THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: SEPTEMBER 15, 1918. 3-D WOLF LEASES LOT AND BUILDS FINE MODERN HOTEL v L 4 Harry A. Wolf Interests Control Many Valuable Properties Throughout the Gate City. ioe Dunaer ana owner 01 me Conant hotel, the Commercial Realty company, composed of II. A. Wolf, Henry Miller and associates. The rental and management of the build ing are in charge of the H. A. Wolf company, realtors, The lot on which the hotel stands is a good example of the advance in Omaha real estate values. The Schlitz Brewing company interests bought it 18 years ago for $75,000. Ihe first National bank interests bought it four years ago for a price said to be m the neighborhood of S600.000. The First National bank intended to build there, because they couldn't get the next corner north on Six teenth and Farnam streets. At an op portune moment the Board of Trade building burned and. the First Nation at obtained that property., Secures Long Lease. George Joslyn then bought the Six teenth and Harney streets propery. And then Harry Wolf negotiated a 99-year-lease on the condition that he build on the lot a building costing not less than $200,000. He built one costing much more than that. "I am only sprry that Mr. Joslyn did not live to see the handsome building erected on his lot" says Mr. Wolf. "For I think he was mo're in terested., in seeing a fitting building there thair in the actual returns on Iris investment." Mr. Wojf himself is one of the won derful examples of opportunity in Omaha. He came here from Philadel phia 14 years ago. He ldoked over the city as he had over many others and decided that here was where Op . portunity lived. "I found that most of the valuable downtown property was held by big eastern concerns or-that they held heavy mortgages on it,", he said. "I saw that the recent 'hard times' had caused many local investors to be come discouraged and let go of their holdings to the eastern bankers who held i mortgages on them. I found also that these easterners cared noth ing about developing the properties, just so they gottheir 5 or 6 per cent mortgage interest. And they were even willing to sell at the amount of the mortgages in many cases. Forma Syndicates. "There was very little building go ing on except small operations like . houses I conceived the idea of form ing syndicates so that a number of these small builders could get to gether and swing a big operation. Thus we handled these deals and built and kept on building. . "Today I believe that 95 per cent of the property in Omaha s business dis trict which was held by outside own ers 14 years ago is held by Omaha owners." Mr. Wolf naturally believes In Omaha. s "In Philadelphia," he said, "I had vjust as good business judgment as I had here, but I couldn't get any where, couldn't start anything. Back there a man is judged too much by his jancestors. They want to know who was his grandfather. Out here in the west every man is his own grandfather." Mr. Wolf is artivelv on the ?oh all the time and projecting, bigger things for the future than even he has in the past. In the same real estate operation by which they secured control of the Conant hotel property, the Commer cial Realty company secured control , of the property immediately adjoin ing ttie hotel on tne west ana re modeled the huildiner so as to make what experts have called one of the fine$t markets in the west. The build ing is now occupied by the Central market s- T Conant Hotel Bears Well Known Omaha Family Name t At v-jiA ?tKn I The Conant hotel is named after a mother and son who now have more hotel property in Omaha than anyone else. They are Mrs. Mary H. Conant and Harley Conant. . . They operate the Sanford hotel, Nineteenth and Farnam streets, with 200 rooms, and the new Conant hotel. Sixteenth and Harney streets. with 250 rooms, a total of 450 rooms.3. They have nearly '200 employes on their payrolls. Iheir career in the hotel business is interesting. Twenty years ago Mrs. sonant launcnea into ousiness wun out much money, but with plenty of pluck and executive ability. She founded the old Bachelors hotel at Twentieth and Farnam streets. This hotel prospered under her management, and 12 years later, in 1910, she. with her son, Harley, took charge of the original Sanford hotel $2.50 and Down is Conant9 s Way of Advertising Its Prices The Conant hotel has adopted a unique form of advertisement ot its prices. It is exactly the opposite of the commonplace way of advertising prices of most hotels. The Conant prices are: "$2.50 and Down." "The idea of this is to tell the pros pective guest the maximum price he may pay. Then if he wants some thing lower-priced he can have it," says Harley Conant. "With the com mon form of price statement like '$1.50 and up" the guest doesn't know what is the top limit and he hates to come in and seem to be 'cheap.' With our system he knows the limit that he can pay in this hotel and he knows he can get rooms lower in price." Each and every room in the Con ant has private bath. And the furni ture in every room is ot the same high quality, whether it is a $2.50 or a $1.50 room. Fifty of the 250 rooms rent at $2.50 a day, 100 at $2 and 100 at $1.50. And they are all beautiful rooms. The lowest priced have show, er baths, the others tub baths. All the beds have box springs and the best of mattresses. The chairs are tapestry upholstered. The bureaus and tables have plate glass tops t6 insure' cleanliness. Adding this to the tops cost $2,000 alone. A hotel table' of latest design is part of the furniture of each room. It has a special device for turning it Freight on Packing House Products to West Raised Washington, Sept. 14. Increased rates on packing house products mov ing from east of Chicago to Pacific coast points 'were authorized today by the Interstate Commercr'commission. The new rates represent increases of from 20 to 30 cents a hundred pounds and range for different shipping points from $2.234 to $2.37& PERSHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA Whips Cadet Battalion Into Form and Makes Real Sol diers Out of Boys, Forc ing Discipline. Students who attended tfc Univer sity of Nebraska from 1891 1894 have a warm place in their hearts for General Pershing. During those years the general, then a lieutenant, was drilling the cadet battalion at the uni versity. Dr. H. A. Senter, of Central High school, was sergeant major of the battalion and a close friend of Persh ing. Lieutenant Pershing was faced by a big task when he assumed the leader shin of the battalion of students. The cadet band was especially in need of the discipline as is shown by the following extract from a university publication of 1894: Whipped Into Line. , "Lieutenant Pershing is the strictest of disciplinarians as is proved by the final subjection of the hand to disci pline. The members had been notori ous for their walk. They had baffled the efforts of all previous command ants. No two of them had ever been seen by human eyes to keep step. The drum major had always conformed his movements to theirs. Now all has been changed The band conforms its steps to the drum major and is as ac curate in its maneuvers as may be de sired. Lieutenant Pershing gives great attention to detSHs. "In the competitive drill in 1892 in Omaha the battalion carried off the Maiden prize. They were awarded $1,500 in prize money and presented with the Omaha cup. The event is directly traceable to Lieutenant Pershing's disciplinary ability." Mentioned for Gallantry. During the three years that Persh ing was in command the battalion increased in men, equipment and pres tige. August 18, 1898, Lieutenant Persh ing was mentioned by General Wood for gallantry and bravery in action a.t El Caney. He was then promoted to major. He resided his post as an instructor at West Point to enter active service in the Spanish-American war. General rershing was .wedded to Helen Frances Warren Tanuary 26. 1905, in Washington, D. C.. An invi tation sent to Dr. Senter and an "At iness and comfort about the rooms IJiome, Tokyo, Japan, were exhibited at the Central High school Friday. Pershing was a captain on the general staff at that time. CONAirr - mi Nineteenth and Farnam streets, with 60 rooms. ' In 1914 they opened the Harley ho tel, Twentieth and Farnam streets. About a year ago they sold this to I. B. Plumb. .When the new Sanford hotel was completed in January of the present year, they took charge of it, operating it in connection with the adjoining original Sanford, making a total of 200 rooms in this hotel. ; Arid now they have the Conant, their crowning achievement so far. Posthumous Honors Given Seven American Heroes Washington, ' Sept. 14. General Pershing advised the War , depart ment today that -be had awarded the Distinguished Service cross to. seven members of the army in France who lost their lives in deeds of gallantry. The men were Second Lt. William p, Hymand, Iowa Falls,' la.: Corps. John Connors, Rockland Mass., and ohn R. Pattten (noN address); Pri vates Raymond Barnes, Taylorsville, Cal.; William J. Bergen. New York City: J. W. Shumate, South Charles ton, W. Va., and J. Ler Antes (no address). U. S. to Free Swiss From - Dependence on Hun Coal Geneva, Sept. 14. The Lausanne Revue states that the United States has offered to lend 750,000,000 francs to Switzerland in order to electrify the railways. Switzerland thus would become independent of German coal. into a writing table. It also has a glass top. All the rooms are beautifully car peted in