AMERICA'S LAST WORD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8831, 6 May 1914, Page 6

AMERICA'S LAST WORD.

' At one time an abomination in 'the sight of Heaven, the big American hotel to-day has grown into a palace of wonder,-full of efficiency and comfort and real luxury—if the cost is, Xiigh. Tiio last word in giant hotels in .New York is a building from 15 to 30 stories high, having from eight to 2-3 acres of floor space, capable of accommodating 1500 to 1800 gue&ts,. and so arranged as to practicallybe a selfcontained principality';/-: Thatris to say, it is like a town, with shops'and offices and manufactories and * storehouses,, supplying its own wants ? and doing much of ito own work. You could live all your life inside the walls of these hotels, and yet not miss anything the world lias to give you—except, per-.haps,-:'■■mountain, scenery.:. The Ameri r can giant hotel is not a mere accommodation house ' for travellers or visi-, tors! It ,is a residential mansion, where Kundreds of rich _ families live, liaving/given, up their private homes in despair Jof 1 being able to cope with the problem of getting . domestic servants. Even iv; millipnai^.cannot get the service that, a ibigJvnotel can. Americans hate /being ; called "servants." In private houses'domestic assistants are " servants," but in hotels they are "helps." /The domestic staff of big 'hotels is taken particular care of, given,, fixed hours, plenty of social life> among their , fellow-workers, and a great amount of independence. , Many observers of American life declare .that in the end there will be no private homes in the big cities, except among the . ppajr. Everybody who can'.affoi'd it will"'lire, in hotels, where they can get better service all round, and. be free of the worry of running their own establishments. The Americans are fond of shifting around, and when they live in hotels they can change "their residence -with' lint little trouble. The old r fashioned English families, who loved to live and die for generations under the same roof-tree, are not known in the land of the Stars and Stripes.