The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-07-08
RAiEW AY LITERATURE.
4Hst > Ms " IN ~ 80
THE GUIDE BOOKS That ARE PUB
LSHED BY RAILROADS.

Advertise the Line.
The greatest rivalry among railroad
men is in the getting out of guide BOOKS
Several years ago a rich southern rail-
road published luxurlously gotten up
book as handsome as almost any example
of rich edition of Shakespeare that men
and women display upon a parlor center
table 1t was thought then that the
limit of enterprise and expenditure had
been reached. and that there never would
be anything finer bearing the imprint of
a general passenger Office.
But that elegant volume is almost for
gotten now Its defects, We're that its
pictures were ready made. and repre-
sented low grade of art. while the
letter press, or reading matter. was the
work of the general passenger agent-a
clever man but not a professional writer.
Today no such pictures and no such
writing is accepted for "a representative
guide hook.
school of artists has grown up TO
meet the demand for such work. and
they are salaried by the big printing and
bank note engraving companies that get
out these books. They produce careful
artistic and clever pictures, and manage
to give them the appearance of the
choicest pictures in the magazine.
AS matter of fact. the latest guide
books are limitations of the magazine in
every particular except that they in
clude no advertising pages. But the
more wealthy railroads will not employ
these professional guide book illustrat-
ors They secure high class artists who
are tco independent TO sign their names
to what they do. but provide the best
work of which they are capable. because
they are better paid for it than for any
other work that they do,
BIG PRICES PAID FOR WORK.
Men who study such matters are able
to recognize the personality of the art
lists in their methods of drawing. and
such persons often see a painting or a
| study of a picturesque place in one of
the art galleries or at an art sale at the
same time that they receive a copy of
some guide hook illustrating other beau
Il ty spots in the same region in set of
drawings by the very same artist. who
has been whirled hither and thither in
that part of the country in a special car
at the expense of the railroad company
that monopolizes the traffic
| In that same car with the artist goes
the general passenger agent. but he no
| longer writes the matter in the book.
! He has secured the services of some
well known literary man of the second
OF third class to describe the region with
| his pen for higher rate of remunera-
ton than the writer could get for any
other work. Two Thousand dollars is
below the highest price that has been
paid for the illustrations in single guide
book. and in all probability no first class
book of the kind has been written for
less than $500
These books have been poured from
4 the presses of the best printers in the
country in editions of from 5000 to TO-
600 copies. and have cost the railroads
from five to twenty cents a copy. Some
are designed to appear like novels, some
like stories OF adventure and some like
books of travel Their titles are such al
( are likely TO prove attractive to large
bodies of citizens.
Not to quote any one of them. but tt
show what sort of bait they throw Il
the public. they may be said to be nameC
in some such way. as these: .:Where Il
Camp Ont Where to lio This Sum
mer" Three Days and a Thousand
Trout" Hunting the Mountain Goat.
"Pure Air and Balsam Pines," ''Countr,
/, Board. Cheaper Than Staying Home.
One enterprising western railroad maj
has issued little book on etchings. ex
quisitely printed, and made to close u
into "a large envelope tied with a satil
bow kuUt.
SoME NOTABLE PECULlARITIEs
Some of the very best map maxim,
that has been done in tins country ha
grown out of the competition in guild
books. just at present the rage is fo
, birds ye.views, however. and these ar
: cleverly made to show every hill an
!, stream and village and patch of fores
in vast areas of country. They all omi
:, every indication. of marsh land. and n
are printed with green ink, in order t
produce the NEST astonishing effect
! of universal greenery, shade and COO
ness.
1t is noticeable characteristic of a
. them that they show only one railroat
! never any more. No guide book put
: lished exhibits Chicago as accessible b
more than one railroad, and enormou
tracts like North Dakota and Utah Ill
made to appear to depend upon singl
line of rails for their means of intern;
traffic. In such maps railroads seem I
reach a degree of perfection that is nc
+ noticed by those who travel most upo
n them.
a For instance, they are always straigh
direct lines from point to point, precisel
:, like the great highway that Nicholi
y marked down upon the map of Russ
!. with a pencil and a ruler in order /
: show his engineers how he would col
- meet Moscow with st. Petersburg. NJ
~ even the Rocky mountains are able
d ninoer Ine "osoiuCeiy s'laiS iIior " N al
Lnl COURSE OF any -TallrOdo. On- Ine mttl