velvet Wilton carpet into which the foot sinks luxuriously. The rooms and hall on each floor are car peted iu the same colors and designs. Altogether there is an air of hom- m this hotel and they are removed from the noise of the street in a sur prising degree. Typical Bedroom at Conant Hotel ff yyd f .f;Sltifi ,ww"w'"' " i i-rr-i-ri-rririr -ii-innmnnnn.nruvumjj Orta 16th and Harney Exclusive Women9 s Apparel To the Management of Omaha' Newest, Beautiful Hotel The Conant To the people of Omaha and tributary terri tory, for whom this magnificent hostelry is provided, ORKIN BROTHERS extend hearty congratulations for the splendid achievement. Already well established in our new store in the Conant Hotel Building, we are showing a complete line of Ladies' and Misses' wearing apparel in a wide range of styles and prices. Fifth Avenue's very latest offerings in Suits, Cloaks, Dresses and Millinery await your most critical inspection in our beautiful, spacious, daylight store. - -0 .v . ! i if ':il:ilnli:iT'l!lf;!li;liillillliiMI:!fnii:!i:i:!r:!i 3 1 Qrciiard Ml ww 414-416r418 South 16th Street Mmi British Food Controller Is a Man of the People Correspondence of Associated Press. " London, July 30. "Jack" Clynes. asJ.- R. Clynes' England's new food -controller, is called by. old comrades, is well known in, the United States, where he has represented the British Labor party at various international conferences. By birth arid work he is a man of the people. Lord Rhondda, his predecessor, was a grocer's son. ; Clynes is the son of a laborer. Heis a slight, rather undersized, delicate-looking man of 49. His frail physique is probably the heritage of hard labor in boyhood, for he began at the age of 10 in an Oldham mill. Out of hie meager savings he paid for a course in a night school, and it is told of him that once he was on the point of being discharged by his mill boss for being found buried in an English grammar wjule at work. When still in his teens, a press biog rapher relates, he bought a second hand "dictionary and spent several months copying it from beginning to end. In this wayjie acquired the vo cabulary which he'used with remarka ble precision in his public speeches. The books he studied were the works of economists, philosophers,, poets and drar Carlyle, Mill, Shake speare and the Bible were his chief delight. He became krown as a "boy ora tor." A friend relates this incident: "Clynes and an Irishman used to go together to the seclusion of a spa- J l j i - j 1.1UU3 quail, iuuc auu wiuu-uaiuiiicu, j ana there practict upon eacn otner the art of public speaking." Af22 Clynes was the organizer for the Lancashire district of tne General Workers' union and his success was such that he made a name in the la bor world. For a long period he has been the president of the National U,nion of General Workers and chair man of the National Federation of Laborers' unions, which represents 750,000 workers. He has represented British labor interests in Canada, France, Germany, Holland and other countries. He was elected to parliament from a Manchester district in 1906. and Lfour years later he became vice chair- f f .1, . t -k 4. . .u- xi man vi me LtAuur jjai ly 111 uuusc of Commons. Appointed parliamen tary secretary to the ministry of food a year ago, he at once won the respect and confidence of the controller and became Lord Rhondda's chief lieuten ant. A writer in the Observer speaks of Clynes as British labor's "intellectual lamplighter." Typical Floor Plan of Cohant Hotel : feM life fi EH3 1 EStS KZZl prfpbiy jiiTiii IiiTiif Iimtii! hta htiid if ADVANCE TERRA COTTA CO, 33 SOUTH LA SALLE STREET CHICAGO Terra Cotta Work on the New Hotel Conant Was Furnished by Us Factory, Chicago Heights, Illmoit. When Ordering Business Stationery Buy Value Not Price Let Economy Rule, But Let It Be True Economy Insist on Your Printer Supplying w n Bond ester For Your Letter Heads and Office Forms Quality, Economy and Satisfaction in every sheel Sold in"White and Seven Beautiful Shades With Envelopes to Match Samples Sent on Request With Name of Your Printer CARPENTER PAPER CO. ' Wholesale Distributors. OMAHA THE visitor will be charmed and delighted with the furniture in V th$ lounge of the Conant. Of Spanish-Italian or "Span-Um brian" design, it is fraught with the ro mance and achievement of that golden age of artistic rebirth, the Fifteenth Century, yet lacking nothing of the practical, and indeed having that quality of being so strong arid durable that one might kick it around without hurting it EBB Span- Vmbrian Furniture i s n o t only ideally suit-" able in a large hotel, but of great charm and service in the dining room, living room, library and hall of the private home. i'Wli'WWWWW'llill'IMWWWW ili::liilul:4cjl