Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-08-11
TRAVEL IN THE WEST.
CONvENlENcE3 WHICH EASTERN
H PASSENGERS 90 NOT KNOW.

ahead OF the eastern railroads, and that
Is In feeding their passengers. Hardly .
road In the east has q dining car on its
local trains. The limited and through
express trains have dining cars, but they
ore generally for the parlor and sleeping
car passengers only. A man who is going
from New York to Philadelphia, or New
Haven. or Albany in an ordinary car must
get off at some station to eat or 60 with
out, unless he can make meal from tho
cigars, fruit, candy and novels Of the
train boy.
Out west they do this better, Almost
all the main lines make provision for feed.
ing the passengers on the trains. More
dining cars are run than on the eastern
roads, and, though the meals are not so
elaborate as on the New York Central and
Pennsylvania limited trains, the price is
seventy five cents instead OF 81. Tho
door of the dining cars that the passengers
who are not in parlor cars would enter Is
not locked, and anybody in the train may
go in and eat. This is not SO pleasant for
the parlor car passengers, but 1t is better
for the general travel Of the road.
In many trains where there Is no dining
car there is a sort of lunch counter rugged
up In the smoking car. There Is an attend.
ant who will serve luncheon In any part
of the train. He brings the things on q
tray, and they can be eaten with much
moro comfort and leisure on the train
than in the hurry of q short stop and the
crowd and confusion of q railroad lunch
room. The apparatus is kept In tho
smoking car during the trip, and at tn,
end the things are packed up In big
chest tho way q newsboy packs up his
outfit, and the chest Is taken away to bo
restockcd and put on another train. This
Is convenience that the eastern roads do
not seem to believe in. The prices arc
moderate, a little lower than those charged
ut the average eastern railroad lunch
counter; tho dishes arc clean, and o nap
kin goes with them.
In one way those travelling lunch chests
must be educators of tho people. No
knives are served with pie. An order for
pie, coffee and a sandwich brought fresh
sandwich wrapped up in transparent paper
and covered with tin foil like prize pack
age, o thick, white china cup of coffee
with little Jug Of cream and some sugar,
q piece of pie on plate, q spoon and o
fork. There was no knife. Tho western
inhabitant who undertook to cat pie with
knife would have to furnish 1t himself,
for the attendant brought none. The
only ways of eating the pie were with a
fork or with the fingers. This is better
than in the east, where at four railroad
lunch counters out Of FIVE a knife goes
with pie. and usually it is vigorously
used.
Don't you give knife with pieS" tho
attendant was asked.
ooh, no, he replied. "iou don't need
knife to cat pie"
"ls this scheme of the railroad to edu.
cate the travelers?"
Il don't know about any scheme. All
know is that pie don't need any knife"
Have you ever reflected on the results
of this denial Of knives to the pie eating
publicG"
Look here, young man, what're you
asking that forl Do you take me for a
kidl Knives don't 60 with pie, and that's
oil there is to it"
There is less expectation Of fees among
the walters in western dining cars. They
sell ten cent cigars, too, and cheap beer.
Altogether, the railroads seem to DO run
more for the accommodation Of the aver
age passenger and less for the people who
pay extra. That may be because there Is
more competition.
One good result of these low rates Is
that travelling is encouraged. Western
men travel many times as much as east
ern men. More western men come east
than eastern men go west. Brooklyn
man would think a trip to Chicago somo-
thing to be thought over, and he would
not 60 to Boston without making some
preparation. A Chicago business man
thinks nothing of going to st. Louis, st.
Paul, Kansas City or Omaha, and trip
to New York simply means the expense
and day lost. They do not think any
moro of a trip TO st. Paul than an old
IL, ,;t .r t,,.,, 80
Westchester county on tho elevated road,
One result of tho universal western
habit of travelling is that the bulk Of the
passenger traffic is done at night. Every
road from Omaha runs O night express,
arriving at Chicago in the morning, while
the day trains are generally slower and
more for local traffic. A western man is
accustomed to do his days business and
then start off, while an eastern man looks
on the act of travelling as u serious under
taking, and starts off in the morning with
feeling that he will be more tired by
evening than If he had worked in his
office. A western man, on the other
hand, finishes his business, goes to the
station in time for supper on tho train.
smokes his cigar in tho smoking compart.
ment of the sleeper. chats with his fellow
travellers, goes to bed and wakes up in
lils bllEC iOT DItuhIdSl " uld
destination, and goes at once to attend to
his business there as If he did that sort OF
thing every dsy-indeed. some Of them
do.
The relations between tho trainmen
and the passengers are moro pleasant in
tho west. The trainmen arc not SER
wants, but workmen and business men.
| They look forward to promotion on tho
road or to striking wealth in speculation.
Among their passengers every day they
| see men who few years ago were worse
| off than they are, and whom they know
! on equal terms. In the east big men in
| the parlor cars are bowed down to by the
trainmen, who make things even with
themselves by ordering around the second
class passengers in the smoking car
| Western conductors are more civil and
less subservient, though the sleeping ca,
porter is the same everywhere.
The conductors are less stringent in en-
| forcing the rules Of the railroad company
Occasionally they will let q passenger
stop over on limited ticket, and il IL
common for them to accept tickets tho
time of which has expired, They allow
ono man to travel on another mans
mileage book. and a fair proportion OF
the cash fares never reaches tho com
pany's treasury. This il regarded a:
legitimate. A road that was too stric'
with its passengers would lose traffic
Tho difference can be told ct Chicago a
soon as one gets OFF western road ant
changes to an eastern line. He at onc'
encounters multitude Of rules and al
unpleasant way of enforcing tLem.-Nev
York Sun.