The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-27
Americans ARE
Souvenir MAD
How It Strikes the Inhab-
itants of Other
Countries.
HOTELS THE VICTIMS.
Theft of Soup Tureen the
Limit-Chicago Manager
Employs Detectives.
HOTELS THE VICTIMS.

As Britisher temporarily resident
in New York, have often hesitated to
write about America lest my stories be
dismissed as grotesque yarns. 1 had
long watched the "memento" craze;
had talked With harried White House
guardians, hard put to it to prevent
well-dressed persons from cutting up
the carpets of the executive mansion,
knocking chips off the furniture, and
removing bodily statuettes and such
snail fowl. But not until the duke of
the Abruzzl gave information to the
police did I pluck up courage to write
OF certain strange flights of the Bird
of Freedom. 1t was, in truth, birds of
prey that descended on the popular
italian princes flagship Verese in the
North river-noisy, rowdy birds that,
not content with knives and forks,
spoons and salt cellars, snatched spare
uniforms and cut the buttons and lace
from them The ship was looted, as
Admiral Prince Louis Of Battenberg's
ship was looted, only the Duke of
Abruzzi understood his guests less well,
and Kicked" Hence his appeal to the
police, who begged the enthusiasts to
return all souvenirs, and mo questions
would be asked"
But this is merely by the way, and
leading up to the impotent fury of the
hotel and restaurant keepers. For the
hotel mems association has just met in
Washington and its members gathered
round the table remarked that the
carting off Of soup tureen was the
limit" land Herewith each turned to
his neighbor with Boss Tweeds classic
query, "What are you going TO do
about it?"
A queer thing-this turning OF the
hotel and restaurant men, 1 thought
both looked upon the Souvenir bust
ness as with them forever. Certainly
+ their prices should have insured them.
"If I'm charged one and three for a
two-penny portion of raspberry jam,
said to be, imported have / no right
to collar the spoon?" The reasoning is
that of travelled Bostonian with whom
l talked on the subject. Both he and
thousands of other reputable citizens
have a souvenir collection at home. So
have their wives and sisters, mothers
and brothers, fathers and daughters.
And the children are in no wise behind.
I have seen many such collections,
neatly stored in cabinets-a tag on ev-
cry wineglass and salt "shake." l re-
member one Of vast range in Dallas,
Tex 1t was the family's pride-a regu-
lar magpie's nest of glittering things.
Pepper casters from the opulent st,
Regis; fruit knives from the waldorf;
plated ash trays from the new Belle
vue-Stratford at Philadelphia big
soup ladies from the Chicago Auditor
ium. Aye, the mementoes a-plenty
from the st. Moritz Engadiner Kuhn
and the far-off Carlton the Paris Bris-
toll, too, and the Brussels Flandres--
flower holders from Shepherds in
Cairo, little salver from Ritter's in
Homburg, and "cute" little cream
Jug from Palm Beach. There We're china
ornaments, small bedroom clocks, and
linen galore from hotel, restaurant
ocean liner and railroad train.
All this and much else My hostess
stood by to hear her collection admir-
ed. l said, lamely, the custom was lit
tie known in England, 1--WE are dull
people," 1 explained, "slow, unimagin-
ative; unnecessarily quarrelsome, per-
haps, where the removal of silverplate,
glass, linen and crockery is concerned"
But l was sharply reminded that the
thing is rampant even at White House
I,n e;Ixy
kept purposely poor in quality for SOU
venir reasons? Otherwise the richest
president would surely go broke" And
such as remains is each year auetioned
off and fresh store laid in.
'This is peculiar to Americans" re-
marked Admiral Robley d. Evans to
me, talking of the looting Of the flag
ship, as 1 walked his deck in Hampton
Roads 1.-THE dukes loss is attributable
to collect souvenirs. Why" Fighting
Bob went on 81 was walking down
Broadway, New York, one summers
day when a flash of lightning struck a
flagstaff near City Hall park sending
it in splinters into the street. Where
upon the scramble for memento scraps
stopped the trolley cars for 10 minutes
and nearly ended in tragedy"
The hotel mems association have been
saying hard things Indeed, the holder
spirits bluntly declare the souvenir bus
mess "all rot" and give it the ugly
name of "plain thieving." would they
do it while policeman was by?" ask
ed one bitterly. And the rest chorused
Indignantly, "Well, l guess not!" Ia
special secret session was held by the
hotel managers in washington to con-
slider this question, but all they gave
but was that the offerings ran into
hundreds of thousands of dollars ev-
cry year, from the resorts on the Maine
coast of Pasadena, Cal, and from the
great lakes down to Palm Beach.
A big Chicago manager eagerly ask
ed me whether the London and CONT
mental hotel people complained of trans
atlantic guest-thieves, but I dexterous-
ly turned the question with sympathy
and interest. Encouraged, he talked a
blue streak'-the expression is his. l
gathered that provincials coming from
the interior to the great cities of the
East looked upon the seizure of minor
hotel property as a matter of course.
Yet no single hotel in city, it seems,
can carry out a plan for the total sup
preston of the practice
Il had been losing thousands of dol
lars worth of my property every
year" the Chicago manager said,
Through thefts committed by guests.