The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-12-30
Nv FRANK G.. CARPENTER.
Washington d. {

Washington d. c
This is a kick against the high cost
of living. I do not mean at home.
where one can figure upon the food
in the markets, and object il the
butcher puts his elbow on the scales
when he weighs out our steak;
Of living to the travelling pub
lie. l have been going up and
down this country and others for the
past thirty years and within the past
ten or twenty the cost OF all things
has been steadily rising. l can re-
member when a commercial salesman
who had an allowance Of FIVE dollars
a day TO pay his expenses was looked
upon as a king, M when II the dis
tances were short, three or -four dol
lars suf1lced. Now a high class drum
mer does we'll if he spends less than
ten dollars per day and il he makes
long jumps between towns the price
runs as high as fifteen dollars and
upward. During the past two weeks
1 have been moving rapidly from
city to city. ] started at New York
and went as far north as St. Paul.
From St. Paul l jumped to st. Louis
and thence to New Orleans and from
there to Atlanta, Cincinnati and
Washington. I lived at good hotels
sh1u looh ldAAc It wv AAAS
cost Of the journey was more than
fifteen dollars a day or almost twice
what it would have been twenty-five
years ago.
1t used to be that the most Of our
hotels were on the American plan.
You paid a fixed sum for room and
board and there were no extras to
speak Of. Outside the large cities
two dollars was the ordinary day rate
and one could get good accommoda-
tons in the larger places for as low
as three dollars. At hat time about
the best hotel in the United States was
the Fifth Avenue in New York. Its
charges were five dollars a day and
for that one lived like a lord.
Today the American hotels have
about disappeared. Nearly every
large house is OF the European plan
You pay a fixed price for our Don
and a price for each dish thai is serv.
ed to you in the dining room or thu
restaurant. The room rates are 10Y
equal to the price you formerly pait
for both room and board, and Otter
much higher.
Take the high-class hotels of New
York. There are but few where on,
a get a room for less than 81 O
SO, II this often means a roon
facing a court. and so small that in
oa ~ INV cW Iii llC lNOk
cal cat by the tail. A room with bat
costs more, and il one wants realf
comfortable quarters he must pay 5
or IS and upward. In Chicago a
some OF h bigger hotels one ca
get an inside room with bath for $2.5
or 50. and this is so in Minneapoli:
st. Louis n New Orleans l stoppe
at a hotel in Chicago which ha
l,20S guest rooms, and whose loves
room rate is 81. Suites range frOr
$40 to $50 a day. That hotel is fairl
we'll taken, and its average occupanc
the year through must be 500 room
These, at an average rental Of "a mu:
bring in $4,000 a day, or more than
million dollars a year for room rel
alone. / am told that there are Sc,
eral hotels in New York which a,
clearing more than a million dollal
a year and that the big city hote
everywhere are piling up money.
And, indeed, it is hard to see no
they can help it when me thinks
the past. There is first the increas.
rate on the rooms and also the e
traordinary charges which one no
pays for meals. In the good O
times one could get a dinner almo
anywhere for from so cents to
AS remember it, the Fifth Aven'
Hotel charged $50, and the Palm
and Grand Pacific Of Chicago ca
charged 81. Now almost any me
dish on the menu costs 50 cents a
upward, and a tenderloin steak ru
from rs cents to 50.
During my two-week journey 1 ha
saved some of the hotel restaurs
bills and a dozen of them now lie d,
fore me. The charges are about I
same everywhere. / will give y
some of the items. Let us start W
the oysters. A half dozen raw c
80 cents, which equals about IS
quart or $40 "A gallon. Little ne
clans cost the same. Do you w;
a relish? You can ave a slice
smoked salmon or a bit Of herring
40 cents, or a dozen olives will c
you a quarter. Soups are filling,
not satisfying. A cup Of cOnsom