davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

chairmen Their proprictors we're ASKED not
only to display the Italian flag on May o.
but TO always include it in any display OF
the flags Of the Allies they made. and thev
have done this.
Interesting as is the story Of the ac.iv.-
ties Of the hotel, restaurant, dining car and
steamship division OF the food administra-
ton and what lay behind them, tie display
Of those activities in the handsome booth
arranged BY Mr. Crockett at The hotel mems
show in Madison Square Garden, was sully
worthy Of their place in the achievements
Of the Hoover administration The booth
itself was an artistic pavilion, decorated
most attractivcly and we'll in keeping with
its purpose. In II were shown a complete
collection OF food administration posters
for the first time, be ii said-as well as
specimens Of the hand painted posters Is
sued by hotels. Some o. the latter cost as
much as $40 apiece.
The biggest collection OF war menu cards
in existence, covering nearly every state
IN the union, was there IS we'll The div
sion's literature, and documents 10 tell the
story Of the no-wheat pledge. aanked
badges originated and distributed by the
division, the official food flags and photo-
graphs OF hotels over the country which
displayed great food membership signs on
their facades.
Then there was an American made 81
mask and documents showing how hotel
waste had been collected and utilized, ana
others making plain the part the hotels
had played in bringing the italian flag 10
renewed public notice. The steamship sec
ton showed its universal crew bill OF
tare, by which waste has been eliminated
or American ships, on salt and fresh water
alike, and square meals insured TO sailors.
There was also an exhibit OF informa-
ton regarding hotel and restaurant profit
eering. The food administration has gons
into this quite extensively. but without
finding many fragrant cases of IT, Al sll
events, whether or not food won the war
as we have been 50 persstently told Il
would-the war is won, and the hotel lnes
and the others helped much IN the winning.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

apparent that there was great oversup-
ply Of potatoes in the United States.
they started campaign for potato con-
sumption, which soon showed an effect on
the surplus.
War gardens on railroad rights Of way
are An example Of that. In 1917 the Buffalo.
Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad offered
the land on its right Of way and that
around its stations and roundhouscs to its
employees for war gardens, and presently
the entire right of way Of this railroad
bloomed with the wholesome carrot and the
delicious tomato. For 1918 this division Of
the food administration took this up with
the different railroads, through the din1nc
car superntendents, and all over the coun-
try railroad rights Of way were used for
war gardens.
The hotels of the country took the lead
in the collection Of material for gas masks.
Ihelr proprietors were first to ask the
public to save fruit pits and nutshells.
They also instituted campaign for the
extraction Of nitroglycerine from the waste
matter in kitchen drain pipes, and this
effort, about which little has become
known, has meant great saving in this ma
terial so invaluable to Mars Then, too.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29
Who Saved Millions of Pounds of Victory Food? The Hote

the hotels have saved quantities of garbage
from which ammonia and other useful
chemicals have been extracted.
The fact is that the hotel and restauran.
men themselves have learned a great dosa
about food conservation at the same time
that they were aiding to educate the pub-
lie in this. Four or five years ago the food
materials absolutely wasted at the Wal
dorf-waste which pigs wouldn't eat and
which utterly worthless for any my
e-amounted in value to $4,000 everv
week in the year. 1t would take quite !.
number of New York's largest hotels n
waste $4,000 worth Of food. in anv ono
week nowadays
Another thing which the hotel men bav.
done is to popularize the Italian far
though that has little 70 do with food al.
ministration. After the Caporetto disaster
to the Italian armies Americans began 70
show indifference toward the Italian COL
ors, and when this came 20 the attention -
President Wilson it was a matter Of some
annoyance. He issued statement in 70
gard to it, and eventually named Nav .,
Italian Day, in order that reawakenod
interest might focus on something definite.
The hotel, etc, division Of the food admin.
stration backed him up By getting W;n
Irwin, who had but recently returned fror.
Italy. to write one OF MS graphic descrjn-
tions Of conditions there. and this was circu-
larized to all the hotels through the stat,
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

compliance and the advertising it got as
the chief means of publicity for the food
regulations, next to the newspapers Nor
was his dependence in any sense misplaced.
Ere long the clubs running their own
dining rooms were brought into this plan
OF food conservation; list Of more than
three thousand of them over the country
was prepared and club chairmcn named to
cooperate with the state hotel chairmen
Then the steamships came in, and most of
them adopted, as the dining cars on gov
crnment railroads were required to do last
fall, Uniform bill of fare Not only that,
but many lines adopted uniform crew bill
of fare.
Fairly in 1918 a new membership card was
issued and handsome window transparencics
OF similar design we're sent to all public
eating places. Hotels and restaurants were
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

