New-York tribune., 1919-08-31
Stopping at Brest
Bv Wilbur Forrest

~ port of the American Expeditonary
Forces, has withstood many scandals,
but the greatest scandal of all is Brest's So
called hotels.
American officers who have passed
through Brcst might testify that any Sec
ond or third rate New York hotel. trans
planted to Brest,- would make its owner
comfortably rich within month and very
rich within half year If the flow of troops
through Brest continued. What Ameri-
cans have stood for in the way Of hotels
at Brest would have caused national legis-
lation had it happened in the United
States. But the homegoing have let the
fact that they were going home temper
their complaints when the other side came
into view.
An American officer arrives in Brcst. If he
IS not assigned to the one hotel operated by
the American Y. M. C. A.. for officers only.
he is, to army parlance, simply out or
luck He is first directed to the hotel
which Brest believes is first class place
He enters the door, turns to the left and
faces a French woman who sits behind
glass inclosed counter. He asks for a
room. Nine times out of ten he is curt
~ informed that there are no rooms. He
sees man approach the desk, and while
he is coolly ignored by the woman the man
pays his bill. This gives him an indication
that the man has given up a room, and he
asks the woman again If she can give him
q room. The answer is mol" and the tone
of the "No!" is dont-give-a-d d tone.
He curses under his breath and leaves
Perhaps a colonel comes in few moments
later, and, accepting 1t as a great favor, ho
gets the room just vacated by the man
who paid his bill.
Perhaps the attitude Of this hotel toward
its "guests" Is better shown by an incident
on the occasion of President Wilson's Sec
ond arrival In France. The George WASH
ington pulled into Brest harbor, and on the
assumption that President Wilson and his
retinue would come ashore for one night
in Brest's ""frst class" hotel the manage
ment gave every guest two hours to
pack up his things and get into the street.
There no more hotel rooms in Brest
for anybody, and the "guests" demonstrated
that such a thing was unheard of in the
United States. They were informed, how
ever, that such things were done in .Brest
and were told to "get out" They "got"
and they did considerable swearing, not
only under their breaths but audibly. The
management had simply acted on an as
sumption that President Wilson would stop
at Brests FIRST class" hotel. And the one
delightful circumstance to assuage the
feelings of the ousted "guests" was that
President Wilson decided to take the train
direct to Paris.
Ordinarily, however, the American officer
or other person who fails to break into
Brest's FIRST class" hotel goes to the near
est corner and asks the NJ. T. where he may
find another hotel. The M. P. directs him
to one a block away. He enters with
rather light heart. telling himself that this
isn't quite SO FIRST class" but it will do.
But here again he is told by another
French woman behind the desk that there is
nothing doing but if he will come around
in two or three days she may have some
thing. porter, seeking tip, informs him
in bad English that there is another hotel
up the street. He seeks it and finds third
or fourth class establishment with a
nothing doing" sign hanging on the desk.
This sign is there so he will not bother the
desk by asking. He asks anyway, and is
given to understand by the desk that the
ucSh IL CONSIDERABLY annoyed.
Failing everywhere so far, he goes back
to the M. P. and asks the location of "most
any place he can lay his head" The NJ. P.
directs him to boarding house in back
street. After looking over the entrance
broken bottles and rubbish in the narrow
street.-the bucks up his courage and enters.
woman in wrapper with a shape like a
bed slat and slatternly in general tells him
that her rooms all taken. Breathing a
sigh of relief, he escapes into the night, or
day, or whatever it happens to be, and ap-
peals to most any one who may tell him of
something. BY the time he has put in two
or three hours at bed hunting in Brest he
would sleep in dog kennel. Finally, per-
haps he appeals to American headquarters
and finds bunk at Pontanezin camp.
Possibly Brest hotels are responsible for
more disgusted Americans leaving France
than any other feature Of this homepong
port. 1t is almost certain that MANY of
those who some day return to Europe will
route their voyage through some other port
than Brest But Brest hotelkeepers do not
care. At least, that is their attitude lust at
present.