YES, INDEED, PENN HARRIS
HAS A MAITRE D' HOTEL
THE soldier hoys returning from
France will probably be more
"jo reporte" with the Psnn-
Sarris than home folks, because they
should know how to pronounce
"Maitre d' Hotel" by this time, and
yxra may bet your life the Penn-Harris
has one of these. Dig up some one
who can parlez-vous if you want to
look good In this liostlery.
And if you bellow out: "Hey, Chef,
cook me a steak" we can eee the
Ponn-Harris crumbling to powder. A
chef in a big-league hotel does not
cook. My word, no! He looks on,
but he Is almighty Important. Cook?
Should "shay" not!
You see, a great modern hotel Is
divided Into two major departments,
as explained by Manager Wiggins,
a point not apparent to the guests.
Technically they are known as the
"front" and the "back." In charge
of the whole organization is the gen
eral manager, with auditing, paymas
ter's and ehashier's departments
fiiwulng part of a connecting link.
The front of the house is under
the authority of a chief engineer, who
is not exactly the sort of technician
fiat his title implies; or, rather, he
is that and a great many things be
sides. In this grand division falls
nearly everything with which the
guest comes in contact except the
restaurant—the clerks who sell the
rooms and the various departments
of service, the indexing of names, the
care it the rooms, the record of com
ings and goings, the delivery of par
cels and baggage, the obtaining of
tickets, and so on.
If a steampipe bursts the chief
engineer's department fixes it. If an
elevator needs repairs he is respon
sible for the job and the costs. If a
new status is to be set up in the ex
change, he is the property man who
must see to it that it is properly and
tastefully installed. He must not be
only an engineer, but he must be
something of an artist and an archi
tect. He selects the furniture and
the carpets, and must see to it that
all these things are properly taken
care of. And above all he must be
an executive of skill and a first-class
judge of cost and result values, a
thorough businessman of broad ex
perience and training.
Speed and Aeenraey
Requirements of speed and accur
acy, which are just part of the day's
routine, would be marvels in other
lines of business. The only other
spot we know with such six-cylinder
system is the dispatching office of the
Pennsylvania Railroad office, the
brains of the system. l A wise, im
perturbable man, emotionless as a
statue sits. there directing a score
of others who look exactly like him
each with a phone chained to his' i
jaw, and all the while talking to
/
v '" • ' '
• % f
Were Made Exclusively by the Leading Manufacturers of High \ '
Grade Floor Coverings in America
The Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Company
Established 1825
—.
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Mills at Thompsonville, Conn. Clinton, Mass. Lowell, Mass.
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Makers of the Finest Grades of Wilton, Axminster, Brussels and Velvet
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Ninety Years of Experience Woven Into Every Yard
TUESDAY EVENING,
■Ub I*, 1
J. ELMER DAVIDSON
Maitre 1/ Hotel
operators and towers in the division,
sometimes eliminating a wreck by a
fragment of time, but never becom
ing agitated. Same at the Penn-Har
lis, where a guest, for instance en
ters the hotel at 3 o'clock and en
gages a room, intending to stay for
several dais. He may go to the din
ing room and have a meal charged,
put a couple of on his bill,
borrow a sum |f money from the
cashier und pile up a dozen charges
in various departments of the hotel.
Then a telegram may summon him
out of town on the 4 o'clock train.
His bill must be ready for him at the
desk in a couple of minutes. And it
is.
Wiggins—Ueurril Director
When the reporter asked Manager
Wiggins to tell something about the
policy and mechanism of the Penn-
Harris, he paused heavily as though
some one had suggested to him solv
ing some trifling problem'like mak
ing the world safe for Bolsheviki.
Taking his time, he finally explained:
"The manager is general dictator,
ar.d from him come all orders for any
party, for changes, for purchases.
The next in command is the assist
ant manager, in this instance, Harry
H. Price, who sees that all orders are
carried out. He will also be the per
son in charge when I am called away
temporarily.
"When orders pertain to parties
of any kind in the various dining
rooms they are given to the maitre
d' hotel, J. Elmer Davidson, who will
in turn convey the information to
the chef, John B. Tamaggl, and to
the headwaiter, Morris Cowan. Mr.
Tamagr.i has had many years' experi
ence in the east Florida Coast hotels
and in the best hotels of New York,
and Mr. Cowan was employed in num
bers of up-to-date eastern houses, his
last position being at the Tutweiler
at Birmingham, Alabama. After the
chqf and headwaiter have been noti
fied of a party the chef makes out
the menu and immediately informs I
the steward, L. H. Vanderslice, who I
will see that the articles for this I
menu are supplied at the proper
lime.'* " '
The mattre d'hotel. It wee gathered,
has supreme charge In the "back"
of the house, meaning the kitchens
and restaurants principally, while the
chef is in sole charge of the former.
