Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 182, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1918 — GET GOOD MEAL FOR 14 CENTS [ARTICLE]

GET GOOD MEAL FOR 14 CENTS

American Soldiers and Sailors Well Cared For byY. M. C. A. in London. BOYS LONG FOR HOME EATS Eagle Hut Represents Last Word In Economical Eating in British Capltai —-Menu Shows Great Variety of Dishes. London. —Fourteen cents for a satisfying meat Twenty-five cents for a superlatively filling repast. These prices reveal that the high cost of eating should have no terrors to the American soldier or sailor “on his own” in London. It represents that last word in economical eating even for the English capital, where prices are uniformly moderate. Even the bigger public eating places, where large turnover allows a low charge, the lowest price charged for a modest meal is tenpence —20 cents, while the meal which costs the Yankee fighter a shilling costs the civilian as much as 85 cents.

Moreover, it is American food. Not every American boy in olive drab or navy blue who lands in London has a literary tourist’s ambition to eat at the Cheshire Cheese or the Blackfriars or any of the other quaint inns made famous by Dickens or Thackeray. Many of our fighters do not care for the ponderous dishes of the two-decker novels, but yearn for modern home eats. Where King Ate Pancakes.

And they get it, at 14 to 25 cents, at Eagle Hut, the famous Y. M. C. A. center, where King George and Queen Mary recently enjoyed pancakes a la American. The 14-cent rate Is cheaper even than that charged at the national model kitchen, where a three-course meal of soup, beef and pudding costs 18 cents. Mrs. Arthur Coke of London, who makes out all the Hut menus, not only meets all government requirements, but sees to it that there is proper and attractive variation in thedishes from day to day. The food is plain, to be sure, but it all is. of high quality, and the portions show no stinting. Breakfast and supper each cost 14 cents. A breakfast consists of cereal, sausage or bacon, bread and tea. A recent supper consisted of sausage, well done, thick slices of bread with butter, marmalade and tea.' The same food costs from 25 to 30 cents at the West-end restaurants. A typical shilling dinner includes Scotch broth, stewed steak or cold

beef, potatoes, buttered beets, currant pudding, bread, tea or coffee. The soups are not the dishwater type, either, but of good stock. An Eagle Hut shilling supper provides the American fighter with meat pie containing more meat than crust, or sausage, potatoes, jelly, bread and butter, cake and tea or coffee. Commercial eating places charge two or three times this amount, often as high as 85 cents, within governmental -restrictions. Variety to Choose From. The American sqldler or sailor also can choose from extra dishes at equally low prices, a choice of fish, pie, eggs prepared in various ways, baked beans, salads, fried onions, rlce-and-marma-lade, custards, jellies and other sweets which are strangers to camp mess. The prices charged at the Eagle Hut are from two to six cents less than the ordinary restaurant prices. In addition, this is the one place where the American boys can get that most typical home delicacy, American pancakes with maple sirup, which the king and queen sampled recently. Twelve cents buys a brace of cakes with maple sirup, and the first half-month’s demand for this favorite totaled one or more helpings for 6,124 men.

It Is no wonder then that Eagle Rut feeds between 2,000 and 2,800 American fighters dally, and that the noon hour is a continuous rush, which taxes to the uttermost the efforts of the waitresses, all women who volunteer their services and minister with smiling patience and friendliness to the appreciative lads from the United States. Eagle Hut dispenses other commodi ties, tobacco and candy topping the list of favorites. A few Americans, forgetting the many advantages and economies found at the Hut, have complained that their favorite brands of American tobacco, If at all obtainable, cost them more than it did at home. They did not know that there is a high import duty on cigarettes and prepared tobacco for pipes and "makings’* nor that there Is a home tax which Is causing the English tobacconists to revise their prices often. Smoking Imported tobacco In England today really Is a luxury. The wise stranger has given it up in favor of the brands the English use. ;