Meal hours are from 7 to 8:30 a. m. and from 5:30 to 7 p. m. on week days, and on Sunday from 8 to 10 a. m. and 1 to 3 p. m. As there are 1,068 seats and nearly 2,000 guests, most of the tables are filled twice. This means that residents are shown to seats by the captains as in any other hotel dining room. For breakfast the fruit is found on the table; the cereal and main breakfast are served in two courses. Coffee is brought on in large metal pots, which are left on the table. This gives a second cup or that valued last hot portion which is so comforting to coffee lovers. Toast, rolls, butter, milk, and cream are not limited. As soon as anyone is seated at a waitress's table she starts to the kitchen for her six plates of soup, as the captain will plan to have her table filled by the time she returns. The meats and vegetables are then served, the orders for choice in drinks taken, and after this the salad and dessert are served. Because most of the Government departments close at 4:30 or 5, the dining rooms fill promptly at 5:30, which means that by 6:15 those who prefer a later dinner may find the second servings ready. In the houses a resident may find a welcome light until 11 at night. She is not met by a forbidding hallway, but must pass through a hospitable lobby furnished with comfortable lounge chairs on her way to her room. In each lobby is a small hotel desk, where she may claim her key, find her mail, and receive any messages. Once in her room visitors and telephone calls are announced by a buzzer from the house desk. If she comes in after 11 at night there is the night watch woman to admit her without delay or question. When she sleeps she is guarded against danger of fire or trespass. Needed repairs will be looked after if she reports them to the house manager. If she cares for a reading lamp the hotel electrician will make the proper connections for it. If she cares to wash her own clothes she may do so in the basement laundry, and may attach her iron to the connection there provided. She may send her clothes to the hotels laundry, where the prices are from 25 to 50 per cent less than in commercial establishments. If she cares to cook something for a "spread" or for a sick friend, she may use the kitchenette. If she falls ill, the nurse from the infirmary will call upon her. The house manager will see that she is sent her meals. If she 142178-20-VOL 1-21 needs special treatment and yet is not ill enough to go to a hospital she may be received at the infirmary. If she cuts her finger, contracts a sore throat, burns her hand, needs a dose of any household remedy, she may call at the infirmary dispensary and be "fixed up" with a very strong chance that serious consequences will be avoided. With the exception of the corner rooms, all the bedrooms are single and a resident may claim companionship in the lobbies, but find absolute privacy in her own room. She may find hot bath water night or day. She may find cold drinking water in her corridor. There is always some one on duty to call in case she needs assistance of any kind. She may invite unlimited company for meals without notice to the cook. She may arrange for a reserved table for a dinner party in a few minutes. For a fee of $2 a month or $5 for three months' tuition, she may enter recreation classes three nights a week and keep in fit condition to carry on her sedentary occupation. THE FINANCES. How is this service paid for? Because Congress in the name of the people of the United States has given the use of the land pending its dedication to parks, and has contributed the buildings and their furnishings and equipment, it is possible to give this protection and this service for $45 a month. If interest on the investment and depreciation were charged the price would be at least $60 a month. If the hotels were in profit-making hands any price up to $100 could be charged and secured, or the service could be cut to slim meals with little nutritive value, the infirmary could be closed, the houses could be manned by housekeepers, the dining rooms could be converted into cafeterias, the watch protection. abandoned, and the Government employees could be generally exploited as they have been in the past. But the purpose of this housing experiment has been to show just what service could be given for a reasonable charge. It is true that the change in the purchasing power of a dollar makes rates somewhat misleading, but taken in relation to salaries now paid, here is how the account looks: Average minimum salary of Government employees...... $1,100 Lunches at 25 cents, six days (50 weeks) $540 75 30 60 15 720 $380 Experienced workers, of course, are paid more than $1,100. Since when in the world's history could a beginner live at a good hotel, pay for all service (there are no fees), pay lunches, car fare, laundry (unless she cares to save the cost by doing it herself), secure recreational, activity (not passivity), and still have a residue of $380 to spend for clothes, doctors, dentists, and vacation, or contribute to the support of her parents? And if she takes her vacation she may sublet her room for what she pays and omit the purchase of a meal ticket, thus having $45 toward vacation expenses. And as the salary is larger, this living expense remains static, a state which many a head of family would welcome. It is true that some of the Government employees believe that the price should be reduced because the "Government" can buy things for little or nothing; because the "Government" now owns the railroads and can ship provisions at no cost; because the "Government" has to pay no rent; because the "Government" does not need such a heavy overhead; because those who live in the buildings could manage them without cost for supervision; but will the sound business men and women who make the backbone of the Nation study the receipts and expenditures and believe that the Federal employees who live in the Expense by Room-Month Units-Government Hotels. UNITED STATES HOUSING CORPORATION—1919. Manager, June 18, 1919, to date. 1 Apparent increase due to refunds on meals during Christmas vacation, which raised the per capita rate. NOTE.-These unit costs include living allowances for employees. The total room-month unit plus the total meal-month unit will exceed $45. Obviously, because these units are unlike in character, they can not be in combination reconciled with the established monthly rate of $45 per guest. |