Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-01-02
CAFE PATRIOTISM
They Arc Conserving Not Only Food, hut Money.
BY FREDERIC J. I3ASKIS.

ties have. You can still buy lettuce at
~ cents head. celery at 10 cents u
bunch, beets and carrots at cents 4
bunch. Tho cafes and restaurants,
buying from wholesale houses. get them
for much less. But you would never
suspect 1t from tho prices on their
| menus.
Even better Cafes Guilty.
Also. many tirst-class cafes that
would never have been guilty of such
thing in tho past now feel they
have perfect right to be tout Of"
things Not long ago. government
cleri III Washington, feeling tho burden
OF an enlarged pay envelope dropped
into ono OF the better cafes Of the
city. 1t happened to be whcatlcss
day, and the waiter informed him that
they had nothing left but nut bread. AS
Z matter OF necessity. tho government
clerk ordered nut-brcad. and later was
somewha: irritatcd to find that 1t cost
10 cents extra. Since then, he has
let the better cafes alone.
This particular cafe happened to BIO
very fashionable little place with
dainty Japanese trimmings. vases OF
yellow chrysanthemums and neat blue
ginshamcd Mattresses to match the
wall-paper-tho blue bingham. not the
mattresses Every afternoon the fash
ionable women OF the capital give tea
parties here. at which time the place
becomes filled with mass Of rich furs,
plumes, vclvcts. perfume and epauleted
officers. Naturally the prices are high,
the tea good and the food Indifferent.
But 1t is always crowded, for every
body's ambition is to be seen where the
best people" go. On the other hand,
cafe farther down the street. which
serves much better food. but 10 not
quite SO pretentious, can hardly secure
enough trade to keep 1t going.
This instance Is typical OF the whole
country. Everywhere people arc will
ing to pay more for fashionable at
mosphere than they are for food What
does 1t matter II tho flet misnon is only
the size OF q narrow bono IL the person
on ones left is the owner OF a yacht
and cottage at Newport? Thus,
while the household consumer is act
ually struggling with the high cost OF
living. the diner-out is struggling with
the cost OF high living which grows
more expensive with each week OF the
war.
This Is not true Of all diners-out, OF
course. Usually healthy appetite will
seek It's own level. and wherever there
is a demand for weIl-cookcd nourish-
inE food at moderate prices an estab-
iisnncnt answering these requirements
grows UP. Take New York, for OK
ample. Nowhere may the diner-out be
FOUND In such copious numbers, and no
where Is the pursuit OF the fashionable
quite so conspicuous.
There arc many cafes in New York,
notably the French and Italian table
dhotes. that serve excellent meals at
amazingly low prices. This Is doubt
less because most Of their patrons are
foreigners. and foreigners arc more apt
10 pay for what they get--not for what
they look at. Then these cafes arc out
Of the fashionable district. Far from
the razzle-dax2lc OF Broadway, they
'r- disdained by most New Workers..
who arc not TO be satisfied with a mere
bill-of-fare. Ask a New Yorker what
he knows about any OF tho foreign cafes
OF the table d'hotc variety. and he will
most likely tell you: "Oh. that is ono
OF the cheaper cafcs-I have never been
there"