On = wae@iles- das the same hotel. scrv-
i.!g upward o. 1000 pesaous saved 1--WE
barrels o. -four
When the hotels shu- down on wheat
. together this hotel saved thirty-five bar
ais o. flour weah
The hotels and Restaurants Of New York
ti:y alone saved l25 tons Of meat in
s,rgle week.
chain OF popular restaurants which
corers this city saved seven tons Of meats
OF one meatiess day. and on a wheatless
cay in excess OF 5000 loayes OF bread
The first adequate record Of such say
lngs is for the month of December. 1917.
though vheatlcss and meatless days were
begun in October. In that December hotels.
restaurants and dining cars over the land
sa"ed 22,735,ooo pounds Of meats and
9.66e.000 pounds OF wheat flour: and for the
first month Of 19lS these figures had grown
TO 24,41S,000 pounds Of meats and - 100000
OF wheat
For ten months the last three Of 1918
and the first seven q 1918. American din
ing cars alone saved OF beef 2,o4S.1o4
pounds; 2.174,255 pounds Of wheat flour and
348,216 pounds Of sugar,
Rather big thing. when you come to
so over the figures. Bat in addition TO all
this, the hotels led in the propaganda which
made it possible for Food Administrator
Hoover to put this country on voluntary
food saving basis. H. every city and town
the hotel is very much q centre of local
life, and what is being done in its dining
room or restaurant quickly gets noised
about. What the hotels in New York and
other large cities are doing similarly
reaches wide area very readily. When
the big American plan hotels in Atlantic
City shut down on the use of wheat last
spring the news spread from coast to coast
in no time, and even our Canadian friends.
Who are always there in such numbers at
that time of year, warmed TO us on this
side of the line much more than they had
done even when entered the war.
These figures end with tic first of last
August, because that was the end of the no
wheat period, but all restrictions on the
use of meats and wheat were not off until
last Monday. Indeed, fresh restrictions
became necessary lat October, when by
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

tile only that he appeared in the synagogue
al New Years services and upon the Day
OF Atonement; Jewish teacher with an
excellent handwriting, who taught all the
flourishes Of calligraphy, in both Yiddish
and Russian, to the boys and girls of the
community, at twenty-five kopecks a month;
rabbi, or, as he was there called dis
penser of justice; 4 couple of slaughterers;
money lender; pair of cantors; a pub
lie bath and several synagogues. berpinr
pardon for mentioning the profane and
the sacred in the same breath. In addition
there was Il Gentle police sergeant a vori-
table emperor in his domains"
The ''veritable emperor" NAV serve TO
explain the strange fear of uniformed of
ficlaldom felt for long by so many innocent
immigrants. And that such uniformed Of
ficialdom, no less than one touch of nature,
makes the whole world akin, NAV become
evident from the position which our Lithu
anian sergeant occupied in his dominions.
All the village Jews were business people.'
and made their living by dealing with the
peasants of their own village and the sur
rounding communities. In truth, theirs was
poor existence, but Illuminated by a great
faith in the Lord and just such life as
their forebcars had lived, They asked no
greater favor of the Almighty than that
their police sergeant should have a soft
heart and willing palm And the
Lord ever showed Himself indeed prodigal
with his mercy and never withheld his
bounty from the Jews OF b, sending
them always sergeants with soft hearts.
And the Jews gladly crossed his palm and
thanked their Father for His favors. So
that theirs was a happy existence. 49,.
They ate bread and greats, sometimes with
milk and sometimes without. That was for
weekdays. For the Sabbath and the holt
days the good Lord bctimes sent a fish or
two and q piece of meat"
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

