| Show no political convention not even a worlds fair ever produced the condi alon that today exist in beaumont the head center seat of the oil industry in texada so far as food and lodging are concerned there are no hotel run pers here bays a correspondent writ ing from the scene of quick money making it the newcomer with tender foot innocence forces his way through the crowds that eddy around the two hotels and asks tor a room the over worked clerks will laugh at him and advise him to hustle for the outskirts of the town if he expects to stop in beaumont over night there are no rooms to be had A cot in the hallway of the hotel will bring its fa per day and would bring 10 it the hotel pro prie tors asked it nearly all abe houses in the town have been turned into boarding houses and they all are over flowing the new arrivals only hope Is in some one of the tents which are springing up in every vacant lot and where he may if he Is fortunate ne a cot or a blanket spread on the ground every night crowded cial trains leave beaumont for sabine pass port arthur and houston car crying the overflow population that can not find even these accommodations houston Is a three hour run from beaumont but one can find a bed at the end of it and hundreds make the trip twice a day not only Is a bed a treasure of great price in beaumont it is equally dif ficula to obtain anything to eat practical minded do not even dream of such a luxury as a square meal A newcomer who can secure an option on a seat at the fifth table of a third rate hoarding house is the envy of his fellows and is credited with possess ing a pull there are a number of restaurants in the town but guards are stationed at the doors of each one to see that only those who can give the countersign shall pass inside the places on which the tenderfoot must rely for food are those where band and cups of coffee are handed from the rear end of a covered wagon but when oil is in the nostrils and tor tunes in the air the lack of food and shelter Is not felt so seriously as it might be under other conditions the demand for hotel and ants Is being supplied very rapidly especially since the fact Is evident that the oil boom Is no temporary affair that it Is merely the beginning of nev er ending prosperity tor the regions af fectea |
