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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 16, 1902)
Serving Dinner for a Multitude of People " I " I 7,200 oysters, 500 chickens, 450 I nnnnHa nf flah 9 ftOA nnnnila nf beef, 600 ducks, besides Innumer able gallons of coffee and scores of freezers of Ice cream, were needel to serve the guests at Saturday night's dinner to Prince Henry. The banquet was the largest ever pre pared In the Waldorf-Astoria, relates the New York Times. Twelve hundred guests were accommodated In the grand ballroom and adjoining apartments, 120 3lngers In the Aetor gallery adjoining and more than 400 women In the two tiers of boxes. How Oscar manages to serve such an enormous dinner and yet have every portion of food as hot as though It were epecially prepared for a particular guest is a ques tion that has puzzled many a patron of the hotel. Oscar explains that it is a very simple problem. He Is the chef of the hotel and his last name ie Tschlrky, but he says he does not care for anybody to uee it in addressing him, as tho front name i i professionally. If you ask blm how he manipulates the thousands of dishes at such a great dinner, how he keeps his wait ers in line, how he signals from carving table to kitchen and how, in short, he ef feoUi a rigid following of a prearranged schedule, he will tell you that It Is "mili tary training." Jot Like an Army. "Just like the army," he says. "Walters all trained. New recruits handled by ex perienced men. Signals for every move. Orders obeyed on the double quick or there's trouble. Every dish hot or there's more trouble. Easy enough!" The dinner given to the prince the week before last by the New Yorker Staats Zeitung was the second largest banquet Oscar ever superintended, and the way he went about arranging for that was similar to his methods of last Saturday night, when the hosts were the members of the German Society of New York. For this last ban quet, for Instance, be had 470 extra waiters, including those at the carving tables, which were placed in the long hallway leading EW persons who are not them selves actively engaged in trade and manufacture realize how im portant a role the practice of small economies plays in the workings of the big industrial enterprises of the present day. To the giant United States Steel corporation. for instance, wun us profits, as recently announced, of $300,000 a day, it might appear that such trifling matters as the saving of stray screws and waste iron dust would hardly appear worth while. As a matter of fact, however, such savings are very well worth while, and It Is largely to the care with which provision ls made against possible waste that the large profits are due. A few years ago sawdust used to te thrown away. It was dumped from the big lumber mills of Maine and Michigan Into the river streams and allowed to settle In great banks, which not only obstructed navigation, but proved detrimental to fish life. Explosions caused by the generation of gas ln the wet sawdust were frequent and caused many accidents. So great a nuisance did the sawdust ln 1 1 , O V. V. n n n ,4 ine rivers iiuuiiy uctuiuc iua t tu uu town corporations were obliged to taice ac- U At w ;. V.' vV7 L NEBRASKA UNDERTAKERS back toward Fifth Avenue from the grand ballroom. None of the regular waiters of the hotel participated. The "extras" were men on Oscar's special list. "I have their names In a book," he ex plains. "Most of them work down town In the daytime, and at night they are ready for special dinners here, or at Sherry's, or at Delmonlco's. But In this case, and In all cases where there are more than 500 guests to be served, I have to go beyond my selected Hat. I have to pick up men tint T don't want particularly. There are not enough Al waiters among the extras to fill the bill for as big a dinner as this one, yet the additional hundred or so arn fairly good, and they have been pressed Into service often enough to know how to behave themselves." ArrnnglnK for the Komt. Preparations for such an affair as this begin forty-eight hours ahead of time. On the previous day the hotel marketers go out and get all the necessary provisions. A brigade of decorators begins to festoon the balconies and gilded columns of the ball room with whatever decorations the hosts have arranged to display. Scrubwomen and scrubmen start to polish up the braes railings. Sweepers and dusters clean the chairs In the boxes and on the main floor, and make the carpets and canopies and curtains look spick and span. Early in the morning of the day set for the dinner the tables are carried to the ball room and two score of waiters are busy all day setting them, polishing