posters for display, but on buttons to be
worn by themselves and every one connected
with the place.
They also received the membership card
for display, and were furnished through
state chairmen with sample menu folders,
which many Of them adopted, and conser-
walton notices to be hung in their kitchens.
Individual pledge cards for employees and
for patrons were also widely distributed
Through the Association of Dining Car Su-
perintendents the dining car services of
the country were brought into the scheme
and did valiant work
The first beefless day was September %,
and this only in one New York hotel, for a
tryout. The meatlcss and wheatlcss days
with which We have all become SO familiar
began in October, 1917. OF course, it must
be realized that. at the same time that
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

Executive order the national food admin
istraton was given legal jurisdiction over
the of wheat and meats by public eat
ing places, and indirectly over the use Of
sugar. The interesting point is that up to
only about three weeks before the armis-
tce Mr.. Hoover had no hold on the hotel
and restaurant men whatever, except in
their voluntary Willingness to do what
was necessary once they were shown.
The note he wrote to John Nee. Bowman
wrote it the back Of food admins
tration card in the Biltmore dining room
just before sailing for Europc--shows how
the food CHIEF felt about it. Here it is:
My dear Bowman: We undertook to find
the Allies 100000 bushels of wheat on
January l. And this was after We had al
ready much overdrawn our normal surplus
We have shipped $4,000 900 as full measure
of this undertaking. The hotels and the
homes have made good. Before Il return
will have been able to release the hotels
from the wheatlcss pledge. 1t has been
difficult pledge. 1t has been an inestimable
service, not only in saving, but in example
None but American hotels could or would
have done it. Thanks. Au rcvoir
"HOOVER."
The hotel. restaurant, dining car and
steamship division of the United States
Food Administration is the only division Of
that service which has retained its original
personnel throughout its existence, which
is not yet officially ended though its work
is done. 1t was an entirely voluntary al
fair and didn't cost the government cent
except for stcnographers and some clerk
hire. Il even paid much Of its own print
ing expense. For one thing, the division
had President Wilson's food saving procla-
nation translated into ten different Ian
guases and distributed to every part of the
United States
The chief Of the division is Mr.. Bowman.
who is president Of the company which
runs several OF the largest hotels in the
vicinity of the Grand Central Terminal and
who needs introduction. Paul B. Boden.
vice-presidcnt Of the Manhattan Hotel, was
his assistant in charge of the steamship sec
tion. and the division had also Albert S.
Crockett, we'll known newspaper man and
advertising specialist, as executive as
Sis1aut
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29
S0v~o1 ss4~s -.
*: 8: !: 81: +; I }

Nh Bowman first went to WASHINGTON IN
July. 1877, at the invitation OF Mr.. Hoover.
then only acting food administrator to
take a desk in the food administration Of
fees. wish view TO organizing the hotel
and restaurant men Of the country for CO
operation with the food administration. A
number Of leading hotel and restaurant
proprietors from all about the United
States met with Messrs. Hoover and Bow
man III Washington on August /, and from
the recommendation made then came most
OF the voluntary regulation Of public eat
ing places by the food administration.
The country was finally divided into
eight districts, with prominent hotel man
as chairman of each, and state chairmen
were appointed from among the hotel
keepers. There was no correct list of pub
lie eating places in existence, and the state
chairmen compiled accurate lists for each
state, which we're combined in a national
list at Washington. Each public EATING
place was then furnished with the pledre
card, which bound the proprietor to "obserye
faithfully, TO the best Of his ability. the
directions and regulations Of the United
States Food Administration" All who signed
received the official emblem, which has be-
come so familiar, not only on cards and
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

