Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-19
ONE WAY TO LEARN
How to See Life and Draw a
Salary Also.
MOST FAMOUS HOTEL
WHERE HUMANITY OF MANY
GRADES MEETS DAILY.
Society Figures, Tourists and the
Newly Rich From Everywhere
Make Up the Throng.
MOST FAMOUS HOTEL

Written for The Evening Star.
II you would see high life and yet lack
the funds to plunge;
If you would know how millionaires and
multi-mllionaires spend their wealth.
If you would actually behold the frocks
and frills which the average person knows
only through the columns of the Sunday
fashion pages;
If you would rub elbows with the most
highly exploited actors artists and writer's
of the hour;
II you would study the sharpest contrasts
between perjury and wealth. the underpaid
hireling outlined against the overfed finan-
cier:
If you are willing to sacrifice one by one
your lifelong Illusions concerning the
world OF wealth. fashion and art to a be-
lief that mediocrity is the only pathway to
happiness;
If you would accomplish all these things
in one short year-and be paid for doing
it-get some kind of a situation in the
largest and most widely known hotel in
New York city; a multi-storied- dice box
where human dice of many grades are
shaken up together.
They all visit the place In time-the man
who has toiled for years to amass wealth
and the man who has achieved his thou
sands In sudden turn on the street
the man who has been lucky on the nearest
race track, and the man who has struck
gold in the mountain-locked west-he who
has saved for months that he may enjoy a
brief week or so in the metropolis, and the
confirmed traveller the cosmopolitan to
whom this mammoth pile in New York and
Sheperd's in Cairo alike are home-the man
who makes money for the pleasure he can
buy with 1t. and the man who spends
money for what appearances are worth to
him in advancing his career.
And to these add the men and women
Indigenous to the metropolis, the present
generation of old. established families to
whom the most fashionable hotel is bound
10 be more or less of meeting place. From
morning until night and from night until
morning. the kaleidoscope whirs unceas
inelv. for the one thing lacked by this huge
abiding place for 5000 souls in permanency.
Its life Is like the restless surf ever roll
ing in and out, ever varying in form, color
and motion, and always topped with foam.
Why Tourists Crowd It.
Tourists are drawn to a hotel of this
stamp for various reasons. Those who
travel merely for appearance, to say they
have done" this country or that. invaria-
bly, select the hostelry which will show up
best in their diaries, the house which Is
noted for its exorbitant charges. Others go
on the principle that one might well de
for a sheep as lamb. and while spending,
be liberal enough to see all the lions.
Others still there are who love luxury for
It's own sake. This class includes the En-
clish women no wear impossible dowdy
frocks in the palm gardens after 6 pm.
and who demand tea when their smartly
dressed neighbors are indulging in cocktails
or champagne. Artists. writers, musicians
and actors who have sprung suddenly into
public notice 20 there because it gives them
a certain standing. social and financial
Western men who are "spenders" by birth
and often by the unexpected accruing of
riches go there TO see their money melt
like ice in dog days
One can burn money here without ap-
pearing vulgar. if he so desires. or he can
be stamped as an easy one from his first
interview with the room clerk, his first ap
pearance in enc CT the dining rooms. The
most liberal with tips are said to be the
western men of our own country; the least
generous in proportion to their Importance
the foreign dignitarieS, amba sSadOrS, etc,
whose itinerary Is arranged by their own
government or that of the United States.
The local clientele may be divided into
four distinct classes. First are the regular
roomerS and boarders, people who have had
the same apartments for successive winters
and who pay for these as much would
maintain a handsome establishment This
class includes several well-known widows
with grown daughters and acknowledged
social standing. who apparently like the
freedom from domestic responsibility; sin
gle men who possess no desirable club af-
filiations, but have enough money to live
luxurously; men who feel at home nowhere
save in a hotel; women who have reduced
to fine art the work of making excellent
appearance on small capital.
How a Woman Artist Climbed
1t Is said that certain woman artist
took top floor room and lived on one meal
a day that she might have the prestige of
receiving her mail and her callers in the
showiest hotel in the city, and thus i'm
press upon prospective customers the fact
that she had arrived" How much this
policy helped in the evolution of her career
cannot be estimated, but she has a large
profitable and fashionable following today
If one has no obje ction to long elevator
trips he can room in this establishment
as cheaply In IA shiOnable apartment
house and have infinitely better service. On
the other hand, if he desires to notify the
world that the goods are behind the bluff
he can get the state apartment at $50 per
day. but he must not forget that his tips
must be in proportion to his room rent.
Second, come the fashionable folk whose
town houses may or may not be closed,
but who drop in here on returning from
abroad and run In from their country
homes for a day or so in town. This is
known generally as the town and country
trade, and here Is where the hotel manager
loses money, rather than on his transient
custom Certain names, well known In
society at home and abroad, are invaluable
on his register. They draw the wou!d-be
social element, with money to spend but
Just lacking certain qualities which alone
they would be. Now. If the owner Of one
of these desirable names absent-mindediy
fails to settle his account, the prophet tor of
the hotel does not push the delinquent for
the transfer Of his account and occasional
presence TO another house would carry
away a certain number of satellites. 1t
Is said that one family of considerable So
c!al pretige owes the house $1,000.
third class includes those who have
the means and who at regular intervals
dine at the hotel, and would think of going
nowhere else to give supper party after
the play. They are the people who enjoy
life In an utterly unse nsational fashion, but
who like to watch the passing show about
once in so often
1.-THE Ice Walkers"
The fourth and last class are the people
who walk on ice-who are keeping UP APP
pearance at any cost. The men wear even
ing clothes with shiny seams, the women
gowns that are trimmed with soiled lace or
last seasons passementerie. 1t may be for
business reasons for mere love of show
that they make their appearance night af-
ter night at this fashionable gathering
place. Often they live in cheap rooms pre-
pare their own coffee and rolls for break
fast, lunch on trifies. and have the one re-
spectacle meal of the day with the world
that shrugs It's shoulders in passing them.
The policing Of a house like this, with its
$50 guest chambers, its accomm oda tons