Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1884-03-21

but had to 90 down into dark eel
lar to point out the packages; anC
after all unnecessary bother | had tt
pay more than at New York, where
baggage was carried double the dis
tance. But the charge is a mere Sc
condary consideration. 1t is the rest
less anxiety and worry our system
or rather entire want of system-need
lessly impose on you from starting til
arriving at your destination that is So
provoking.
And it may not be inaproppriat,
here to remark on the gratuitous fare,
presented at the examination or pas
sengers' baggage by the Custom House
officers. Seeing that cigars are dearel
and intinitel, worse in America thar
at home, and that no sane person would
think of smuggling bottle of 'old
| Bourbon what can be the obi ject oI
exposing passengers to the humiliat
ing ordeal of opening and turning
over the contents Of their portmant' aus
in windy dock warehouse, unless il
be from sheerly stupid traditional
custom. and t. furnish employment tc
a set of seedy persons whose appear,
ance and manners are not calculated
to predlsp'se the stranger in favor OF
the country that welcomes him in
this fashion. OF course nothing con-
traband was discovered on this occa
sion: and never is, as | was tnid by
one of the dock officials, who evident
ly regarded the >earchers as ques-
tlonable lot In the free trade coun-
try, such as ours. this rigorous exami
nation Of baggage is relic of barbar
ism and the saving of the State from
the abolition of these Custom House
rhyrmidoms would, | am sure, fur
more than compensate for any posi-
bic loss TO she revenue from the act of
an occasional Ill conditioned passenger.
Nothing would more effec ually serve
to hasten the conversion Of our Amer
ican cousins to the doctrine and prac
tlcr of free trade than TO welcome them
to British soil without having to un
dergo the forbidding ordeal they have
at present TO encounter on landing on
their own shores.
respectfully submit the suggestion
to the consideration Of the Chancellor
Of the Exchequer
But the most remark able contrast
was reserved 'or my return to SEQ.
land. Travelling down by the night
train, | was half fir. with cold till
arrival at Carlisle, where we were de-
talned an hour and half for the Lon
don train, and where the fire in the
waiting room merely served to remind
one how cold and comfortless the
place was. Sleep was out Of the ques
ton, and ! landed at the Princes
street station stiff and almost numb
with cold. At the hotel close by /
repaired my reduced morale with a
hot bath aud good Scotch breakfast
But why should one be thus tortured
with cold and rendered miserable in
Difference to an ancient use and won't
that is now becoming obsolete among
all civilized people? In America, if
detained, you do not warm your toes
at the fire, but sit in comfortably
warmed room, and You finish a Journey
of a Thousand miles as fresh and com.
Portable as when you started.
The climax of my home experiences
was reached at the Waverly station, to
which | drove from the hotel, direct
ing the cabman to drive as near the
Fife train platform as possible; and
the porter who came up to take charge
of my baggage was told to take it to
the Fife train. Having no loose
change in my pocket, | asked the cab
man to wait till | got my ticket. On
my return, about five minutes after
ward, neither cab nor porter was visi-
bic anywhere; and failing to find the
latter on the platform or any sign Of
my baggage, one of the..ofiic ais and my
self explored the station, US far as
time would permit, bat without sue
cess. Having written that would be
home by that train. aud leaving the
lab fare with the official already refer
red to, | came away without my bag
gage, which only reached me two days
afterwards. Had this cOntretemps oc
Cured when on my way To embark at
Liverpool for America, it would not
only have occasioned serious inconven-
fence and delay, but possibly the for
feiture Of my passage money.
IL is quite unnecessary TO describe
the American check system, with
which all the travelling world is now
familiar. | first became acquainted
with 1t as bev thirty-tive years ago,
since when have been three times in
the country, and have had on each oc-
casion the more to admire this simple
and admirable system, which saves
one from the worst worries of travel
ing here.
Americans cannot understand how
we quietly submit to travel in carri-
ages in which we are half frozen in
winter, which are very, very stuffy in
summer, and in which murder and
other outrages may be committed with
impunity, while our baggage system
they regard as simply barbaric.
1t is because Iagree with my Amer.
can friends that | have noted down
these reflections, in the hope that they
may contribute, in however small de-
gree, to rouse our railway directors to
a recognition Of the disgracefully un-
comfortable and inconvenient accom-
modations afforded by them to the
travelling public. l lam, &c, SCoTUs
From the Scotsman. Edinbury.
Fatber-I never imagined that you1