Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-11
TRANSATLANTIC TRAVEL.
SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH. ]

lSPEC1AL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH.J
NEW YORK, April 10.-'Transatlan-
tic Travel' is the subject Of Matthew
Marshall's article for to-morrow's Sun, W wiich
is as follows:
The increasing value of transa atlantic
passenger business between this country
and Europe is shown by the announcement
recently made that the Cunard Steamship
Company has now in course Of construction
two new steamships which, in size and
speed, will surpass the Mrgest and swiftest
of its present fleet, and that the White Star
Company, not to be outdone by its great
competitor, has also contracted for the
building of two steamers which Will
be little larger and, If possible, somewhat
faster than the new Cunarders. Each of
these companies has already two vessels
which usually make their crossings in
week or less, and carry between 300 and 500
cabin passengers each time. The Inman
line has two of the same character, the
Hamburg-American line two, and the
French Transatlantic Company two. In
addition, there are engaged in the business
just mentioned, those of the North German
LLOYD. and a considerable number owned
by Belgian, Dutch and Swedish companies.
Altorether these vessels carry to Europe
OF whom at least nine-tenths are Americans.
At an average of 500 each this makes 50, ,OOO,-
600 paid by our citizens annually for trans
portatiOn outward, the return passages cost
ing as much more.
Money Not at All Wasted.
I am not one of those who lament that
this $lS 900, 900 year, more or less, thus col
lected from Americans for transatlantic
travel, besides the sums paid for steerage
passages and for freight out and home, goes
into the pockets of foreigners instead of
those of our own citizens. Large as the ag-
gregate amount is, it represents, when the
necessary expenses and losses are deducted,
very small return upon the capital in
vested. The Cunard Company, for example,
has paid but per cent dividend from last
years earnings, and the White Star and In
man lines none at all. l am not positive
about the other lines, but am told that the
shares ofaIl of them are not much above
par, If, indeed. they are not below it. 1nas-
much as Americans could not get what little
profits the vessels earn without owning
them, and inasmuch as they could not own
them without diverting the money they cost
from more profitable employmenIs, 1 am
quite willing to let foreigners do the busi-
ness.
Nor can 1 join with certain austere econ
omists in deploring us entirely wasted the
expenditures made by Americans in trans
atlantic and European travel. To repeat
what have already often incidentally re-
marked on other occasions, wealth is desira-
BILE solely as a means for procuring enjoy
ment, and while concede that to some the
only enjc ment it is capable of affording is
the accumulation OF more wealth, the ajor-
ity have wider and much more cOmpre-
henSlve view o! its use.
A man who tolls for no other end than con-
tinually TO add to his hoard is like squirrel
in q cage or a dog in q tread-mill. He keeps
the machine going 1ound and round, and to
that extent he is useful, but he himself
never advances step. On the other hand,
the man who, when he has earned enough to
justify his taking a vacation, goes abroad to
see new sights, enlarges his knowledge, ex-
pands his mind and increases his store of
happiness
How Boston Boy Travelled.
I do not know when my admiration
and esteem have been so much excited as
they were by a Boston boy whose acquaint-
ance l once made travelling abroad. We
were in Italy, and both following about the
same route, SO that 1 was continually en-
countering him in cities. churches, picture
galleries and places of that kind, but I did
not see him In the same hotels nor in the
same railway carriages. His conversation
was so entertaining, and he showed so much
knowledge of literature and art, that 1
finally proposed that we should travel
together, but he excused himself by saying
that he had only limited amount of money
and this required him to take cheaper
conveyance and put up atcheaper inns than
even my modest ideas demanded. Nor could
persuade him to let me pay the small ad-
dftional expense which companionshiD
with me would entail. However, we saw
great deal of.one another. and on my return
to America l made inquiries about him. the
result of which confirmed my estimate of
his worth.
1 learned that he was the eldest OF num-
ber of brothers and sisters, who, together
with their mother, had been, q few years be-
fore, by the death of their father-a mer-
chant with n small capital-left dependent
upon him for support. He was then about
to enter Harvard College, and was well pre-
pared for it, but he gave up that purpose and
devoted himself to continuing his fathers
business. He managed it so well that he ed
ucated his brothers and sisters, got them
well started in life and, after all this was
done and his mother provided for, he set
about saving up the little modicum needed
for q trip to Europe, which had been his
from boyhood.
One of the Very Best Investments
This was the money on which he was
travelling when I met him. 1t was the first
he had spent on himself since his fathers
death, and could not but acknowledge that
it was the best investment which, at his
age, he could make of it. He purchased with
it a source of information. experience. and
pleasant memories which frightened his
life and sweetened the toll to which his ne
cessities compelled him in the future to de-
vote himself. Instead of postponing the
enjoyment OF his savings to his old age, ne
took it in his youth, and got annually, in
compound in nterest-out of it.
My young friend, 1 am happy to believe,
is only a specimen of great and increasing
number of our fellow citizens 1t would be
n mistake to infer that because the news
papers chronicle the departures and arrivals
BY the transatlantic steamers of only the
richest and distinguished, that these consti-
tute the larger portion of the Americans
who go abroad. If they did, no such fleet of
mammoth steamers as that which have
mentioned would ever have been built
The profits of the transatlantic passenger
business, like those of all great industries,
are derived not from select few, but from
a great multitude of modest and unknown
customers. In exchange for the millions
which they spend abroad, this unpretend-
ing multitude bring back, as my young
Boston friend, not, indeed, goods which can
be sold Hfor money, but information, expe-
rience and store of pleasant recollections.
which to them personally is OF priceless
value. What they spend upon their travels
is certainly no more squan dered than fl 1t
had been devoted to the purchase of BOOKS
and photographs, and it yields them a far
more vivid pleasure.
Profitable in a Manipulating Way.
Besides, I am not SO sure but the increas-
ing familiarity of our people with the ways
of the Old World brought about by this in
tide of transatlantic travel, is
prof table from a mere money-making point
of view. By introducing new enjOyments 1t
creates new wants, and in supplying these
wants new sources of wealth are opened,
and thus the aggregate riches of the country
are increased.
Nobody disputes that acquaintance with
the best predictions of art obtained by
H.