interested in putting decorative food signs
on their exteriors, and ore such New
York hotel was copied for widespread dis
tribution Many hotels and restaurants
put up similar signs, and finally the food
administration sent out steel signs in this
design.
In March the wheat situation became des
pcrate. Hoover had promised the Allies
100000 bushels of wheat, and even in
January our surplus above normal require
ments had been but 20,000o00 bushels.
Some action was required which would have
a marked psychological effect on the nation
at large "Why not ask the first class hotels
and restaurants to give up wheat alto
gcther for stated time?" Mr.. Bowman
suggested.
did
On March 90 some five hundred of their
proprietors from all over the broad land
were MIR. Bowman's guests at luncheon at
the New Willard in Washington to meet
Mr.. Hoover. They met him and he con-
uuered them. En- masse they arose ana
solcmniy pledged themselves to do without
wheat in any form in their establishments
until after thc harvest, and next day at the
Biltmore in New York they ratified this
pledge at still larger meeting. And those
of US who live in hotels know hoy we'll
they carried it out. Many hotels wouldn't
even serve Postum. because it has a little
wheat in it, and the wheatless bread wasn't
fit to eat; but the hotel men went through
with it and their patrons made the best
Of it, Five thousand hotels, restaurants.
clubs and dining cars and a thousand
steamers eventually participated in this.
The publicity which such action gained
reacted forcefully on the homes Of the
nation. Housewives noted what the hotels
we're doing and started in to do what they
could to support the move themselves. The
hotel and restaurant men were risking their
businesses by making patrons do without
wheat, and private cooks felt inclined to
at least risk their regulations. The
wheat pledges from housewives poured in to
food administration headquarters by the
hundred thousand.
This was by no means the only campaign
for food conservation or other war meas
ures in which the hotel men led. In the
same month of March, when it became
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

n REMEMBER my first impre sion Of
the city of Brooklyn received some
five or six years ago. To nc it was
neither the city Of churches nor Of
baby carriages 1t was the city Of empty
'lots, particularly the part of it which lay
in the precincts OF Suburbia. Into these
lots, | Imagined the entire city of Boston
might be placed with room for d few out
Nkrts. Take q walk, for instance through
brownsville in these days when peace is be-
ginning to pipe once more. 1t is one of the
Brooklyn ghettos. so called. 1t is hard to
believe that this tloucishing section of the
city was once itself map covered with
numerous empty lots just so many parcels
of land. Yet not SO long ago, in the early
years of the present century. to be precise
Brownsville was at the beginning OF it's real
history and upon the orstwhic empty lots
many u full sized fortune has been built
This financial fact is brought forciblv to
mind by tis recent appearance, in Yiddish,
of'a novel By Leon kobrin who OF all the
writer's that keep the East Side and its
ramifications provided with worth while lit
crature is best situated to write of
Brooklyn and its Jewish population Kobrin
lives on Bergen Street; he has done his best
work right here in greater New York; he
has watched the Brownsville section grow
until the phenomenon which to so many is
merely deal in real estate assumed, for
him, the human interest Of story. And
it is such growth, so viewed. that makes
large part of his novel CORE die Bord"
which put into colloquial English would
signify "Orre With the Whiskers"
That same Kobrn who knows the Jews
of America SO well knows them as they were
IN the old country, and it is possible, by
reading only his "a Lithuanian Town"
THE Tenement House" and "0rre With the
Whiskers," TO obtain continuous almost
evolutionary, picture Of the Jew across the
sea and in his new home That same pa
triarchal figure, for example. who in some
obscure Lithuanian town would be spending
his days studying from the Tamud and
the other sacred folios, while his wife stood
out on the market square hawking her goods
18th masculine vigor. was later to ,eappear
-, America, al first shorn Of his Talmudic
splendor and later. Of his beaie. too. in
many an instal.c.. From an env.abla posi-
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29
Immigrant Writes Ain Epic of His Own Adventures

