The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-27

a nickel. and apples the same price;
The streets were always Sloppy ana
dirty. BlockadeS of wagons In the
street were common, and the drivers
raved and sWore. And eVeryWnere
We're the children, thousands OF them,
playing games and paying no'aItentlon
to the noise and confusion. Arouno
the corner. we entered the Chinese
quarter, which greatly resembles the
Chinese quarter in San Francisco. All
the stores here are Chinese stores, ana
except an occasional VISITOR. you see
| only Chinese. Here it was that Elsie
SigeI came to convert the Chinese to
| Christianity; here it was her body was
cut to pieces and hidden in trunk
There are Chinese restaurants here
that have a great reputation up town,
and the are patronized largely by
whites. Here. also. are Chinese Joss
houses. and Chinese markets, stores
and factories of nearly every kind.
In walking down to the East side.
we saw hundreds of names with which
have been familiar all my life. from
reading newspapers: j. P. Morgan,
Henry Clews. and "26 Broadway,
where John D. Rockefeller has his Of
| fees For years have received a
circular letter every day from Henry
Clews & Co. but have never opened
| ore of them: / know without investf-
CATION that Henry Clews and 1 have
nothing in common Below "26 Broad,
way are old Bowling Green and old
Castle Garden, and the Battery, and
| the water front.
Somewhere in that vicinity we found
| the curb market. Certain of the small
fnanciers of New York can not oper-
ate on the stock exchange, so they
operate on the curb. or on the street.
In the middle of Broad street we
found hundreds of these curb brokers.
yelling like mad men. In the offices
above them. on either side of the
they have a sign language by which
they communicate with each other.
The men in the offices above have tele-
phones and telegraph instruments, and
the quotations wigWagged from the
street are sent out by wire. 1 don't
understand the curb market, but 1t is
very interesting to watch for half an
hour. There does not seem to be any
vehicle traffic in that part of Broad
street In this district are many res
ICED by curb brokers only. The dis
trict seems to have once been devoted
to residences. and most of the build
| ings are very old.
Possibly you have heard Of the Mills
| hotels IN New York. A rich man
named Mills-he died quite recently
! determined to 90 something for the
poor people, so he built four huge no
tells devoted to low prices. 1 visited one
| of these hotels that occupies an entire
block, and. at the time of my visit, it
was entertaining fifteen hundred guests.
! Single rooms cost 20 and 25 cents per
| day. and meals may be had in the hotel
| at any hour of the day or night, at
prices ranging from cents up to 25
| for five cents: you can get two rolls,
with coffee, tea or milk. for five cents.
| For 20 certs you can get dinner COM
| posed of soup (twO to choose FROM {;
enc meat, -four to choose FROM; one
vegetable, Give to choose from), and
| pudding, pie and coffee. Tables are re-
served for ladies', and the dinner is
served from 11:3G a. m. to p. m. After
those hours, you can dine at the cafe.
Here are some of the prices: Coffee,
tea or milk, 3 cents; fried ham sand
witch, cents; pork and beans with
coffee, 10 cents; corn beef hash and
two fried eggs. Is cents; beefsteak and
potatoes, Is ceEts; two poached eggs
on toast, Is cents; ham and eggs, 10
ceEts; liver and bacon. Is cents; mutt
ton chops, IL cents; potatoes boiled,
French or German fried. 3 cents: extra
bread, roll or butter. 1 cent; oat meal
and milk, 5 cents; shredded wheat bis
cult and milk cents; pie per cut, 5
cents; milk toast cents. The food is
said to be excellent, and many people
from outside patronage the restaurant.
One thousand of the fifteen hundred
guests at the Mills hotel visited are
men who work every day; many of the
others are old men who have pensions,
and who live at the hotel year in and
year out Many of the others are tough
and undesirable. but no questions are
asked. Baths are free. and, while TAX
ing a bath, guest is permitted to
wash his clothing, and dry it on a
special apparatus. The lounging rooms
are large, light and airy. and much
better than you find in the average
cheap dollar a day boarding house. A
man may live pretty we'll at this Mills
hotel for &C cents a day. He will have
a room to himself, heated, and a clean
bed. The rooms are small, but there
are elevators to the upper floors, and
electric lights in every room. There is
a library of 1900 volumes, free to the
guests. 1 saw hundreds of the guests
at about 4 .. M, and they seemed a
rather respectable lot. Most of them
ere either very old men, or very young
| rhen- The very young men, the attend
ant told us, make the most trouble.
| Some people contend that these Mills
! hotels encourage shiftlessness, but the
| And it is said that the venture pays 5
| per cent net income on the money in
vested; it is not a charity There are
news and cigar stands in the hotel 1
| visited, but no LIQUOR is sold.
Only a few years ago, if a visitor
to New York desired to go to Brook
| Ign, he was compelled to cross the
| East river on a ferry. Now there are
| several bridges, and tunnels, and pas
| SengerS are carried over these bridges,