The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-06-20

| "
MRS. e. G. BERRY.
apart. | have visited most Of the
hner hotels in New York. 1t Is not
vulgar to offer to compare them
with this black mans hotel They
nave more expensive trimmings
their appointments do not exceed
Berry's; they( are not as clean, the
| service one gets lin them is no better:
| the decorations are perhaps more
| gaudy, but not as persuasive, and
their comfort is below the comforts
offered here. Each room is as neat
as the other, and furnished as we'll:
| therea seemed to me no front and
nack-lt was all front. I stood in
the hotel office and tried to recall
| something in the larger hotels in
which l had been that was not here,
| examined the halls and~ the writ
| ing rooms, and inspected alone each
chamber in '''e house | visited the
aiming room, and had service in the
tonsor1al par1ors; I rode on the ele-
Yator, and watched the servants
there; | noted the system of the
| clerks, and the behavior Of the pa
irons. saw at work the dynamo
which supplies the electricity for the
halls and rooms; the furniture 7.
closely scanned; the signs upon the
| windows did not escape me; I saw
lis great sample rooms where the
travelling statesmen from this stasstty aIuti.
f!om Chicago, show their goods:
saw Its reading and writing room
furnished with a library Of useful
DOCKS; saw myself in the great mir
hn e,irl -
each floor; ! saw the finely tiled toll
cit rooms, finer in their filings thanNl
those in the Hotel Manhattan: II
saw hundreds of people coming and
going through its corridors and din
ing rooms, and the respect they
held for. Its proprietor. | affirm,
that this establishment is the first
nave ever seen Negro conduct that
ala not In some place and measure
nave about e a sign of the racial
identification of it's owner. 1t is1
the best organized and most repre-
sentative business | ever saw In the
hands Of a Negro. Its proprietor as
the most progressive Negro business
man whose hand / have had the
pleasure Of grasping.
Those Who Have STOPPED There.
This peace I have described is the
home or all visitors who come to
Athens. Upon Its register are the
names Of Presidents and Senators,
Bishops and Congressman. McKin-
ley and Foraker and Dick and Gros-
Venor have sheltered here, Vincent,
Meth odisism champion, is regularly
Its guest. Educators who come to
visit the University just a block
away turn to it. John Temple Graves,
Georgia's great editor whose words
cost Atlanta intense suffering came
| once to its hospitality. He came for
an hour, and remained forty-eight.
A Kentucky Colonel came once. not
| knowing the color Of the proprietor.
| When he found out to what race
Berry held allegiance, he informed
him that he thought it wise to get
away, for the crime Of being a guest
even In g 5Otel whose owner was g.
Neg-5, would be proper grounds for
his wife to institute divorce proceed
ings. This Colonel remained, two
months. In short, this is the center
Of life and activities Of the city and
the section
General Grosvenor being asked
once what he knew Of Mr.. Berry
wrote the following letter and it can
safely be said to express the senti-
ments Of the community, and / offer
1t to substantiate the review / have
given to this mans work:
! have been asked by the friends
Of Mr.. Edward G.. Berry, Of Athens,
Ohio, to comment briefly upon his
character and career.
Il have known Mr.. Berry from
his boyhood. When very young
fellow he was engaged as a waiter in
a small restaurant In Athens, receiv.
Ing weekly pittance for his services
sCG have known him ever since He
saved his money from the beginning
and accumulated enough to give
him little start of his own. He
crossed the street from his former
employer and opened small confec-
tionery in q small building, which
then occupied a part Of the present
hotel lot. He has gone on from that
until now, a period of something
like thirty years, he has builded a
fine hotel building with all the mod
ern contrivances. He has an elevator
in the building, has fine suites of
rooms with baths and indeed has a
modern hotel, which with its fur
nishings and fittings is worth at
least $4,000. He has madesall this
himself, and has made ii practically.