Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-13
FOR THE LEAN PURSES
The Mills Hotels for People
of Small Means.
FOOD GOOD AND CHEAP
COMFORT AND CLEANLINESS THE
CHARACTERISTICS.
Free Lodging Houses in New York
The Income of the Czar-Efectiveness
of Moral Restraint in Russia.
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
NEW YORK, June L. 1905.
correspondent writes to me to say that
inasmuch as have given an account of the
modern palatial hotels of New York city
1t might interest the readers of The Star
to hear something about the Mills Hotels
for people of lean purses.
My sojourn there" he says, was from
Saturday noon to Monday noon and no
hotel could have surpassed it for quiet COM
tort. AT least one thousand men like myself
enjoyed it and noticed the strict discipline
and order under its perfect system"
There are two hotels for workingmen in
New York city erected by Mr. d. O. Mills
or California as a -philanthropic enter
prise. He has furnished clean, comfortable
quarters and plain. wholesome food for 4
daily average of 1900 wayfarers of the
working class, at the rate of 30 cents a day
for lodging, breakfast, lunch and dtpner
ana has realized a profit of between 1 ard
per cent on the investment One OF the
establishments. known as Mills Hotel No
l, stands on Bleecker street between John
son ana Sullivan streets, on the west side
or 9th avenue and only few steps from
the elevated railway station Mills Hotel
No = Is at the corner of Rivington and
Chrysue streets, on the east side between
the Bowery and the river. Both of them
are built of freproof materials with cement
floors, steel door frames and window cas-
ings and as little wood in their construction
as possible. The interior finishing is also
designed to prevent microbes insects and
germs of all sorts from finding Judgment
The sanitary conditions are as perfect az
possible, and disinfectants used with
great freedom. So far as Is known no per-
son has ever been infected with disease
while stopping in either house. and no one
has ever been robbed there.
Intention of Mr.. Mills.
The hotels were opened in 1897 by Mr.. D.
0. Mills. to afford comfortable and con-
Venlent stopping place for 'self-respecting
men," and very few of the bum" c:ass
have found their way into either of them
The regular patrons are largely mechanics
clerks. laborers and other wage earners A
visitor can Immediately recognize his fellow
guests as respectable and honest men. No
1ntoXicants are sold or permitted to be used
in the hotels; no intoxicated, filthy or dis
eased persons are admitted; smoking IS al
lowed only in rooms devoted to that pur-
pose; only one person can occupy a bed
room and no women are received, except in
the restaurant, where tables are teserved
for a large number of patrons from Che
stores, shops. factories and business houses
in the neighborhood
Mills Hotel No. l has 554 rooms; or 100
more than the Waldorf-Astoria. They are
uniformly seven and half by six feet in
size and furnished with a single iron
bedstead, with the very best steal wire mat
tresses, hair mattresses, pillows and bed
linen good as can be found in any hotel
in the world. A strip of carpet a chair
and a locker completes the furnish hing.
These rooms cost 20 cents day. payable IN
advance, and they may be occupied as long
as the guest is able to pay the charges. No
free dodgers are received. The hotels are
not charitable institutions. Seventy large
corner rooms cost 30 cents day. Every
room has direct ventilation from window
opening upon a street or upon court.
There are four sets of bath rooms and lava
tories on each floor where soap and towels
are furnished free of cost There IS no
extra charge for the use of the baths. ana
they are patronzed by an averge of 800
people a day.
Tubs soap and hot water furnished
those who wish to do their own laur6ry
work, with extra charge, and the drying
rooms. as good as can be found in any
laundry, are open to all.
Mills Hotel No. , is built and conducted
on the same plan, but is only about one-half
the size, having 61o lodging rooms. Both
hotels have large, airy Hobbies, sitting.
smoking and reading rooms, well lighted
and ventilated with comfortable chairs and
books, magazines, daily and weekly papers
free to all.
The Food and the Prices.
The restaurant of Mills No. l will seat
about four hundred people and that of No.
. about two hundred and fifty. Breakfast.
consisting of eggs. coffee, rolls cereal
foods, is served for 10 cents: luncheon
for the same price; and dinner. of soup,
meat, two vegetables and dessert. with tea,
coffee or milk, costs 10 cents. The follow
ing is a recent bill-of-fare:
Consonme with Noodles. PURGE Of Tomatoes.
Hot Meats.
Roast Turkey, Cranberry Sauce
Roast Beef. Dish Gravy.
Fricasseed Lamb with Mushrooms.
Cold Meats
Boiled Fresh Beef Tongue.
Fish.
Fried smelts, Tartar Sauce
Boiled Cod Egg Sauce.
Vegetables.
Boiled Sweet Potatoes Mashed Potatoes
Cauihower, Hollandaise Sauce Fried Egg Plant.
Plum Pudding. Pumpkin Pie. Baked Apples.
Tea Coffee Milk.
The guest has his choice from this list
served attractive china dishes, white
Thus a man can live at the Mills Hotel
for fifty-five cents day, or $3.S5 a week
There are between eight and nine hun
dred regular boarders at Mills Hotel No
/. and between three and four hundred
at No. 2, who have clean. comfortable
homes at that cost. They are chiefly me-
chanics, bookkeepers. clerks, porters, en-
gineers and other wage earners having
employment in the neighborhood.
Crowded at Times.
months both hotels are crowded with
transients, and often as many as 200
have been turned away for lack of
room. The receipts have been greater
than the expenses from the day that the
doors were first opened, and Mr. Mills has
the qualification of knowing that his pur-
pose has been accomplished. He has not
only furnished respectable men of small
means with comfortable and attractive
place to live. but has demonstrated to in
vestors that such enterprises will pay
good dividends.
For time it was quite the thing for
visitors to the city to pass a night or
take a meal al the Mills Hotel Some Of
the wealthiest and most celebrated men
of this country and Europe have slept
under it's roofs. and have paid fifteen
cents for a wholesom dinner. The late
George Francis Train was one of the
first-comers. He took a room a few
days after Hotel No. / was opened, and
occupied 1t continuously for seven years
until his death. Mr.. T. H. Thomas, the
manager. says that Mr.. Train is very
much missed.
1.-The hotels are becoming known all
over the world. he said, and in way
that is very gratifying. Only few days
WI ich