The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-23

SIX cndaS at eacA table, making dc-
commodations for 2.1s4 at 9. time. Those
who served were exceedingly polite.
They had evidently been instructed
especially on this point. Nothing pays
better than politeness. A waiter who
served me brought two kinds of meat.
when I had only osdered one. She
said:
THE piece of steak did not seem to
be very good and I thought would
bring you some chops also"
One of my friends. on being assign
ed to a room. said to the clerk: "On
which floor is it2''
I This one" said the clerk
'All right" said the guest. highly
eIated to think that he was on the
ground floor. The bell boy took him
along down one hall after another and
wnen he had walkedsabout a quarter
of a mile, without going up or down
stairs, he found his room. but upon
looking out of his window saw that he
was in the third story. The hotel is
built on the side of hill. and while
the front of it is three stories high, as
it extends toward the rear a story is
taken from the top and added below.
There is a good barber shop. with
twelve BARRIERS, and the charge is if
teen cents, same as in Topeka. News
papers cost two cents; that is. the best
ones. same as the State Journal. Cigars
cost five cents. but you can buy better
ones for ten.
Most of the stories I heard about ex-
tortionate prices were unfounded. For
instance, a lady tells me she under
stands the charge for an automobile
ride around the grounds is 81 an hour.
I T ~
the entire trip. This took over an
hours time and was a very pleasant
way of getting a general survey of the
grounds. The automobile was a large.
open one, carrying about twenty peo-
pie. Seth Wells, auditor of state, viii
verify this. for he sat behind me ar
rayed as usual in one of his red neck
ties. There were few more dazzling
effects at the exposition than the au-
ditor presented on this occasion,
adorned merely as he appears on the
streets of Topeka, or at his desk in the
Capitol building.
A ride through the grounds gives one
two distinct Impressions. First, the
immensely of the exposition and the
buildings. Then the beauty of the
architecture and of the general effects
and arrangement. The space covered
is 1,240 acres, twice that of the Chicago
exposition, four times that of Buffalo.
eight times that of Omaha. One o.
the buildings. Agricultural, covers
twenty acres, has four miles of aisles.
You can form a good idea how large
this palace is, if you imagine the entire
state house grounds walled in and put
I under roof. The space would simply
be different shape, as the building is
about four times as long as it is wide.
You can encircIe the grounds on the
Intramural railway, a distance of
probably seven miles, for a ten cent
fare. This railway winds around and
about so that any particular spot is
reached within easy walking distance
from one of the. numerous stations
This expIodes another charge of extor-
ton. There are restaurants and cafes
everywhere and the charges are about
the same as in restaurants in cities
generally; naturally, a little higher
Twenty-Five per cent of the proceeds
must go to the exposition authorities.
Soft drinks are readily obtained at the
usual prices. and hundreds of people
carry their luncneons in boxes, finding
seats or place under the trees for rest
and refreshment.
At the exposition, as elsewhere. there
seem to be few cases of extortion, or
holdups, except where the person him
self is to blame. have no doubt that
if I had taken everything the barber
wanted to give me in the way of
massage, shampoo, haircut, singed
nair, etc, that I could have paid the
tonsorial man 1925. as easily as the fif-
teen cents which he get; or I could
have ridden in q carriage tothe exposi-
ton for two dollars or paid the nickel
I gave up.
While at the Southern hotel in the
city one can pay four dollars a day
for each person for a room alone,
there are hundreds Of places where
a good comfortable room can be Sc
cured within few minutes walk or
ride of the grounds Tor a dollar a day.
There are over two hundred hotels
where the prices range from fifty
cents a lodging upward, and five hun
dred restaurants. in half of which the
charges are about the same as those
in Topeka. There is an official intor-
nation bureau which lists places
where rooms may be secured
The way not to be imposed upon,
or to pay too much at the Exposition,
is to ascertain beforehand the sched-
uIe and make it understood just what
you want.
If you can go to see the Fair now.
you will get your moneys worth and
see a complete Exposition, although