up the silver and redustlng the chairs. In the afternon, about three hours before the hour of the dinner, the rest of the extra waiters make their appearance. They are assigned to their places, one "table man" to every eight guests, and one "wine man" to every twelve. Some are stationed at the carving tables, each with his particular duty. Oscar and hiB head assistants scurry about this way and that, seeing to It that there Is no place uncovered, no detail unprepared, no dish or piece of silverware lacking. Just before 5 o'clock tne Mower men come. They have had to wait until late for their share In the arrangements, because th Practical Value of Little Economies in Modern Business tlon against the owners of the mills. Laws were passed making It compulsory to dis pose of the Eawdust ln some other way, and for a time the ml.l owners resorted to the expedient of burning the waste product. utilising; Sawdust, Nqw 8awd Bt , made Into a great many articles of considerable commercial value. Compressed woodenware, panels and pave ment blocks are among the more familiar of these products, and the Industry is steadily Increasing. By a process of dry distillation, too, gas, alcohol, acetlo acid, tar and oils are obtained from the saw dust. These ln turn are made into still other products. From the tar there ls ob tained benzole, paraffin; naphthalene and hydrocarbons, which are used ln the manu facture of aniline dyes. Carbolic acid and creosote are also obtained. From the artificial wood a number of valuable articles besides the palls, panels and blocks mentioned are likewise ob tained. From the plastic mass which re sults from sifting out the coarser particles and mixing the remainder with various fillers and agglutinants, there are manu factured slabs for parquet floors, bas-reliefs, art castings ana ainner piaies. 1 1 4..1 a . HI J 1 :- f 1 WHO CAME TO OMAHA TO STUDY EMBALMING METHODS Photo by Marsh. roses must look fresh and the leaves vividly the diners seem to have finished their oys- many boxes of the latter, all of the best green. The tracing of delicate blossoms ttrs, he touches an electric button. The quality. and evergreens along the cloth of the bell rings so loudly that everybody on the For the dinner to the prince the week be guests' table must not have time to wither, floor can hear It. On the Instant the wait- fore last the special feature was the "(inl and the specially decorative bouquet In era begin to take away the oyster plates, cession of Ices," each waiter marching with front of the guest of honor, whether he be with which they file out. and tho "wine a fancy preparation rut sea high over his the prince or some other distinguished man, men" replace the first wine with the sec- head. Oscar lined them up In tho hallway must seem to have come straight from the ond. first. Then he poked his heHd Inside th- greenhouse. ia i,.Ha than four minutes after the ring- door 80,1 nodded to the orchestra In tho top Meanwhile the kitchen has been a scene ng of the bell the same waiters who carried haliony. The music a march-began, an.) of great activity. There are no extra cooks, ot,t the oyster plates return with the soup. tne waiters started forward. They circled but those regularly on duty have to move The oyster dishes have been deposited in ln and out anion tho tables and finally around much more rapidly than on other "ships" and hustled down to tho kitchen on PlM,J elun ,co ln ll l'Per place. Thl.i days. They get the food ready "between the elevator. At this point the guests begin f1". though more elaborate than those tushes" In the morning and afternoon, to wonder, if they have never had the arranged for previous dinners, was yet slm leavlng the most delicate viands to the question answered for them, whv the soup "Rr to """" ,,en ln ,no n"u'1 hp"re- "' last. By the time 6 o'clock has come everything Is ready, and a squad of men cooks or waiters are in their places near the ovens, all on the alert for the signal that means they are to transfer the food to a special elevator and send it upstairs to Oscar. The grand ballroom Is on the second floor, the kitchens in the basement. Signal to Walters. It is announced to the chef that the guests are ready to sit down. Through a tube he transfers the information down stairs. Then he rings a bell, and in two minutes the oysters are on the tables, having been prepared at the carving ta- bles. The waiters ttand like statues, each at his post. The guests file Into the Imitation fairyland, perhaps cheer the hon- ored visitor, stand until he Is seated, and then proceed to make way with the first course. Meanwhile the "wine men" have placed on each table the beverage pre- scribed for this stage of