Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-06-30
.GRAFTERS WORRY
HOTELS OF CITY
ONE THIRD OF STATIONERY
USED BY OTHERS THAN
GUESTS.
NEW ENLGANDERS NOT OFFEND
Frs IN THIS REsPEcT-INTER-
ESTING ILLUSTRATION.

|
spends yearly for stationery, says the
New York Sum- 1t is estimated that
fully one-third of the material pur
chased is used by so-called outsiders
ct would be impossible said the
manager of the hotel, ito keep an ex
siders is a vague one, for that may
mean people who come to luncheon
and dinner and having a little time
to spare occupy it by sending notes
Naturally no discrimination can be
made between them and those who
are regular patrons of the place.
I'm fact, the only discipline we can
exert without hurting the establish
ment is to keep close watch on those
who we know are abusing the privi
leges accorded and give them quiet
word of warning. There have been
! hundreds of cases that have come I'M
| der my notice of people who made a
regular practice of dropping into the
writing room and I should judge never
bought a sheet or paper or an enVei
ope for themselves in their lives
| These people have been under sur
yeillance and as they have never been
known to spend dollar here in le-
Ultimate ways they haze been culled
out with firm hand.
"The vanity of human nature rather
than any real lack of honesty is at
the bottom of a good deal of this kind
Dwell say, stealing, although that
is rather a harsh word. People who
have come from some small town out
west or in the south and have heard
of this and other hotels come here to
look about Then they think it would
be a good joke to send a little note to
some friend They do so and before
very long the habit of these little
notes is formed and they drop in here
whenever they are going by. | &C
tually know of "a case of western
woman who announced deliberately
that she had taken small room IN
the neighborhood Of this hotel, for she
found that the reception room here
made good place to meet her friends
and she never bought any stationery.
What do you think of that?
Incidentally l have discovered that
New England people are rarely OF
tenders in this respect. There is
great deal of joking done about the
economic proclivities of the inhabl-
tants of that part of the country, but
1t is an economy which apparently
takes into account the rights of others
as we'll as their own.
4 went once into theater in Bos-
ton and in the foyer was a writing
desk. There was a man scribbling in
front of it and after a while he opened
a little box on the top which had no
kew or fastening of any kind, took out
stamp. put in two cents, got up and
walked away.
Just for fun l followed his exam
pie and my companion, Boston chap,
EXPRESSED no establishment when
followed the example OF the hrst
conner, deposited my two cents and,
leaving it there in company with sew
eral other coins, availed myself of the
privilege accorded by the manage
ment. My curiosity got the best OF
nv good taste and l simply had to in
ouire if the money or stamps were
never stolen.
'Stolen?' was the response. why
OF course not. | don't believe the
management loses 25 cents a year, if
they do that
Il couldn't help drawing a mental
parallel between that place and New
York. Just how long Go you suppose
a manager of a popular theater or the
proprietor of a fashionable hotel
could keep box of that kind in COM
mission? Not long enough to talk
about, l guess. And people would
simply laugh at his gullibiilty if he
tried it.
The continued use by outsiders of
the most comfortable seats in the
corridors of hotel, in the reception
rooms and in other parts where there
is anything to see or hear, is kind of
subtle Robbery that has no penalty
attached and is rarely taken cogniz-
ance Of There is a well-defned class
of society, women principally, who
have no object in life, so far as can be
determined, except to watch the doings
of people above them in the social
scale, or those who are at least more
spectacular in their actions.
Il have one woman in mind as |
talk. She was the ford, overdTessed
tpye who looked as if she might live
in Harlem and do her own dressmak-
ing, although, truth to tell. | don't see
when she had time for it, as she
seemed to I've in one special corner
of this corridor. where her eyes were
fastened on every woman's clothes
that passed her by. | never saw her
notice a FACET was an obsessiOn of
dress entirely-and you could see by
the expression of her own counter
ance whether she was envious, salts
God xuondorinO or uac rnaro1v y,,ouror.