AS a general thing, the young men su-
pervise their own culinary arrangements.
That Is to say, they get their own break
fast. 1t isn't a job taxing the powers Of
modern young men to fry rasher of bacon,
turn; an egg and boil pot full of coffee,
and they make an arrangement with the
janitress whereby she washes the breakfast
dishes and makes the beds and keeps the
rooms tidied up for s5 or Sc a month. Their
lunch they get down town, as they would
have to do We're they boarding. and, as a
rule. they take their dinner whenever and
wherever they please. They have the op-
portunity to prowl around digging up new.
interesting and often amusing dining
houses, and the man who knows where and
how can get a first rate dinner in New
York, from soup to nuts, for half a dollar.
When there are three or four fellows liv
ing in peace and amity In bachelor fiat
they often have cook to prepare all OF
their meals except the hasty downtown
luncheon, and, as general thing. this cook
is a man.. The young bachelors who go into
this modern bachelor fiat scheme are not
Of the sort that have declared war against
the sex. On the contrary, they are usu-
ally young men who dance attendance upon
considerable number Of girls al the same
time.
Prefer a Man Cook.
Their main reason for generally employ
ing a man cook is that they like to feel
that they can bulldoze and browbeat him In
mild sort Of way without the imminent
danger OF any comeback In the matter Of
dish ware and rolling pins and such, as
there always is when a female cook OF
the conventional New York type is con-
.cerned Quite usually the man cook Of one
Of these three or four-handed bachelor
fats occupies the tiny fat store room. and
remains at the establishment all the time.
The bachelor f1atters prefer this scheme
FOR the reason that it gives them the
chance to rout the cook out at O'Clock in
and experience a wild craving for buck
wheat cakes or some such stimulant to the
imagination. Quite a number Of these
fOur-handed bachelor flats within the
knowledge OF the writer are presided over
by quiet, welf-mannered, cleanly and ex-
ceedingly competent Japanese cooks. The
town Is gradually filing up with little Japs
In every way fitted to fulfill the require
ments OF such esta blishments as are here
considered A good many Of the Japs drop
OH here from men-of-war for the better
pay and the greater freedom offered as
cooks in bachelor flats. One OF these Japs
pense, a dinner calculated to make the
teeth Of hopeless boarding house habItue
water.
When there is a cook employed. he also
ting his bills weekly to the council of flat
ters. Then they all dive into their wallets
and pay up, share-and-share-al alike, In pro-
portion to their numbers The man with
ical Of the council Is termed audits the
bills carefully In conjunction with the cook
steward, and when he submits them In their
audited shape his word "goes." In the two
handed bachelor flats. where no cook is
employed, and in which the only eating ar
rangements are those that refer to the
breakfast, the biil-auditing is less frequent,
but is Is always sternly based upon the
chipping-in of each sharer Of the joys Of
the fiat.
Disagreements Seldom Happen.
1t very rarely happens that men living to-
gether in this wise fail to get along to-
getfer In perfect agreement and peace.
When. for any reason, such as being trans
ferred from the city. or, better, because of
a graceful slide into the holy state of matri-
mony, one, Of the fiatters is compelled to
withdraw, he doesn't "pull out" or 'cash
in" his subscribed share to the fitting-up of
the establishment. He simply loses the
amount he has put in That is always the
arrangement, and the necessary arrange
ment, made in advance. The withdrawing
bachelor has taken a chance on his being
compelled, sooner or later, to relinquish the
cheerful existence of the bachelor fatter
and he never murmurs when he makes his
withdrawal. In the case Of a two-handeii
fiat, when one Of them has to retire, the
remaining hatter casts about him for an
k