The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-07-24
In New York
BY PAUL HARRISON

DL FAOL hA6hlSON
 New York-One of the big towns special manifestations of friendli- ness is it's willingness to answer questions. Every citizen considers himself a walking Baedeker, po- lice pride themselves on knowing all the answers. and most indus tries have intelligence bureaus. Perhaps because there is so much of it. all this information is free.
 The police information booth in Times Square answers a thousand queries day. People ask every thing from street directions and hotel prices to which is the best show in town and how much should one tip waiter in a night club. There are many special bureaus which give buying advice. Unusual purchasing problems, such as where to get 5000 butterflies, a secondhand rickshaw, or an or chestra of Swiss bell ringers, can be referred to the people who put out the classified telephone direc- tory. The question on-and- answer situation gets pretty involved sometimes. Thus thefe is a bureau which dispenses any required facts about coffee, but it is maintained by the American Can comr any, and not by the coffee merchants.
 Meet Mister Foster
 The only organization in the world which deals exclusively in Information is the Ask Mr Poster" travel service. It conducts no tours. collects no commissions, accepts no fees from the public. What it docs dn iS, nh Is, a&a ut~; ;.~ lines. hotels, states, cities and for eign governments for listing their attractions and services. Ask MT Foster" maintains 6S offices in the United States and Canada. and al these offices people ask questions about virtually everything under the sun.
 One of the questions most fre- quently asked Is whether there really is MT Foster. There is. He is "A years old, looks muchc like George Bernard Shaw, complete with whiskers and sense of hu- nor, and is teetotling, non- smoking, water-drinking vegetar. ian. For 45 years he has told mill lions of people how to travel, but it wasn't till 1880 that he made his first trip outside this country. When a youngster of 25, Ward G. Foster was paymaster and timekeeper during the construction of the Ponce de Leon hotel in St Augustine, Fla After the place was finished he set up a small bookstore across the street. He had a memory for train schedules and things like that, and the new em- ployes of the hotel began telling information-seeking guests to ask MT Foster.
 Finally he decided that the idea might be capitalized, so he estab- lished information offices in Flor ida resorts. in Washington and New York. and then across the country. His clients were concerns which might profit from the facts he related, and hotels and even department stores paid him to move into their places because the bureaus attracted crowds.
 Ladies Aides
 In spite of it's masculine appela- tion, the concern Is largely fem mine. MT Foster decided long ago that women display more courtesy and interest and patience in. infor- nation jobs, so all his mahagers are women. They're mostly college graduates, and all have been trained for year in special schools conducted by Miss K. A Foster. his sister. He requires lot. of trav- el from his personnel; Total of about a million miles year for all his executives. During their va cations he sends them to Europe or the Orient or South America. and they send back reports which are copied and sent to all the Fos- ter branches.
 MT Foster himself covers about 5O,OOO miles a year visiting his of- fees. He says he isn't old enough for golf, and hasn't time to go fish, ing, so he does nothing but work. To keep fit, however, he has evolved a set of exercises which may be taken even in the restrict- ed space Of Pullman berth.