Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-04-05
EVILS OF TRAVELLING.
AN ENGLiSHMAN FINDS MANY ANNOY
ANCES IN AMERICA

How Strangers. Especially Travellers From
England. Arc Swindled In Many of Our
Larger Citics-Cab Fares and Sleeping
Car Heat.
Although Mr.. Rudyard Kipling may
have a good deal to say for his peculiar
view of American society, the real truth is
that England and America can learn good
many things from each other. English
men are not all millionaires, and nobody
quite likes to be openly swindled.
On the Atlantic the traveller is safe
enough. Travel nowadays on board those
ocean greyhounds is simply luxury But
the moment foot is set on shore the stranger
experiences that he is in a new country,
where things are not exactly as they are
at home An Englishman's first instinct
on arriving at the conclusion of a journey
is to call cab. He had better not indulge
this fancy in New York. \ passenger ar
irving by any of the liners at Liverpool
would at once secure his luggage, have it
conveyed to cab tip the porter and on
being set down at his hotel would pay the
cabman, say, half a crown. They manage
things otherwise in New York. Heavy lug
gage must, in the first place, be expressed"
at a charge Of Is. Cd. each package. If there
are ladies in the party, this item may mount
up to something considerable.
Off you go in Il ramshackle equipage
fun of the old country. On arriving at the
hotel you ask what the fare amounts to.
And then the Englishman's gore rises.
He is accustomed to stepping into Lon
don hanson and driving longer distance
for form. But the Hibernian charioteer
gravely calls for So, 81 or s., just according
to the humor he may be in. And it has to
be paid. The result is that when the trav
eler finds himself in his room it has prob
ably taken % shillings to convey himself
and his luggage from the landing place to
the hotel. This of course is simply gor-
geous swindle. And the way to avoid it is,
fortunately, equally simple.
The Americans travel with a single big
trunk. Everything goes into it as into a
handbag. This Noak's ark can be EEK
pressed" at the same charge as a dressing
case. And this done, Uncle Sam makes for
the street car and reaches his hotel for
cents. This is the way to do it, but it is lit
tie short of a scandal that the law should
not protect strangers.
AS to hotels, something pleasant and IN
pleasant may be said. In all the cities
these establishments are of the most palar
tial character and are conducted on both
the American and European plans. No one
should enter a house conducted on both
plans. Should he do so the experience of
our party may be his. We had written
ahead to secure rooms on the American
charge was 6, or 81, per day. Arriving
late at night, we were ''skied" in a garnet.
Judge of our surprise when on entering
the dining room we were calmly informed
that no food was supplied on the American
plan after p. M, and that If one desired
to have supper it should be served on the
European plan. In other words, were eX
pected to pay 81 day for board and lodg-
ing on the American plan and pay for our
supper in cash because the Boston train
happened to be latel This of course was
sheer impertinence. But we had to submit.
1t was too late to go elsewhere. At another
of these gorgeous establishments we eXpe-
rienced another piece of sharp practice. The
terms were 81 so per day or 30 shillings each
person. But on our arrival we stepped into
the wrong room for luncheon-i. G., into
the room for visitors on the European plan.
The bill had to be paid in cash, and we had
the extreme satisfaction of paying lis. Cd.
for two luncheons, in addition to a charge
of 30 shillings per day. These are samples
of the impudent swindlcs that await the
traveller WHO'S not prepared for them. The
only safe plan therefore is to go to a house
conducted on either one plan or the other
have said that the American hotels are
gorgeous palaces, bat they sadly lack the
homely feeling of the English home. They
seem to he huge rabbit warrens. They are
the saddest and dullest places in the world.
But, as II rule, the accommodation and the
food are excellent.
As regards railway travelling, some things
are better than at home, and others are
worse The rate of travelling is mostly
slower, and the cost less than in England
But the cars are infinitely better, and trav-
cling is, on the whole, pleasanter but for
the heat. This is largely caused by the fact
that the porter is generally negro, and he
heats the train up to his own ideas of com
fort, but it is not pleasant for ordinary
Englishman to swelter i'll n with the
thermometer at - degrees or 50 degrees and
then go out into an atmosphere below freez-
ing point, or even below zero. The night
travelling also shocks Il stranger. In Eng
land there are ladies' sleeping cars No
such thing ever occurred to the American
mind Men and women shake down PRO
miscuous," and are curtained off in a kind
of sealed compartment.
confess to a preference for the English
fashion, although Mr.. Hannibal Chollop
would, | suppose, have sneered at my pref
udices as European" But the Americans
can give us points in regard to dealing with
luggage 1t is something to hand your lug
gage to the hotel porter, to receive from
him at the railway station brass checks for
it, to give these checks to n collector on
arrival and to find, for a small charge, your
luggage at the hotel almost as quickly as
yourself Why English railway companies
do not adopt this nlan of dealing with lug
gage Easses comprehension. There is
hardly such a thing n railway porter in
the states Then the dining car is a real
work of art 1t is a luxury to be able to
get n comfortable meal eXcellently served
without rushing to refreshment rooms and
eating at a rate ruinous to digestion and to
health. Some time or another, l suppose,
John Bull will wake up.
.<>f c4rn not 1er