Evening star., 1922-05-26
Reporter Gets sInside FacB''
At Municipal Lodging House

To get first-hand insight on the
way in which guests of the munich
pal lodging house are treated, a
Star representative spent last night
there. The treatment. taken as
whole, was all that could be expected.
True. he had to go to sleep on
sort of rubber sheeting. on the upper
tier OF a two-decked cot. and his robe
de mutt was a rather soiled night
gown. which was grabbed from a
hook and handed to him. Also, it was
him to feel itchy throughout the
night. and 1t was not :he fault OF
tthe keepers of the house that an
other guest in tho same room was
affected with pedal Precipitation:
1t was Il light night at che lodging
house last night. 1t was a normally
quiet one. The guests there do not
talk much. Scarcely two dozen words
were spoken throughout the whole or
/ the pre-retirement and the getting
up periods
AS for cleanliness, the place did not
show evidence of a single roach or
rat. and the floors were as clean as
could be expected
Applicant Closely Questioned.
The repres sentative went through an
areaway to a window cut in tho wal,
shortly before 10 o'clock last night, TO
get flop ticket" A woman walked
to the rear, motioning the visitor fur
ther through the tunnel and proceed
ed to take down his history
Whats your name?
John Jacobsen"
"Where were you born?"
Richmond" the applicant lied n~
emily.
..H,ss,,1,snss How old are xou'"
where did you work last before
coming heref'
What kind Of work."
Clerical"
Here's a check: walk on back and
they'll fix you up"
How much does this cost!
Nothing, but you'll be gwen some
work to do tomorrow.
D., (She made Q mistake the1e. There
wasn't enough work to go round)
"AlI right ma'am Can you get
something TO eat here?"
mo; ws haven't enough funds TO
provide that"
Back through the areaway went the
guest and into a screen door into the
. living room and library of the lods-
ing house. A shelf of books greeted
volumes there for weary wayfarers.
Included in them are The Last pays
of Pompeii." a few of Booth Tark-
ington's best. several historical
hooks-all of them more or less dete-
riorated volumes from the Public
UP pair of stair. went the in
vestigator seeking his flop In
room at ths head of the stairs an
extremely siow-talking man. with a
desk He reviewed the check care
fully. and then wrote the name, j.
Jacobsen, on the ledger. making the
sixth and las. entry for the night. On
the list Of names ran from fifteen to
twenty.
Flop" 80. was assigned to the
visitor
Here's a hook for your clothes:
60 back and get undTesSed and leave
everything on that hook" he in
structed.
While the wayfarer was undressing
other lodger. he aided in making
ready the bath for the newcomer.
Takes Bath; Tub Decorated.
Can sleep in these underclothes?"
asked the reporter
No. Come out and take your bath"
Now. 1t might have been that on
some night previous some one failed
: to watch the bathers, but the tub had
a we'll crusted rim of darkness run
ming over the white part at the bot
TOM Into Tepid water went the re-
porter and the bath started. The soap
had one advantage. There was very
little of a distasteful thing. 1t is the
sort ordinarily used on Mondays for
the family wash, rich in lye and
pungency
The bath completed. a crash towel
served for the drying process. And
the keeper of the bath rummaged
around for a "nightie.'' There were
scores of nighties there Possibly il
was their natural color. which was a
bit sooty looking. Into the nightie
struggled the reporter. He pinned il
with a safety pin, with his fiop-num-
ber check attached.
Up to the third floor he was escort
ed and shown the upper cot of
double-decked bunk. A blanket was
the principal covering. Under it was
a sheet. which in the gas light looked
as though it had not been sufficiently
well introduced to the soap at its last