ABSTRACT
The fact is mentioned for the reason that this clumsy little building of most uninviting exterior was New York’s first hotel, and moreover, for nearly fifty years it was absolutely the only inn of any kind on Manhattan Island, the population of which had scarcely reached four thousand at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The chef in such an hotel conducts the operations of from fifty to seventy-five cooks, while the whole complex business is directed personally, or through his lieutenants, by a manager, who can annually reap a net profit that would seem a small fortune to many of the reader. It is worth while here to examine briefly some of the reasons for the enormous increase of hotels and apartment houses in New York during the past three years. In the Continental capitals, like Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Rome, the apartment system of living has been well established for half a century.
