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
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,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.
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Qrciiard
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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.
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