ton as one of the old towns most learned
men one who would lead you through the
most intricate lnazes of cabaiistic brain
twsters he would have become a bent,
gloomy figure Of pedlar, frightened al
the very barking of the dogs and in con-
slant terror of the ragamuf1ins, who would
ring fares on his beard. Keep your eve
on that bent pedlar; watch him as he
scrapes together his hard earned pennies
and makes his first trembling investment in
let US say real estate. Watch his lucky
strike, and the disappearance of his spinal
curvature Money begets money, they say;
and before long the patriarch of tn, old
land has become financial power of the
new. The circle of civic cminence has
been completed; brains arc brains; what
made good Talmudist in the old country
made good business man in the new.
OF course, that is not Nle only side Of tho
tale But it is a case frequent enough in
real life, and bv means confined to novels
like that by Kobrn which has JUS. beer
mentioned Kobrin himself knows and has
portrayed the other side as woll-hc pow
erty, the failure, the degradation None
can surpass the lithuanian Town" for it's
idyllic charm, nor can "The Tenement
House" be matched for its brutal, often
molodramatic, directness. There may. per
haps, be q heightened color here, a subdues
note there, but taking these pictures of life
by and large they make true total.
Let us follow, with Kohrin, the various
stages OF certain of these folk from their
European homes to their new land Of
promise, America. The account belongs,
like most good literature, to humanity as
well.
"a Lithuanian Town." which is one Of the
most successful genre pictures not only
in Yiddsh but in any of the modern
tongues, far as one mans wide readinr
may judge, is really world in little
Somewhere in Lithuanian" it begins q
translate very closely), there once nestled
the little village of B. 1t boosted
population of several hundred Jewish souls
and score or more of Gentle peasants;
1t had market and shops; an old, gloomy
Polish church in the middle of the market
place; a Jewish apothecary, who would have
been reckoned BY his fellow Jews as Gen
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

himself and not Il jot less fraught with
discovery. For wasn't America on the other
side of the globe, under the earth? And
mustn't ocean deserts be crossed until. if
ever, it reached? And when any Of
the few Jewish inhabitants left for the
new land, what a wailing there was what
a running to the graves of departed souls.
begging them to intercede for the daring
spirits and pray for their safe arrival! And
what wonder at the receipt of the first
letters! And soon the little village of b
begins to lose its youthful appearance.
Youth call to youth; the New World beck
ons, and at last only the old and inirm re-
main, in the native village.
Somewhere in Lthuania," ends the
charming masterpiece, there once nestled
the little village of B" Where is that
village now? Where its pious business folk.
Its youthful hopes and aspirations? The
magic word "America," that first set the
village awhr, answers the question For
the most part, perhaps, they are here. And.
rs Horace wrote long ago, though Won
change your sky you cannot change vour
soul The same qualities persist, though
altered because of new environment. Take.
FOR instance, this picture Of rushing bust
ness in the little village Of B, and COM
pare it with sights that may still be be-
held in parts of New York, not far distant
from Brooklyn Bridge
Upon the passing of the Sabbath tho
village would again don its drab week
day garb. The mothers and fathers re-
sumed their places at the, shops and behind
the counters at the marketpace. sitt;no
with earnest, careworn faces. DREAMING
their weekday dreams-so trifing, so sad
so gray, so insignihcant-an vet. go greas
and important to them. The worn,
that creeps among the tombs in the grave
yard dreams, perhaps, such dreams "a
theirs Rarely did these people laugh. and
II laughter did rise from their throats Il
was curt, choppy laughter in which there
echoed a groan. Motel, son of Khanne-
Dvayre, the politician of the village
Jew with yellow, pointed beard and dart
ing eyes, who wore a warm shawl around
MS neck from the middle of july until
the Day of Atonement in September he.
cause ne was cantor and must protect his
voice from cod-this Motel was tho
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29


ing wheatless and meatless days
they could easily save at one clip enough
meat to feed an army OF a million men for
three whole days But they're not The
public eating places arc beating them in
patriotism. Billy Sunday said that; and
one interesting thing about it is that it
was true. The hotel proprietor is not al
Ways the most popular man in town. When
9c village hose company gives . loving cup
- r~.s ,uau who can get the largest vote
Of his tovnspoople the hotelkcepor doesn't
always win it:t least, here in New York
and even his own guests sometimes find
fault with him.
But the hotel plen Of America stand very
high with Herbert Hoover And why not .
The hotels, restaurants, dining cars, clubs
and other public eating places saved by
meatless and wheatess days. and finally by
giving up the use OF wheat and wheat
products altogether TOY more than three
months more than 95OooO,oo pounds of
wheat, more than 100000 00o pounds OF
meat and over 5oo0o,oeo pounds OF sugar.
One hotel in New York saved on a meat
less Tuesday over 1000 pounds Of meat