Though he must have a practical
knowledge of cooking, he is purely an
executive, and when he passes
through the dining room and hears
the guest instruct the waiter "to tell
the chef" just how he wants his steak
served, the chef smiles. The men who
cook In hotels are the cooks, not
the chefs. Nevertheless, It is the
chef who makes or mars the reputa
tion of the cafe, for he plots and
charts the menu, and often Invents
the special dishes on which the cafe
becomes famous. He controls the
policy of the kitchen.
The work of the kitchen is divided
by "operations." There a*re,'for in
stance, fry cooks and assistants, roast
cooks, broilers, and so on down to
the salad girls, which last, together
with all those who assemble the cold
dishes, are In the department of the
steward rather than that of the chef.
The steward, of course, does the
buying and has charge of the stock
of food. It is easy to be seen that
there must be the closest kind of co
operation between him and the chef.
There is, in addition, a pastry chef
and a baking department subsidiary
to the chef. And an entirely separate
department known as the entertain
ment division, which undertakes the
contracts for banquets, weddings and
the like.
Throughout the entire system the
method of cost-keeping closely paral
lels that of a factory, with its stock
rooms, receiving departments, pro-'
duction departments and sales de
partments, with the exception that all
down the line special emphasis must
be laid on "rush Jobs," which are the
rule rather than the exception.
Not the least important job is
that of the housekeeper, who. as her
title implies, has charge of the linen,
the maid and valet service, the clean- 1
ing and the laundry, whicli takes care
of the hotel washing and that of the
guests. She has her corps of as
sistants and floor clerks who oversee
all service to the rooms.
Governor of Kansas
Adopts French Waif
Topeka, Kan. Governer Arthur
Capper has adopted Raymond Dur
and, a French orphan, who makes
his home with his stepmother in
France. The boy was secured for
the Governor by the Topeka com
mittee of the fatherless children of
France from among the survivors of
one of the devastated districts. The
stepmother has written to the Gov
ernor thanking him for the money
sent .the boy.
Travels From Mexico
to Obtain Narcotic
Akron, O. Declaring he was in I
torment, an eighteen-year-old Mexi
can lad, who had travelled all the
way from El Paso, Tex., appealed to
Health Officer Nesbitt for permission
to obtain his customary daily supply
of dope. Good advice was the sub
stitute given the boy^
HAJRJtUBBURO- TELEGRAPH
NEW STATIONERY
BOOSTS THE CITY
Rates of Hotel Are to Be Very
Reasonable, the Manage
ment Announces
THE official stationery used by
Manager Horace Leland Wig-
Kins, in tlia task of enlighten- j
ing the world as to rates at the
Penn-Harris, is luring and accurate
ly Informing, bearing the legend:
Million dollar hotel erected by
enterprising citizens of Harris
burg faces Capitol Park and half
a block from main business cen
ter. Harrlsburg has a popula
tion of 100,000 and a purchasing
community of 200,000 in a radius
of ten miles. Harrisburg Is the
railroad and travel center of the
state and the third largest
freight transfer in the state. All
state automobile roads converge
at Harrisburg. It is a great con
vention city. One of the largest
steel mills of the country is lo
cated at Harrisburg. The city is
located along the beautiful Sus
quehanna river and in a very
fertile agricultural valley.
Once snared by this uncommon
news the person who contemplates
visiting.'Pennsylvania's capital will
greedily digest the authoritative
rates of entertainment and the room
accommodation. At the present
time, then, It can be said that there
Is a total of 250 rooms, of which 225
have, each, a beautful bathroom ad-
Joining. The other 25 have hot and
cold water and toilet. The rates are
as follows:
With toilet and hot and cold wa
ter: $2 for one person; $3.50 for
two persons.
With tub or shower bath: $2.50
for one person, $4 for two: $3 for
one person, $4.50 for two; $5.00 for
two twin beds; $3.50 for one'person,
$5 for two; $4.00 for one person, $6
for two.
There are larger rooms with bath
in which several beds can be placed,
and a rate of $2 per day per person
made. v *
All prices quoted are European
plan, and do not include meals.
Woman May Receive
Ensign's Commission
Boston, Mass. The first woman
ever to be recommended for an en
sign's commission in the United
States Navy is Miss Marie A. George,
who has been prominent in welfare
aid work at the Charlestown Navy
Yard.
She ends her tour of duty soon
and Commandant William R. Rush,
of the Navy Yard, has recommend
ed that she bo raised in rank on
retirement from yeowoman to en
sign.
Fined For Drunkenness
Twice in "Dry" Town
KLmirn, N. Y. lntoxicated
twice, fined $lO for each offense, all
within forty-eight hours, is the rec
ord of a Corning man in "dry" El
mlra./ And tine first offense hap
pened on Sunday. Jamaica ginger
is said to be responsible fpr Wil
liam Walcott's two-day record in
a "boozleless" city.
Frank C. Lewin
General Contractors and Builders
I
Penn-Harris Hotel
Harrisburg, Pa.
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OFFICES
26 N. Third Street 616 Twelfth St. N.W. People's Gas Building
Harrisburg, Pa. Washington, D. C. Chicago, 111.
DECEMBER 31, 1918. "
11