The free press., 1895-01-03
THE DINING CAR.
1t Contains Every Convenience
Except Room.
The Methods Of the Steward,
Who is All-Supreme.

A modern dining car of the most
approved pattern costs $4,000 to
build. Next come the kitchen uten-
sils, the table furniture, the silver
ware and linen = averaging about
SO, 900 worth to a car. Each car must
have steward, who usually gets 500
month, and head cook who values
himself at $75 q month. There must
also be one or two assistant cooks and
three or four walters. Three hundred
dollars month is the very smallest
outlay for wages, while the cost OF
raw food material, breakage of dishes
and the board of employees is about
SO, 900 per month additional. An av-
erage days run costs very nearly $500
for food and service, so that it would
take 400 persons at 81. so meal on the
run to pay the daily expenses, without
allowing anything for interest on the
investment or for wear and tear on
the furnishings.
The kitchen of dining-car contains
every convenience except room.
There is range capable of doing all
the boiling, broiling, baking and
stewing for hundreds of people, yet
occupying comparatively no space at
all. There is board for the carver,
bin and table for the baker and q
sink for the washer, with shelves
and cupboards innumerable for dishes
and imperishable supplies-all in an
area of five by twelve feet, at most.
Every inch of space is carefully uti-
lized. Under the car is the cellar or
refrigerator, where ice, beef, mutton,
poultry, milk, butter and other per-
ishable supplies are kept.
The steward, who is in charge of all
this, must be good guesser. To be
sure the dining car is run on the prin-
ciple that no money will be made any
way; that ono road must run it be-
cause a competing road does that the
traveller must, therefore, have the
best in the market for fair price,
and that it is better to throw away un-
used and spoiled material at the end
of trip than to run out of some nee
essary on the way; yet I imagine that
the steward who has the lowest aver
age of wasted food stands highest in
his employers regard.
The first thing he has to do is to
make out the bills of fare for the trip.
These must be approved by the head
of the commissary department. The
chef buys the necessary supplies, but
the steward has to turn In an inven-
tor of them at the starting point,
and also statement of what has been
used en- route, and what is left at the
end of the run. There is no method
of estimating the exact number of
meals that will need to be served DUR
ing run, particularly if it be a short
one. Suppose it is to be made from
Washington to New York. Individual
methods of economy are very differ
ent. While some prefer to pay 81. 25
for the extra comfort Of seat in q
parlor car, there are others who think
the common coach good enough and
prefer to spend their dollar in the din
ing-car. Again, there are some who
freqent both parlor and diner, and
others who care for neither. For q
long journey, every berth in the
sleeper may be occupied, and yet the
dining-car may be practically tenant
less, or the sleeper may be nearly
empty and the diner full of people
from the day coach, or it may be
crowded with the occupants of both.
As the steward goes through the train
on tour of inspection or in giving
his first call for meal he must note
the number of lunch boxes and guess
from the faces and dress of the pas
sengers how many orders he will have.
But even his best judgment may be
far out of the way, for the lunch box
may be for next days light repast,
or some of the best dressed passengers
may not have decided whether to pa
tronize the dining-car or not.-Kate
Fields Washington.