The average hotel manager is only too prone to complain of the incompetency and the inefficiency of hotel "help."
It is true that it is difficult to secure skilled help, for there is no sort of institution that trains men and women for the different kinds of hotel work. Each hotel must train its own help, or obtain them from other hotels.
Thus there is no uniform and generally accepted standard of excellence in the different departments of hotel-keeping.
A good word should be said in behalf of the Irish-American girls, who constitute a majority of the laundry help, waitresses, and chambermaids in American hotels to-day.
With a high regard for honor and rectitude, handicapped by poverty, they find employment, at a very early age, in hotels, and perform menial duties in a manner that is greatly to their credit.
The Irish-American girls are not shiftless, remaining in one place for years until they either marry or leave to fill better positions, which is the privilege of every one living under the "Stars and Stripes."
Some improve their spare time in study, thereby fitting themselves to become stenographers and bookkeepers. Some adopt the stage as a profession, one instance being that of Clara Morris, who takes delight in telling of the days when she washed silver in a hotel.
An ex-Governor Peeled Potatoes.
Ex-Governor Hoard, of Wisconsin, boasts of the time when he peeled potatoes in a hotel.
The success of hotel-keeping depends largely on the manager. He should possess patience, forbearance, and amiability. He should know that the best results are obtained from his help by kindness, and that good food and good beds mean better service.