Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-04-26
POOR MANS HOTEL.
Budapest Has Hosiery With
Rooms for il Gents.
eusets Ssrvsd With Breakfast for
Thrss csnts-euiIdins seauty
Of Architecture Equipped With
Modern Appliances.

pudapest.-Roorns including steam
heat and electric light, for Il cents
day, breakfast Of coffee and rolls for
cents and dinner for II cents are
provided at the new Municipal Peo-
pies hotel which has just been opened
here for people whose earnings are
not more than $500 year, says a
Budapest correspondent.
Budapest has for some time sui.
fered because Of q lack Of dwelling
houses and reasonably priced hotels
for the working classes. This need
was particularly keen among the petty
"Beamten." as all persons employed
by the city or state are known, whose
income is small but who by reason OF
their. position must keep up an ap-
pearance.
Some time since large number OF
houses were built by the city for Its
small officials who we're married. The
rental, while low, was well within the
means of the class OF people for whom
they were intended, and at the same
time Insured the return to the city OF
the money expended. It was a happy
experiment.
Next, the municipal authorities con-
sidered the matter Of providing ho'
tel for the tranBients Of little means.
workingmen, clerks, small merchants
and petty officials, who could not af-
ford to stop at even the cheapest
hotels when they visited the capital.
The unmarried Of small wage or in
come, who might want permanent
quarters, also were to'be provided for.
With this in view the municipal au-
thorities built the new Peoples hotel,
which has Just been thrown open.
II was shown a large handsome four.
story structure covering corner of
block. The exterior was as archi'
tecturally beautiful as the interior was
modern, comfortable and homelike.
Many of the hotels in Vienna, Berlin.
London and New York where you pay
more In tips than you do here for
your room are not half as inviting In
appointments.
The corridors and halls are taste
fully decorated; the rooms are OF fair
size, have large windows and are
light and airy. The furniture Is
simple but serviceable. Each room
has electric light, cold and warm wa
ter and steam heat, which many
higher priced hotels In Budapest, VI.
emma and other continental cities do
not have. A bath in most European
hotels costs from Is to, so cents.
; Coffee and rolls for breakfast may
be had at the Peoples hotel for 3
cents. A plain, substantial hunger
satisfying dinner, which here as all
over Europe is eaten at midday, is
served for IA cents.
Should the management of the Peo-
pies hotel. appointed by the munich
pal authorities, find that these prices
are insufficient to make the enter
prise self-sustaining, the deficit will
be charged pro rata to the rooms and
meals and the prices raised accord
ingly.
1t was explained to me that the
project was in no sense charity
but a place where any self-respectins
workingman, clerk or member of the
small official class may stay for day
or two or make his permanent home
at a cost within his reach and sthat
without taking all his earnings. In
order that those whose income en-.
ables them shall go to public hos
telry, those who wish to take advan.
tage of the low rates must produce
reasonable proof that they do not earn
more than $500 year. This may
seem very small in America. but in
Austria, Hungary and other contnen
tai countries there are hundreds OF
thousands OF men whose income Is
considerably less than that.
Education and recreation have not
been forgotten In the Peoples hotel
There Ia large smoking room and
reading room where the leading news.
papers are on file.