The Washington herald., 1916-09-16
Seen and Heard by George Miner.


ing sand dunes with wide yellow beaches, an iron
and rock bound coast where the waves break
angriiy the peaceful wooded foothills of the
Berkshires and the gorges and fastnesses of the
White and Green mountains
In three four days run you can get all
this, and he would be a hard person to please
who would not be satisfied, for the roads
nearly always in splendid condition.
You can touch at the famous seaside and
mountain resorts and, believe me- you will be
touched also. You need not go to the famous
ones for that experience either. Every hotel
keeper in New England this summer knows how
to charge better than they do in New York. It's
their fat and golden year after a number of lean
and leaden ones and they have been making
the most of it.
Every little inn in every little hamlet has
summer rate now in force that it would not
dream of asking few years ago. I found that
the little gimcrack, dirty ill-kcpt roadhousc and
the small summer hotels which are little more
than boarding houses charge just as much for
rooms as they do in the big and famous hotels
in the well-known resorts. Even in the cities
which are not summer resorts, but are in
summer resort district, they have run their prices
away up to the top notch
For instance, Worcester, Mass, is a nice,
bustling little city, with a pleasant farming
country all around it, but it is no more sum-
mer resort than is South Brooklyn. The hotel
there charged me 81 night for my room. To
! be sure, it was a very good room and hand
! somely furnished, but those were also seven very
good dollars and handsomely printed that l paid
for it.
1t seems to be the idea of the modern Amer
lean hotekeeper that if he gives a patron about
| I9 cents worth Of souvenirs he is entitled to
charge some s. or s. extra for the ROOM
80. 1. Il
class of hostelry. l did not even kick over
the bill, for | knew | had it coming to me.
The articles placed in my room as gifts from
the managcment-and which | was supposed to
take away, although ! did not want them in the
lcast-conslsted Of a large pamphlet of half
tone views OF New England, with the name Of
! the hotel conspicuously advertised on the cover,
a pretty little match box holder with the name
OF the hotel printed on the gilt frame, SO that
! if you did take it along nobody would believe it
was handed to you all wrapped up in a box and
would be sure you stole it, two face cloths in
paraffin cases with the of the hotel stamped
! in big letters all over them, brown strip OF
canton flannel to polish shoes with and brown
cotton bag to wrap them in with the compliments
of the hotel embroidered conspicuously on them
in big letters, and hall dozen orange-wood
nail cleaners. These were so small that there
was no chance for the hotel to get its name on
anywhere. They the only things not labeled
| took those.
! The other souvenirs struck me as not onlv
cheap attempt at trying to generous, but
also a very presumptuous effort to get an out
rageously overcharged patron to give the hotel
free advertising by carting these knick-knacks
around the country and to his home.
Hotel people tell that this custom o.
presenting travellers with little keepsakes is done
] to II
have OF stealing hotel property. 1t is on the
principle that lot of people think they pay so
much for their room that they are justified in
swiping anything they get away with, and
that if they given these valueess little articles
their criminal craving will be satisfied and they
will leave the towels and blankets alone
| In many OF these modern and handsomely
| furnished hotels there are a number of extensive
articles in each that some foolish people
try to get away with. For one thing there are
thermos water bottles. In some hotels these are
very elaborately mounted affairs costing from
IS to $40 each, and be easily taken away in
handbag. l mean easily put in a handbag, but
not taken away, for no sooner has guest taken
his baggage out of room than a maid slips
in there and makes a quick inspection. If any
thing is missing she telephones down and the
departing guest is asked to step into a private
room where he is requested to open up his bag
gage and disgorge.
Hotel managers say that hardly week passes
that some seemingly well-to-do and respectable
person is not detected in this petty larceny work
The hotel people never have them arrested for
the humiliation is quite enough punishment but,
OF course, so, the hotel makes an everlasting
enemy Of the culprit. He will never 60 to that
hotel again for very good reasons and that's
why the hotel managers dislike to catch these
thieves just as much as they dislike to be
caught.
Many times, if it is only small theft like
towel, they let it go, and if the thief is a
regular patron well known or wealthy they
will let him steal all he wants to and not say a
word about it, but they put it on his bill Not as
separate item, to be sure but, like the drum
mers suit of clothes in his expense account, it's
there just the same although you can't see it.
AS rUle of fro