The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-16
NO WATERS NOR
TIPS NECESSARY
Restaurant in New York
Where Food Is Auto
matically Dispensed.

a shiver of delight as he rushed into
the office the other noon. All of the
other bookkeepers noticed it, and the
lady stenographer giggled.
Il have found it! 1 have found it,"
he cried. "a restaurant where YOU
don't have to tip the waiter!"
"Ah, go on!" 'Impossible!" "Got
them again!" were some of the express
sions which met this announcement.
ITS a fact" insisted the young man.
''for how can you tip the waiter when
there is no waiter?''
That was a puzzIer, and for a min
ute it kept them quiet. Then asked
the lady of the key machine: But
how can you get anything to eat if
there are no walters >"
Its an automatic restaurant in
Broadway" he explained "You drop
your money in the slot and out comes
your food in jiffy."
And forthwith the office force hur-
ried off to take a luncheon out Of the
slot
A most remarkable place is this
"Automat," the latest, quickest and
most improved quick lunch institution
to settle in this city Two records
have already been established. One is
held by the restaurant, the other by
speedy feeder" from one Of the big
department stores. The restaurant
without the aid of single waiter fed
1000 persons in one day. The man
succeeded in downing a complete
luncheon in one minute and forty-five
seconds. He even had time to drop a
penny in the slot near the door for
pepsin digestive pellet. His best rec
ord in an ordinary restaurant was
three and half minutes.
For the student Of human nature
there is much to see in this strange
eating place besides the almost human
machines which deliver the food. One
can put finger on half a dozen New
York characteristics. The most prom
inent is a reckless haste in eating,
which has been marked before, but
which has been marked before, but
which in this eating speedway shows
a disregard for dyspepsia which is
sublime.
The busy man rushes in at one door,
jabs a nickel frantically into the slot
marked ham sandwich" receives one
1nstanter, goes along the line to the
fish chowder slot, which calls for
dime, jumps for a round table, high
enough to enable him to stand and
eat, puts away the food which the slot
delivered in a few expansive bites and
gulps, draws his own cup Of coffee by
use Of another nickel and is back en-
the street ready to work hard until
dinner time. 1t is all done in a breath;
in less time than it takes to tell it.
More interesting perhaps is the curl
Gus man who IS taking his time and is
determined to investigate this new
wonder thoroughly.
Every man his own bartender" he
explains as he observes the labels on
the line of slots to the right He
starts in with a gin f1zz and ends with
highball after having had all sorts
of things in between. This reckless
ness is entirely due to the fact that
the drinks come bubbling out Of the
slot; at a regular bar he never would
have thought of mixing.
With a smiling face he leans back
to watch others try the new drink
toy. A woman slips up to the cocktail
section and draws q dainty red drink
She waits after the flow has stopped,
the smile of satisfied expectation
changing to one of doubt and then dis
may. She stands there looking at the
glass until the manager passes.
What do you mean by labelling this
machine 'cocktail'?" she demands.
But it does serve cocktails, madam"
he answers. There is your drink wait
ing for you"
"Cocktail!' she cries; "you call that
q cocktail! Then, where is the
cherry?"
Adjoining the cocktail berth there
are several sections from which gurgle
foaming beer after one puts in a nickel
and pulls the lever. On pegs above
the beer tanks are many glasses. A
short, fat German in a broken voice
n oY15A ho
the sign, and with beaming face de-
posted his nickel. "Chust like the
fiddle gum chewing troopers" he said.
He pulled back the lever and the beer
began to flow. There was no glass
there and it ran into the waste pipe
below.
when is dat glass goin' to come out
yeti" the German cried. stop i'd!
Stop id! Waid a fiddle undil de glass
gedts herel Helm" The flow had
ceased. ct was Elm fake. How was I
to drink mein beer midOut Elm glass?"
The humor of 1t struck him when
they showed him the rows of clean
glasses just above his head which he
had failed to see. He spent a second
nickel without complaint.
The greatest trouble which the man.
ayers of the place have with the drink
department. is from small boys. They
steal up to the slot machines and try
to secure drink when no one is watch
ing. The machines know a great deal
enough not to take a dime when 1t
is put into a nickel slot and to turn
back money which is light weight
but they have not the ability to rec
ogniZe minors. Messenger boys and
street urchins soon discovered this,
and in order to prevent violation of the
law, one Of the "omnibuses"-the men
who remove the dirty dishes-keeps
a close watch on the "bOOZe'' machines.
'This surely is a wonderful place."
said a staid man of business, after he
had looked over the "automat." What
a tribute to American inventive skill"
American skill, did you say?" de-
manded his table neighbor, who speaks
with a foreign accent. This Is
German idea. There are dozens of
these restaurants on the continent and
this one was moved bodily from Berlin
even to the front of the building" He
pointed out the German notices on
the wall, the peculiar mirror work in
the interior decoration, and other for
eign attributes of the place.
"Well, then, it is a tribute to the
progressiveness of New York to take
er American city," said the man who
was bound to make some sort Of
tribute to something out Of 1t.
But you forget that an automatic
restaurant has been running in Phil
adelphia with success for several
months" said the other.
In Philadelphia! Great Scott"
1.-THE Quaker automatic is minus the
liquor department. he said, by way CT
tempering the others disgust.
But the New York man was not to
be appeased and was found an hour
later dropping dimes into a little red
barrel in one corner of the establish