The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-31
MR. ULLMAN'S OWN STORY
THE INVENTION or THE SLEEPING
CAR As HE TOLD III.

,,r- puIlmnn's Enorta to Garry out Ms
Notto,-uiS Opinions on Matters OF Interest.
Tho late George NJ. Pullman told tho story Of
tho invention of the Pullman sleeping car to a
rerorter n wear ago, but aftorward requested
that its publication bo delayed. The Presiden-
| tIaI campaign was then In progress and no
wanted TO keep in the background, fearing that
memories of the Pullman strike might be used
TO hurt Mr.. Mckinley. Tho story was laid
inside and for ono reason or anothcr has not becn
published until now.
Mr.. Pullman did not originate the idea OF tho
sleeping car. 1t was suggested to him. no said,
by the introduction of sleeping cars on thu Now
York Central road.
''Thc company which owned that road. said
Mr.. Pullman, was restricted to a charge OF Q
cents q milo for passenger transportation. 1t
went to the Legislature at Albany for authority
to charge for sleeping accommodations. l was
living then at Albion, doing business as q con-
tractor OIL the Erie Canal. l went into the
world to earn my living when I was IL. Not
long after l became of ago l found myself with
my mother, brothers and sisters on my hands.
One of my friends and neighbors in Albion was
Ben Field, who was q member of the Lcgisla-
ture. He was ono of tho men who put the first
sleeping car in operation. These cars had cell
ings against which a tall mans head might
hhNO VI uCANN aaSsS 'eD ~ tSthh 'ANNh
above and no ventilation. When ono of them
was filled on a winter day, with q big stove fire
ut each end, tho atmosphere was something
dreadful"
Four of these cars Mr.. Field and some Of his
friends converted into sleeping cars. The
bcrths were in three tiers. the lowest being on
the floor lcycl. This lowest berth cost 81, the
second berth was 20 cents and the upper berth
was 90 cents. Tho sliding scale. Tor which
some people now clamor, was the original scale
for night usc only. The bed clothing vas piled
up iii sections in the daytime. Mr.. Pullman
lett Buffalo, anu he paid 81 Tor The privilege,
though he was going only sixty miles. He
wanted the. novel eNlerlonce. ana one of the
great luxurics OF the trip was the opportunity
TO wash your hands and face in tho morning.
Not long after. said Mr.. Pullman, Il came
buildings to conform to the city's new grade.
l had the sleeping car idea in my head, and
turned 1t over u good many times. Finally l
went into the business GU the Chicago and AL
ton road.
The road was q STRUGGLING corporation in
the sheriff in The ticket office o. the road more
than once, waiting 10 seize the receipts. Two
opposite directions each night. They were OF
the primitive type of the INST sleeping cars.
Meantime these Irst cars had not been n sue
cess, and Field and his associates, who, had
bought them on credit, lost pos cssion oil them.
hiio the experiment was progressing MIR.
Pullman got the gold fever and went TO Pixies
Peak. He stayed there of and on for three
years. The Chicago and Alton went INTO The
hands OF Il receiver, and this receiver was u
"fIe had an idea" said Mr.. Pullman with a
smile. that when the war was over grass would
grow between the tracks OF Northern rail
roads. so he took Oft the night trains on the
road altogether and Tor a time my cars were
stdetracked. But not long; They were run
nlng again after n Time, and the opportunity TO
buy back Two OF Fields cars being offered, he
amt 1 bought them and owned them IN com
mon. had an idea for a much better car than
these. but | was not n mechanic, and l had to
get other people to larry out my ideas, l found
that very hard. The builders could always
md SO many reasons why what | wanted could
ROT bc done. 80 the ne cars which | built,
while they were more costly, were lot satistac-
tory.
FINALLY the Chicago and Alton people gave
me the use of u piece OF ground, where the
Jnion depot now stands, and employed n
builder to carry out my ideas. Ny notion was
always to utilize the space aEove the windows,
where the racks were, 10 store the bedding.
To do this 1t was necessary TO make the car
very much higher. My builder argued That the
railroads would never put Oh Il car which was
so much higher, than their own. l told MIN to
80 ahead anu build the car according TO my
ideas ana we would see about the railroads
after ward. SO we made The roof high ana we
decorator who would make the interior OF tho
car harmonious and pleasing TO the eye. He re.
manned with me us my decorator for many
years.
$4,000. 1t attracted a great deal of attention.
Many people anne to see it. and it was much
admired. That car. by the way. is in Pullman
to-day. and we use il on occasions.
w hen l first put the car in service | told the
President OF the Lake Shore road that ! would
have to charge 81 a berth. The woodruff ears
were running in opposition then, and they
charged 81 80. lie sad he could not afford TO
charge - il some one else was charging less. |
argued that IL would be Il good advertisement,
for people would be anxious to see what he had
that was worth SO much more. As he could not
put one OF the cheap cars on the train with the
Pullman, car. The experiment proved that the
people all wanted to ride in the - car. and ii II
man got TO the train late and had to use The
other car he abused the railway company. The
result was that ins=tX, weeks the cheap car was
Mr.. Pullman said there were two reasons why
slccling'car rates should not be cheapcncd. In
be to invite an undesirable class or patrons. In
the second place.. TO cheaper the upper berth
would make a distinction between travellers
which they would resent. His claim was that
few men would be wiling to travel in cheap
bcrths, and that tho man who was forced to
lake an upper berth because all the lower bcrthS
were sold would be wounded in his pride.
As to the charge that the Pullman Company
was a:Eins too nigh a rate and making TOO great
lie had not put by Il large surplus Tor the com.
pany, and invested it jqdicious!y, there would
not be enough to pay dividends. This surplus
earned, he said, about one half of the money
which the stockholders received rs DIVIDENDS.
Or his responsibility to the stockholders OF
the Pullman Company Mr.. Pullman was cuuai-
~ jealous; lie said there were hundreds OF
these slockholdcrS, many of them women, and
$1,000 $3.50 . VIZ nv littl-
cst care. he was indignant about a story which
had gone the rounds OF the newspapers not long
before. 1t represented him AS paying his daugh.
ter a salary Of TlO,OoO Il year to choose names
for his sleeping cars. Nheni IL was suggested that
the only idea it conveyed WAS that he had made
his daughter an allowance ana jestinsly put it
on the basis of Il SALARY, he answered.:
but what right have | to spend the money
of the stockholders in that wayl'
MIR. Pullman spoke in the course OF the con.
ycrsation about The title the King OF Italy con
feTred on him. He said he knew nothing about
y ttl the patent Of nobility came to him, and he
had net attached any importance to il. lie
said he WAS more proud OF being u simple Amer.
lean citizen than nc could be OF any title in the
, world.
Of the attacks made on him which had been
publ he'd IN connection with the strike and
with The bill! 10 reduce sleeping. car fares, Mr..
Pullman spoke with some bitterness. And in
what he said he developed an interesting atti
tudc. nc said that ii was hard, after IL mar
had come to feel that he Ind done something
Tor his fellow men,, that they should turn upon
HIM ard attack him. That was Mr.; Pun,
mans, attitude toward the world. He did not
regard his invention simply as u money maker
which had brought him great wealth. He con.
sidercd II a great public work and believed him,
self n philanthropist.