The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-28

Tais change is partly the result of necessity and partly the result of choics. At the tremendous prices oh- tainsd for New York real estate even . modest home represents an invest ment from Ses,o0o upward. which of course puts home-owning quite out of the reach of the ordinary man who 10 compelled to house his family in ho- tel apartment. tenement or board. ing house or else go to the surburba More than 100000 people in New York live in hatss which, on the one extreme. are called apartments ana may cost 360.006 year rental and. on the other extreme. are known as tepements and rent for elo month. Approximately 100000 persons make hotels their residences and 100000 more. bachelors chiefly. live In clubs. Perhaps c million and a half are hous- cd in boarding establishments which occupy the buildings once used as pri . vate homes. The remainder Is made up of those who rent houses.
 Even among those who can anord to own homes, however, a rapidly In. creasing number are turning to hotels and apartments. Those who elect to dwell outside the city in many cases prefer the convenience of hotD life to the responsibilities of . house of their own with the inevitable servant pro. blem. Many of those who are chased d suburbanites are hotel dwellers ana to aceomodate these elaborate and lux nrious hotels are springine up Tn su' burban points about the city.
 Domestic Life.
 The truth of the whole matter 10 that domestic life mas been brought to c realization of exactly the same factor that has marked the conmer. eial development of the country. that 1t. that consolidation means a savme of expense---to some one. In the held of the great industries 1t is still /s question as to whether the consumer profits, but in the field of domestic ac. tivities~ there Is no doubt that the use5 that Is the consumer. of home can get more for his money in comforts and luxuries through corporation than as an individual. a statement which Is borne out by the fact that the man of moderate means on the one side. and fashionable society on the other. are both coming more and more to inhabit country hotels.
 The two most exclusive and aristo- cratic surburban fields of New York are Long Island on the one side and Westchester County on the other. They are both sections where rents are not high. as compared to the New Yors standrad and yet curiously enough the homeless spirit has invaded them ts such an extent that where the faail- ties are good more people live in ho- tels~than in their own homes.
 Out on Long Island there Is nest of rnillionaires. The vanderbilts the whitneys, the Mackays. and many others have famous places scattered about the Island. Yet for many months each year these homes are closed anc the headquarters of society people Of large and small means alike are not these famous honses. nor those less pretentious, but a hotel. At Garden City. the centre of the Long Island society colony. the local hotel Is the centre of activities for many people who while they own their own homes prefer to close them up. More people live in the hotel than in the whole town. At the last Vanderbilt Cup Race 1t was there that W. K. Vander- bit, Jr.. made his headquarters in- stead of at his nearby but unopened mansion. When the famous Briarclin Trophy Automobile Race was held Tn westchester county 1t was not at the palatiai but idle homes of its wealthy promoters that headquarters were es- tablished. but at local hotei famous for its appointments.
 Why Is 1t then that this homeless spirit seems to be developing so rap idly? Professor Ferrero, the famous Italian historian who recently visited this country. and likened New fork to ancient Rome, pointed out the Euro pean influence in this respect. First of all people even. in the country live In hotels because it is less expensive to do so, and because they are enabled to meet and know many persons of social and business importance. thing which would never happen if they liv- ed in their own houses. That Is one of the great factors in the coming of the homeless age---the desire to mingle with the people who make hotels their headquarters. Moreover, the tendency Is steadily growing to follow the Eu- ropean custom of moving from hotel to hotel in keeping with the seasons. and as a result chains of hotels under one management dot the coast from Florida to Maine. in each of which ac- cording to the time of year one may look to find a circle of hotel friends living the peripatetic society life.
 Giving Them Comforts.
 As matter of fact, 1t is becom- ing apparent that the corporation shel- tering thousands can give them com forts never dreamed of in the old idea of the Individual home. Golf links, tennis courts, billiard rooms and swim ming pools--these are only a few of the attractions aside from the greatest that is. the social features, which the suburban hotel furnishes at cost Ito the person making his home there far less than the annual rental. let alone up-keep of 8 most insignificant house in New York. The whole ten dency is to furnish something new, and in the search for novelties the hotels lead the way Perhaps the most strik- ing illustration of this, the first of It's kind in the country, is the propos- al of the proprietor of the Hotel Gram atan in Westchester county to equip not only that house but his Long Is- land, Boston and other hostelries as well with the wireless telegraph to be used in intercommunication, or. If a guest wishes, in talking to friend in mid-Atlantic. The American as a ome- seeker would seem to be lazy, at least about New York. The desire to have his menage run with no worry for his wife is largely responsible for the present conditions. Then. too. the possibility of having all sorts of mod ern appliances and opportunities for indoor and out-of-door sport ready to hand, such as could never pc afforded outside a hotel are leading more and more reople to make thrir horIes In sul,;irt an. establish hments of this sort. By and large the split of combination Is invading the home just about az thoroughly as the field of business. The finishing touch to the achieve ment of the homeless age about New York. however. must be charged to So- ciety's account. Where Society goes, would-be Society, which includes a far greater number. follows, and the stamp of society's approval at the expense of rninb ahttad country mansions haR baen