the feast, and the diners find their glasses filled before they have had time to unfold their nap- klns- The bell that Oscar rings is Just outside the door between the hall of carving tables and the ballroom. He himself never goes Into the dining room. He walks up and down the long, canvas-covered halls and every time he gets to the end nearest the ballroom he pokes his head about two Irches Inside the door to see how far the eating of the course has advanced. At tho right moment, when all or a majority of The newest use to which sawdust has been put is as feed for cattle. For this purpose it ls declared to be far superior to straw, and it ls probable that ln a few years sawdust will be almost as valuable as the sound lumber. The mills which were the first to realize the value of what had for so many years been thrown away have reaped a golden harvest, while those which have failed to look after the sawdust and allowed it to continue going to waste have either barely escaped bankruptcy or have sold out to their more successful rivals. lOeonomies In Vatch-Mal.liiK. Then years ago the watch trade of the United States was not only ln its Infancy, but was practically monopolized by two firms. Swiss and German watches were largely sold in this country ln competition with the American-made article and In spite of a heavy protective duty. At the present day American watches are sold all around the world and have contributed so prominently to the "American Inva sion" of Europe that it was announced only a short time ago that a single firm in this city had contracted to deliver 2,000, 000 watches ln London within a year. The secret of American success ln watch- f , , 1 . la hot, how more than 1.200 plates cmi possibly be brought to the tables steaming n8 though they were transferred from a stove a dozen feet away, ..f oourse ,, , BRyl, Oscar. "Just ,.,., Ir,v nninh tw.i vir. i mil ii,u,n lo tne kltchen v vm (hu ,nt(, tne h,ater8 on ,hp carv,nK (B,,,e8 u It stays there until it Is very hot. Then the oysters come out. While they are coming the soup is being poured into plates and just as soon as It's in the waiters are ready to take it to the guests." in this way the dinner proceeds. Each rourao is brought from the kitchen Just In time, then heated until the diners are ready to consume it. There Is no colliding of waiters except very rarely. They march n r,,gur lines. Each one knows where his place Is and who Is the one he must follow In and out of the ball room. yor 1720 diners the number served last Saturday night the quantity of champagne UHf)rl ls approximately 860 quarts. Of gauternts and clarets and other side wines at,out f.73 quarts of each Is needed. Serving on the Side ' ' While the diners on the main floor are being supplied the wr.men In the boxes are served with what the chef designates as a "collation." This consists of bouillon, chicken salad, lees, claret punch and wines. Everybody gets coffee and the men on the main floor can have cigarettes or cigars at any time during the dinner. Hundreds of packages of the former are consumed and making lies In the small economies effected by American machinery. A rival to the two concerns which monopolized the man ufacture ten years ago had at Its head a young man whose early days had been paBsod In considerable privation. It may have been the training In economy which his early experiences had thus given him that led him to examine with special care all the little details of the establishment and to be continually watchful for means and methods that would prevent wasteful ness. The following story ls told: One day, soon after taking over the management of the concern, he noticed that a workgirl stopped during working hours to curl ber "bangs." He promptly Issued an order tabooing bangs. On another occasion be noticed a workman discarding a screw. He made inquiries and discovered that In allot ting materials to the hands In the factory fourteen screws were counted as a dozen, In order to allow for variations In size. Each screw cost approximately about the 100th part of a cent. But the new man ager set about elaborating a machine that should make every screw to one standard guage. The result of these and other sim ilar small economies was not long ln pro ducing Its results. Other managers found themselves obliged to be economical, too, and American watch-making machinery and American methods scored their tri umph In competition with the cheaper labor and costlier output of the rest of the world. Time-Savins; Devices. The way In which "little economies" bare contributed to the success of one of the greatest tea blending and Importing bouses of the world was described In a recent publication. "I