The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-30
$50. 100000 REQUIRED.
TO START A SUCCESSFUL PARLoR
OAR COMPANY.
The Pullmans Have 1900 Cars. Worth
$4,000, Ooo-The Wagner Company
Owns 700 Cars, Worth $1o,5oo,ooo.
a Deposed Monarch.

u
S33,ooo,ooo-The Wagner Company
Owns 700 Cars, Worth $1o,5oo,Ooo.
A Deposed Monarch.
From the Nelo York Times
Very fine car, this" said the evidently com
mercial gentleman In the best seat by the win
| dow. II think it is one Of the best Pullmsns
I've seen. This smoking room is made for COM
fort. and it's worth the money"
None OF the companies can afford to run any
but the best cars in these Washington through
trains" replied the gentleman by the other
window, riding backward. "a man is always
safe TO find good accommodations between New
York and Washington on account Of the com
petition. You can't be sure of that in all parlor
cars. A parlor car ten years old is no better
than an 1892 passenger coach, and a man
throws away his money to ride in them. This
| is one OF the latest Pullmans"
! How can you tell?" the first speaker in
| quired.
by the ear MARKS" said his friend ANY
| body can tell when he's once inside, by the
| finish But there are outside marks, too. Until
| within two or three years all parlor cars had
/ iron platform rails, very much like the ordl-
| nary coaches. But now the rails are made OF
bronze That's sure way Of picking out a
/ new and comfortable car When you see a
| parlor car with iron ratings, avoid it il you
| can, for it's an old car. No matter now bright
| It may be painted on the outside. It's only an
| old car docGored up. The bronze rail is the
| first sure test of modern car"
| The third man in the smoking room, who had
not spoken, but had busted himself with exam
| ming bundle of papers that looked ike re-
| ports, turned the corners of his eyes toward
| the last speaker and looked as though he in
| tended to speak. but changed his mind and went
/ on with his papers. a..
"They tell me the best parlor cars cost S55,00O
| apiece" said the first commercial man.
| 40, no." said the other, you've got it too
| l
| cost about S., 600 believe"
| Fifteen thousand on an average" said the
| man with the papers, without looking up.
Neither Of the commercial men was willing to
| accept this dlctum without debate, but the man
| with the papers was too busy TO argue. IL was
noticeable that the porter took the greatest care
| of the smoking room, brushing up all the stray
| ashes, and rearranging the Ventilators about
| every five miles. When the conductor came
| through the quiet man with the papers was not
| asked for his tickets. This made the two TAXA
| tive passengers curious, and they made so many
| efforts to open a conversation that at length
| the stranger was compelled to speak in self
| defense.
| Gentlemen" said he, "you seem TO be inter
| ested in the parlor car business, and will give
| you some facts about it that you can rely upon.
You may wonder why the parlor and sleeping
car business in this country is all in the hands
| Of two companies, the Pullman and the Wag
| ner. There are two reasons for 1t. FIRST these
two companies have almost the entire country
covered with long contracts. Secondly, the
| capital required to put new company in suo-
cessful operation is almost beyond computa-
ton. Perhaps might add another reason
| that to protect their enormous capital the two
| companies will spend any amount Of money TO
drive g competitor out of the field.
"Before we speak of competition, let me tell
| you some facts about the two old companies.
| You must notice in your Journeys that you find
| Pullman cars everywhere in the United States
| but that you never see Wagner car in the
south, That Is because the Pullman company
operates the entire country, while the Wagner
company operates only in the northern states.
The modern cars of either company cost
about $4,000 each, as l have told you, with
every part of the work reduced to a science
| If any outsider should attempt to build
such car as this it would cost him about
$22,000 The. Pullman company owns
| and operates 2, 200 parlor and sleeping cars
besides 1865 special baggage cars, and the value
OF its cars alone is over S3S, O00 600 The Wagner
| Company owns ZOO parlor and sleeping cars,
| worth S10,500, 900. This is in each case the
value of the cars alone. The Pullman com
| pany, as you doubtless know, owns mammoth
| factory and works at Pullman, Ill. and also
owns large Office buildings in most of the princi-
pal railroad cities. The Wagner company has
large offices In New York and in most of the
larger northern cities.
This will give you some idea of the capital
required to organize and operate a new parlor
car company. The attempt has been made a
number of times, but it has always failed disas-
| trously The latest attempt was made by a
company called the Monarch. This company
was handicapped from the start by the fact
that it had capital of only about 100000. IL
was folly to attempt to fight the two rich com
panies with so small capital, but aside from
that the new company was well managed. 1t
had a car that was peculiarly its own, differing
widely from every other car in use. To put it
briefly. the floor and walls were hollow; by day
the beds were stored in the walls, and by night
the seats were stored under the floor. By this
system every car was both q day and night
car, and only half as many were required. The
company OF course. had no shops Of its own,
but had its cars built Ia the Gilbert shops in
Troy
build only thirty cars, but with this small num-
Der it set out to operate both north and south
a thing that even the Wagner company with all
its millions does not undertake. There was
plenty Of push in the new company and it soon
had good contracts for running between Spring
field and Montreal and Quebec, and between
New York and Florida. Here, you see, it inn
mediatey put itself in competition with both
the old companies. The Wagner reduced its
rates over the northern routes to such an ex-
tent that the new company could not stand it,
and the Pullman did the same thing in the
south. You can imagine the result. The Mon
arch company soon came to grief, solely for
want of capital If they had had S50,000.000 in
stead of $500, 900 the public would very likely
have been riding for time in Pullman or Wag-
ner cars without extra charge.
do not understand from this that there is O
combination between the old companies TO keep
rivals out Of the field, for there is nothing of
the kind. On the contrary, there is consider
aole rivalry between the two old companies 1t
is merely the effort that every business man
1
are no tremendous profits in the business while
the capital required is enormous The Wagner
company, l think, could tell you something
about this. About four years ago that com
pany found that its very large capital was not
sufficient to carry on a successful competition
with the Pullman company. But the Wa~0er
was an old and we'll established company and
it had no difficulty in increasing its capital |
think it Is not COO much TO say that If the WaR-
ner company had not increased its capital it
would, in the ordinary course Of business, have
been aunihilated.
Il mention these things merely to show you
what a great sum Of money is necessary to put
@ new parlor car company upon its feet. If the
Monarch company could have commanded
more capital il would doubtless be ia operation
now. Parlor and sleeping rates can never
be substantially and permanently reduced be
low present prices The fares are already ex-
ceedingly low, considering the accommodations
given and the great cost of those accommoda-
tons. OF course you notice that this car is
much easier to ride in than one OF the ordinary
cars. You attribute this to the
superior springs. perhaps The springs,
of course, make a difference, and the
springs ona Pullman cost probably ten times
as much as the springs of an ordinary car. But
in reality the springs are a small matter. II is
the wheels that make the great difference in
comfort and safety, and Pullman wheels are
expensive articles Every wheel on every Pull
man car is made Of paper You do not see the
paper, because it is covered with iron and steel
The body of the wheel is a block of paper about