The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-12-31
TRIRUTE TO FRED HARVEY.

| TBy Gilbert Hubbard in the Philistine.
Fred Harvey? Do you know the
name? If not. then your education
has been neglected.
Fred Harvey used to run restau-
rant He ran it SO well that the Santa
Fe railroad folks got him to establish a
line of restaurants along the road from
Chicago to California. and also down
into Texas. Some say that the Santa
Fe made Fred Harvey, but the fact is.
Fred Harvey had a little something to
do with making the Santa Fe.
Twenty years ago, railroad travel
was attended with much discomfort.
You might get something to eat at the
eating-houses, and you might not.
You might have time to eat, and you
might not-you took your chances on
soggy biscuit, muddy coffee and i'm
| possible pies. The term eating
house, was somewhat ironical.
As for the West, Fred Harvey
changed all this. When train stop
ped at place where there was a Fred
Harvey eating-house, you knew there
would be ample time for meal-the
train would not leave until ordered to
do so by the restaurant manager-you
would not be overcharged, and every
thing provided would be of the best
courtesy would prevail.
Fred Harvey set a standard of ex-
cellence! It is a terrible thing to ac-
qufre a Fred Harvey reputation.
Wendell Phillips, after speaking in
public for twenty-five years, was once
to lecture at the town of LIE Roy, New
York. A man I know was to intro
duce him. This man noticed that Mr..
Phillips was a bit agitated.
"Can it be possible, Mr.. Phillips
said my friend, that you who have
spoken so long in public. are nervous
about appearing before an audience?"
young man." said Wendell Phil
lips, 1.-The trouble is, 1 have spoken too
we'll. Any man who has ever done a
thing excellently, is always nervous
afterward when asked to do it again,
because much is expected of him"
Where the name, Fred Harvey, ap-
pears, the travelling public expect
much. 1t may be on the desert of
Arizona, a hundred miles from water,
but if it is a Fred Harvey place, you
get filtered spring water, ice, fresh
fruit and every other good thing that
you can find at the same season in the
best places in New York. city or Chi
cago. How the miracle occurs you do
not know-it is a Fred Harvey con-
cern-that is enough!
The manager of Fred Harvey
eating-house must be in accord with
the Fred Harvey system. He must be
intelligent, quiet, alert, courteous.
Everything about the place must re-
fleet decency, order, thrift, cleanliness,
good cheer, system.
The girls at a Fred Harvey place
never look dowdy, frowsy, tired, Slip
shod or overworked. They are expect
ing you-clean collars, clean aprons,
hands and faces washed, nails mani
cured-there they are! bright, fresh,
healthy and expectant-Extra Choice!
And so this man, Fred Harvey, has
educated thousands of young men and
women and showed them how to meet
people, how to serve them without
boring them. how to speed them on
their way in gladness.
Fred Harvey is dead, but the stand
ard of excellence he set can never go
back. He has been a civilizer and ben
efactor. He has added to the physical
mental and spiritual welfare of mil
lions. Talk about "commercialism; ="
well, there is nothing finer. No sermon
can equal a Fred Harvey example--no
poet can better a Fred Harvey precept.
Fred Harvey simply kept faith with
the public. He gave pretty nearly a
perfect service. 1 did not know Fred
Harvey, but know this, he must have
been an honest man, a good man--for
the kind of a business a man builds up
is a reflection of himself-spun out of
his heart. Man, like Deity, creates in
his own image.
take off my hat to Fred Harvey
who served the patrons of the Santa
Fe so faithfully and well, that dying,
he yet lives, his name a symbol Of all
that is honest, excellent, hygienic,
clearly and useful.
DOTNUrrD DARACD ADrC