New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-05-24

BY RATL-SOME OF IT'S PECULTARITIES AND
THE REASONS FOR THEM.
Berlin. Mae a


all. the idea that time is money. as Franklin
said Slow and sure il the motto here. The
Gerhan. who perhaps could not be made TO
understand Franklin, models his views rather
after those OF another distinguished Amcrican,-
aboriginal, this onc-who il known in history
by the name of Red Jacket. \ white man once
complained to the Indian philosopher that no
had no time for what hc wanted TO do. WELL"
was the answer, II suppose yOu have all tho
time there is" In Germany also you have all
the time there is. and you will be safe in as-
sumng that you can do half RI much In tho
time you car NJ home. We think of tho
siesta IA a Southern custom. But here in Ber-
lin. the busiest place in the Empire, people dino
at .. sleep. III 4. and then resume the business
OF the day. In the interval IL Is the foreigner
who lends little animation TO the streets.
II il YOU journey by Special Express
from Brcmcrhafcn to Bremen. and after your
two hours halt at the seaport station, that
these things begin TO impress YOU You could
not quite Understand why you were kept wait
ing two hours in the coal dust OF Bremerhafcn,
nor do you why the final stage in your
Journey from New. York to Bremen should be per-
formed by rail nj the rete Of fifteen. pos
sibly twenty, miles an hour. The beer theory,
which put forward tmidly in my last letter.
NAV explain the hi.lt. II reminds one OF
Swindon, on the Great Western Railway in Eng
land The company, very early in its history.
bound itself by contract TO res;aurant-kecper,
that all trains should stop there ten minutes.
That contract il still in force. and the great ex-
presses from London to the west OF England ana
from the west 10 London are all compelled 70
halt tho full ten minutes in order that the
rcst,urnnt-kccper may sell beer and buns 10 the
traveller n was computed not long since that
il would cost the company near half million
dollars TO buy mp the concession They 90 no'
choose TO spend the money and the traVeihns
public must submit TO the delay. Whetner ~
wants beer or buns does not SIGNIFY: the r's'a"'
ran. man wants To sell them. and he Il master
Of the situation IL NAV or may not be ~ az
Bremorhafen. And as for the fifteen miles an
bour what can il signify except 10 the Impatient
American. whether he arrives in Bremen at or
o or o:3O? Let us all adjust our minds 10 '"'
German I1e, ..
II il another German idea that il docs not muc"
matter whether, or when, luggage Is deii~'e"'
Al the Bremen station there were no visible me"n'
~ TRANSPORTING trunks 70 the hotels HAN
dozen two-horse cabs very like Ncw-forK mack.
Int better turned ont. were the Only 'ehic''" "s
hand. and they would not, or couh h"'' '"'y
heavy baggage No hotel porter no truck OF o'ay
or any contrvance Of that king. Your oassas'
recent he'd 70 be handed, In that spirit oil conh'
,..o, ,h;cb & to be constantly cultivated In
this country. 70 a railway porter with brass
hand about his cap, and number The hofei IL
two minutes drive from the station. Inc Dag
o,ge took an hour and a half TO cover this ais
tonce The authorities at the hotel proiesseo
themselves helpless; they could not sehu i'1
haQaaQc: IL was the railway aufhort"s VII.
charged themselves with the duty OF delivery anu
deliver they did after this lapse of time and NOT
very far from midnight. ] imagine that' IN con'r
pensation for this delay, there is a certainty IN
Germany Of actually getting your possessions ana
r,orhan. their WAY Is as good as the English way;
which il n mere scramble. In England. too, y9q
Generally get YOUR trunks, but not always. And
seem to have heard, or even to remember, 'hss
in America the express system does not always
work with entire precision. and that trunks 20
20, a,wavs arrive quite so soon as they arc
wanted.
A. Stend,l we came npon an example OF Ger@
man conscientiousness. different in kind but per'
hama rho same in principle. The train was 70
ston fourteen minutes for luncheon. or, as they
choose TO consider it, for dinner We sat down
In a comfortable room table clean, and 1000 very
GOOD, luncheon served comfortably In courses
and ropidly. But at the end OF seven or eighe
minutes we were invited by the CONSCIENTIOUS con-
ductor. n punctilious official, equally polite ano
TO take our places in the tram. 10
inc asked fer the BILL the polite head waiter re-
marked "You have had only half dinner, you
win nav half price" This he seemed to thlnS
tho most natural and correct thing IN the wor"'
Correct perhaps il was, but where except In Ger'
many. with its taste for military eAactltude even
in accounts would it seem natural? Elsewhere
we found they We're just as ready TO apply inc
rnle AGAINST as for the stranger But that IL
should be applied even once in his favor Is an
instance OF observation-disclosures for which they arc
surely entitled TO credit.
Another fact will befor long begin TO be APP
rarent TO the arriving American; or two facts
He will if he takes note of the arrangements on
tho railways by which he travels. become aware
TINT they are not constructed primarily for his
nor even primarily for the con-
yenience Of tho German public. They are Sta'e
railways and the State thinks first OF Itself or
might say, first last. and all the time. ihey
are constructed for moving troops with the great.
rst facility: constructed so that when inc ia'ei"I
+. nobel goes forth from the centre OF the great
snider's web where sits the king spider known as
Chief CT the Stat, every railway track all p!a'-
form and station shall be instantly available for
the dispatch and receipt Of troops What would
the American railway superintendent say to
state Of things which compelled him TO keep that
contingency foremost in his thoughts and plansF
What would an EIglshman?
The Englishman, accustomed to the elaborate
Of his own railway system.
Iooks with wonder on what seems to him tho
primitive and imperfect contrivances Of the Ger
man. They are, think. neither primitive nor
mperfect Their aim is different. The English.
nan expects his train TO draw up TO platform
nearly on a level with the footboard Of his car
riage the platform to be covered porters to be at
hand at every station. not merely at great sta
tons: the station itself to be adjacent to the
covered platform, which, indeed, forms part OF
t. All this and much more he not only expects
,ut gets He comes to Germany, travels from
Bremen to Bcrlin, very important line, and stops
It the two chief stations by the way, Uelzen ana
,tendal His train comes to stop midway