Morning journal and courier., 1882-10-12
Travellng by Express.
The Pleasure of 1t, the Wonders and the Financial Side.
 [


 Everybody remembers Dr. Johnson's pan egyric on the charms of rapid journey along good road in post chaise. He thought life could afford nothing better, un less 1t were 8 walk down Fleet street or un- limited tea-drinking The speed and the certainty, in the absence of broken wheels, the smoothness of the highway and the alac- rity of post boys and postmasters delighted him with sense of perfect adjustment. It would be interesting to learn what excess of encomiums he could devise to meet the due of travelling by express were he brought back for an interval to survey this world of steam. We described on Thursday the cost of an av- craze fast express train on American rail way. train with moderate complement of eight cars ls appraised at 917, ,00O. Each of the three palace cars 1t commonly in- cludes has cost e3, 900 at least, and not sell dom G5, ,OOO or G6,OOO. Whatever can min ister to comfort is provided. The smoker can smoke without annoying his neighbors The hungry and thirsty eat and drink The studious can buy libraries of fiction fresh from the British manufactory only cheapened. By day the indolent repose on splendid divans At night the tired sleep as softly as at home. Luxuries are supplied for the eye as we'll as the other physical and in tellectual organs. If there be a fault at all it is some redundance of magnificence. A passenger by one of these cars might, If he were reconciled to incessant locomotion, live in the midst of the most gorgeous upholstery, with fair provision of conveniences to match, at & rate of expenditure which would barely suffice for the maintenance of mid dle class establishment in 8 country town. Although English railway travelling is not al together so Eberally arranged, the difference is chiefly of degree. For the solid equip ments of a railway journey an English com pany is not less generous than an American. In some essential particulars the comparison may even be in favor of this country Where there have been shortcomings they are being quickly made good. Passengers by one or two lines can obtain refreshments. On sev- eral lines there are Pullman cars. More than one company is commencing the experiment of initiating the United States fashion of conveying the luggage of passengers to their houses or hotels. An English first class car riage as it is would appear supernatural vision of ease to the mind of the eighteenth century. On all but few lines which con- tinue not to distinguish human beings from cattle, wealthy gentleman of a hundred years ago spirited into a humble third class compartment might envy the happy lot of his posterity.
 The modern world is not yet at the end of it's opportunities for making common stock of it's rights that it may receive larger div idend. Towns people in this in other countries do not co operate at all as harmo- niously as they might in order to reap the proper gain from their necessary association.
 
 from this source. But they are entitled to more. If railway passengers were treated as municipalities treat their citizens they would bewaii their wrongs Tn accents beside which complaints from societies for the mutual pro- | tection of railway travellers would sound like a serenade in honor of railway chairmen. | That inhabitants of cities do not derive their l rightful profit from their congregation in crowds is not the result of reluctance in 1 the individuals to give up their personal in | dependence. Residents in towns are natu | rally as docile in that respect as the majority | of railway travellers. The defect comes rather from the want generally of an author l ity willing and competent to assume the bur den and the glory of the corporate trust
 Were it possible to create the same relation between a corporate authority and the resi- dents which exists between 8 railway boarc
 and it's passengers, the phrase of the luxu
 res of civilization would acquire new sig
 nificance. Railway companies build brancl
 lines which never pay to accommodate tn
 minutest traffic. They lavish money on roll
 ing stock with a munifcence which nor
 than justifes the doubt whether such stump
 tuous travelling can be remunerative. The | are sparing neither of money nor of energy
 It is, however, on one condition; they mus have a competitor ready to do as much 0
 more. Unfortunately, or, perhaps. fortu ! nately, it is not practicable to dislocate
 town between two rival governments eve
 for the sake of tapping the townspeople I
 the splendors of existence made up ( | palace cars. Great cities must be conten
 with an inferior scale of co operative cor
 venience. Still, on the most moderate com putation, they do not as yet have just rt
 turn for the sacrifices they make. It is har
 that, to enjoy the full benefit of acting
 masses, it should be requisite to cross th
 ocean and pass life in travelling express frol ) New York to Detroit.