The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-06-16

Americans. The natives, as rule, go bJ
the intermediate or third-class, and the
third class fares here are the cheapestin tho
world. They are, by ordinary trains, less
than one-half cent per mile and by mai
trains
ONLY NINE-SIXTEEETHs OF A CENT.
Still the third-class passengers at this low
rate pays more to the roads than either the
first or second class, and railroad managers
tell me they believe it viii pay to reduce
this rate much lower than it now is. Mr..
Ellsworth, of the Denver & Rio Grande
railroad, is travelling with me- and ne tells
me that we have not begun to touch bottom
in our American railroad fares. He thinks
the roads would make twice as much II
their rates were reduced one-haf and says
that the reduction is sure to come The
English managers well appreciate this and
the third-class fares in England are the
fares that fill the pockets Of the stock
holders
Here in India there is a vast difference
between the prices of the various classes.
First class is, on the great Indian peninsula
railroad, which is fair type OF the whole,
two and one-half cents per mile. second
class is just one-half this rate and inter
mediate one-half of second-class Third
class is one-haf the intermediate and the
third class pays. The third-class cars carry
thirty-two passengers. They are divided
into compartments with benches I'M
cushioned, running so across the car that
the passengers face each other, and the pas
sengerS are packed i'll
AS CLOSE AS sARDINEs.
They are always full, and these East Indians
travel as much as do the citizens of the
United States. have yet to find a train in
which the third-class cars were not packed,
and many of those upon which l rode had
three times as many third-class cars as first
and second-class Each native carries
bundle with him containing his brass pot,
out of which he drinks, and often the pans
with which he cooks his food. Accustomed
to the poorest of beds at home, a cotton
blanket suffices for his travelling rug and in
waiting for the trains at the stations he often
puts his shoe under his head for pillow,
and wrapping up his turbaned head in the
cotton cloth which covers his bare shoulders,
sleeps upon the ground until the train is
called.
The Hindoo women travel as lightly as
the men. but the two sexes are never put
into the same cars. There are closed cars
on all of the trains for high caste HindoO
women and these have windows OF blue
glass in the first and second classes, which
permit the women to look out, but which
prevent the men from looking in. These
women come to the depot in closed chairs,
and as they go to the train they pull
THEIR sHAwLs CLOSE ABOUT THEIR FACES,
though their ankles and calves, covered
with gold or silver bracelets, often show.
In some of the cars the windows of the
WOmen's compartments are so fixed with
shutters that there can be no looking out,
and in the train which carried me to Oar
ieeilEg there was one car covered entirely
with canvas as thick as that of circus
tent. This contained HindOO women, who,
as they rode up the Himalaya mountains
through the finest scenery in the world,
were thus shut in the stuffy darkness of
this tent-libe car and saw no more of the
grandeur of the nature about them than
they would have seen had they been
tied up in so many leather bags and sent
along as mail.
One of the greatest roads in India is the
East Indian railway. This railway has a
curious method Ofinvesting percentage OF
the wages which it pays its hands, which is
found to work both to the advantage of the
railway and the employees.
WAGES ARE VERY Low IN INDIA,
but through this method many of the en-
ployees have become rich All of the hands
who receive over thirty rupees or ten dol
lars month, have to pay , per cent. of
their earnings into certain fund. They
can pay as much more than , per cent, a8
they please. The road receives the money.
pays interest on it, and upon their leaving
the service honorably, gives them back
double the amount they have paid in, with
interest. This seems incredible, but / am
assured it is so. An English clergyman
told me that ne knew a railroad employee
who went in at ten dollars month and who
tDl mo cd
entered into at the time the railroad was
built The managers were hard up for
capital and they wished to bind their hands
to them. The company is now prosperous
and it keeps up the same system
Speaking of railroad wages in India. I
find that section men work here for from
THREE TO FIVE CENTS DAY,
and that the roads can get all the men they
want at these prices. Engineers work on
time and distance. and they are about the
highest paid of the railroad employees.
They get about seventy dollars a month
while running regularly, but they can in
crease this by extra running to eighty five
and one hundred dollars a month The
Indian railways have no conductors in our
sense of the word. The tickets are collected
and examined by men at the various
stations and the guard who manages the
train in other respects has nothing to do
with the tickets. Such guards get about
twenty-five dollars month and on the
smaller railroads they receive from seven
to twenty dollars a month. The most of
the guards are natives or half breeds, while
a majority OF the engineers are English.
don't think the English engineers are as
well posted as our American ones. l asked
one Of them the weight of his engine. He
stammered and replied that he did not
know. The American engineer can tell
you Just what his engine weighs. how much
steam she carries and all about her.
THE ENGINES HERE ARE LIGHTER
than ours and the whole equipment of the
railroad is upon a smaller scale Most of
the freight cars are made of iron and YOU
could crowd three of them into one Amer
lean caboose. They carry on an average
about six tons, have no trucks and only
four wheels. Our freight cars will carry
forty to fifty tons, and some of our narrow
guage cars carry forty tons If these
Indian trains had such cars they could
carry from seven to eight times the amount
they now do, but the people have never
been accustomed to large cars and they
stick to the old ways. None of these freight |
cars are managed by brakes from the top |
and you see no brakemen trotting along on |
the tops of the trains Freight in India is |
N easured by the mound or eighty pounds |
Freight trains are called goods trains and | |
ind some curious rules in regard to freight, |
2eturn trip tickets are issued to horses |