100 YEARS AGO IN THE SARATOGIAN

Wednesday, Feb. 13, 1918. Saratoga Springs will host at least three conventions this year thanks largely to the efforts of the city’s bureau of information, the bureau announces today.

The visitors’ information bureau was created in 1914. Since then, manager Charles A. Marshall writes, “It has taken care of 6,195 visitors, directing them to hotels, boarding and rooming houses, furnishing literature of where to go and what to see.” The bureau publishes “thousands of booklets and pieces of literature” promoting the city, encouraging individuals, families and organizations to visit Saratoga Springs.

The bureau’s big coup so far this year is the convention of the American Library Association, with an estimated attendance of 1,300- 1,400 delegates. In addition, the Spa City will host the New York State Rebekah Association (the ladies’ auxiliary of the International Order of Odd Fellows) and the State Dental Association.

“We wish to thank everyone who has contributed toward the maintenance of the bureau,” Marshall writes, “and feel sure that if you could all hear the expressions of appreciation that we have had from strangers who have been assisted, you would feel amply repaid.”

Choice of Saratoga Depends on Waters

Captain C. Burns Craig of the U.S. Surgeon General’s office is headed back to Washington D.C. today after nearly a week appraising Saratoga Springs as a possible location for a government facility for convalescent soldiers.

Local boosters hope that the government will take over one or more of the city’s hotels for the proposed facility, but The Saratogian reports that the Surgeon General’s decision will depend on whether the quality of the famous Saratoga waters outweighs the Spa City’s geographical disadvantage.

“As a year-round resort for convalescents the city possesses disadvantages during the winter,” a reporter notes. This has been especially apparent during the bitterly cold and snowy winter of 1917-18.

However, “if the government can be convinced that the mineral waters per se have unique advantages in the treatment of convalescents, the impression was left that the government may decide to take over the hotels and hospitals….It is up to Saratogians and those in charge of the mineral springs reservation so to convince the authorities.”

Capt. Craig has commissioned Dr. Douglas C. Moriarta, a published expert on the subject, to prepare a report “setting forth the actual value of the baths and waters in a truthful and logical manner.” What’s Happening While “The Birth of a Nation” continues its run at the Broadway Theatre, Ethel Clayton stars in “Easy Money” (“An emotional drama of the present time”) at the Palace, while Olive Tell and David Powell star in “The Unforseen” at the Lyric.

— Kevin Gilbert