The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-17

cleaning is finished. And here lies the
difference between the housewife and
the hotel manager during the domestic
upheaval. The housewife tries to run
everybody, from the paperhangers to
the man who comes in to black her
stove. The hotel manager divides his
house-cleaning force. each section of
which is under a head who knows all
the details of his department from the
ground UP.
Fifteen Acres to Look After.
The floor space of this hotel, IL laid
on common level, would cover $50
900 square feet, or fifteen acres Cut
the rooms into a uniform width of ten
rect, and running them side by side,
they would stretch fifteen miles. All
OF this floor space, with the exception
or the ballroom, must be covered with
carpets, rugs, mating, etc
fashionable hotel must always
look fresh and well-groomed; hence
carpets can seldom be made over save
as they can be changed from a very
large room to a small one, with the
FADED part of the carpet taken out. The
American public which can afford to
stop at a high-priced hotel has gone
luxury-mad, and carpets must be thick
and velvety under foot, so there is no
turning of the economical ingram. The
III PCNS must DC utSpOSeQ OF elLner DIV
selling to smaller hotels or private
parties, or through auction rooms. The
replenishing of linen costs $4,000 a
year, and as much more is required to
purchase new china and silver serv-
ice. New furniture and carpets, to-
gether with the wages paid to help.
will bring the cost up to $50, 900.
Three Months of House Cleaning.
The house cleaning force is called in
about the middle of June and works
until the middle of September, which
presumably is a slack season for hotels
in large cities. The hotel has it's own
upholstering, carpenter and mattress
shops. Carpets are sent out to be
cleaned, but are re~sewn and laid by
the hotel force. The rooms are torn
up In sections, so that some parts of
the house are always ready for guests.
The decorations. papering and oiling
of the woodwork are done by contract.
The furniture is removed TO the cabi-
netmakers' shop in the basement, where
1t is all done over.
The mattresses are recovered or
filled, according to the need, and pill
lows are treated I'm the same way. Cur
tains are taken TO a different depart
ment, where expert darners take them
in hand, which accounts for the long
life OF a real good lace curtain, as, II
properly handled, they will wear sever
seasons. Tapestry hangings and
Oriental rugs are treated the same
way.
In the linen room the new supplies.
which come direct from the looms in
Ireland, are sorted I'm sizes, marked
and dated. One of the little extrava-
gances is an individual cake of soap
marked MADE for you" Thousands of
fhaqn q IN ~
a fresh cake is found in the dish by
each guest. The silver and china are
largely made TO order. that the hotel
may have individuality.
Goes on Quietly.
The servants work like union men
at regular hours and there Is none
OF the hurrying, long-hour atmos-
phere OF the ordinary domestic house.
cleaning. The hotel house cleaning
must move on so quietly that Il will
not interfere with the comfort and
pleasure of summer tourists who are
stopping at the house. Neither can
maids be taken from their regular
work 10 supplement the house-clean-
ing force, as the service OF the hotel
must not be permitted to show any
sign Of the annual cleaning.
In the meantime the managers Of
the hotel have gone on their annual
jaunts to Europe or to some noun
tain resort, the famous chef is off OH
his yacht for a brief respite from
the onerous duties of catering TO mil
lionaire appetites, and midsummer
finds the heads of the various depart
ments, such as the housekeeper, the
head Of the linen room and the stew
ard, left TO carry the house clean
ing to a successful and satisfactory
issue. BY Sept. 10 every room must
be finished. and the hotel must be in
readiness for the food OF incoming
tourists from Europe who stop On New
York on their way West. II Is the
great Western population which sup
ports the Eastern palaces commonly
called hotels.
Floating Population of n Hotel.
The floating population Of such
hotel Ia equal 10 that of a small city.
Even IN midsummer. with house
cleaning at It's hight. pilgrims for
plsaSuEo wano are stopping en- route