saw," said the writer, "scales that would weigh by electricity to within the 100th part of an ounce; girls wearing brown Holland overalls, envelop ing them from bead to foot, that not the smallest bit of tea dust even might adhere to their dresses and be carried away and wasted; a marvellous time-keeping ma chine that recorded automatically the loss of even a single second of time by any one of the hundreds of employes and dozens of other similar money-saving and time-economizing contrivances, and I ceased to won der that such a business as I saw before me bad been built up by two comparatively young men ln less than five years." One of the greatest Industrial csnttrs of the world has sprung up within the short space of half a dozen years at the hitherto little known town of Sault Ste. Marie, where the waters of Lake Superior empty into Lake Huron. The success of this vast enterprise, where the enormous sum of $117,000,000 is being spent ln a plant for the manufacture of an almost unlimited va riety of articles or iron, steel, nickel and wood, with various chemical products as well. Is due solely to the Inventive genius and new economies of one man. The first striking innovation which was effected at the "Soo" bad to do with the manufacture of wood palp. By th methods previously employed the pulp as turned out the way It was managed was the same as hi former cases. The hotel makes It a rule never to taki contracts for menus. Generally thero are from four to twelve men on tho committee that is to arrange for the decorative cards or printed silken ribbons, tho latter having been the form of the menus at the first din- ner to tho prince. Once Oscar undertook to arrange for the printing, but there was dis satisfaction on the part of the committee, and since then he and Proprietor Moldt have decided that they will have nothing to do with this feature of the dinner. The com mittee must fight it out. and the menus are trnpA nvpr tn thA rh'Pf t.mt before ih banquet begins, and later distributed to tho tables according to Instruction, Throughout these dinners tn the grand ta room there Is plenty of music, generally furnished by one of the best orchestras ol the city. The room Is a blaze of light, hundreds of fancy electric bulbs sending their rays from column, celling and walls, For ordinary occasions, such as banquets of state societies or other patriotic organlza- tlons, it ls not considered necessary to pre- ,,are mmh 'Xra decorations ln the way of draperies or festoons of evergreens, but the affairs In honor of tho prince were dlstln- gulehed by so many additional embellish- ments that thu fixed gorgeousness of thr room was well nigh hidden tinder them, The room, as it is every day, ls decorative enough for most people, and one would think that ordinarily there was enough of gold paint and enough mural paintings to satisfy the most extravagant taste. for export contained a large proportion of water. This water added to the weight, and consequently to the cost of transpor tation, without ln the least Increasing the value of the article. After much study and experiment a new process was devised, and now pulp Is produced in a much drier state and the waste of money In freight charges ls saved. VUltors Kseluded. A few years ago It was a very common practice for the managers of mills and factories to show visitors over their prem ises. Very often an employe was detailed to take the strangers about and point out the different features of Interest. It was thought good advertising and well worth the Incidental trouble. Now that ls all changed. Hardly a factory of Im portance ln the country permits visitors to gain entrance to Its works, and sign to that effect are displayed conspicuously on the gates outside. The reason Is not that It Is desired to maintain secrecy regarding the machinery and the plant, but simply that It Is a waste of time. It wastes the time of the manager or superintendent and It causes a waste of time among the men. The en trance of a party of strangers to a factory is the signal for the employes to turn about and look at them. The lost time may amount to only a minute or two for each employe, or even a great deal less than that, but repeated two or three times a day, and ln every department, the loss mounts up to a very definite quantity. And lost time means diminished output. ai.tt the damp, wtr do not break. No rough sur face 10 chafe and cut. The harm as not only keepj looking like new, but wear, twice at longhy lb ute ol Kurrks iUroeei Oil. Sold every ber in cent al! iea. Made by Standard OH Company Rain and swell have 1.0 elite! on BiBjVytrrM barneii treated M M MA F d ELt with Eureka Mar- y 4l B -f T B,u tin. it re v 1
