Evening star., 1899-01-28

benches. At night the bedding Is brought
into the car from the baggage coach, sup
pose. and your beds are made.
Most of the sleepers have travelling bars
on them. All kinds of liquors are kept in
the baggage car, and you can get anything
from champagne to cognac and from apolli-
naris to beer by ordering it. There is a lit
tie stove in this car upon which the porter
makes coffee and brings it to you in the
morning before you are out of bed He
charges you about 8 cents of our money
for a cup of coffee a little butter and
biscuit, which is cheap enough for the serV-
ice The most of the meals are taken at
the stations, about thirty minutes being al
lowed for breakfast or lunch, ana violent
ringing of a bell announcing the starting
of the train, The sleeping cars are more
plainly furnished than ours and the bed
ding is not good.
In commenting upon the lack of fine fur
niture one day an English railroad manager
did not pay to make extravagant cars, for
it was difficult to keep them in order.
Said he:
You would be surprised at the wanton
damage that is done by passengers. MANY
of these Argentines are born conoclasts
They will write on the mirrors with their
diamonds and scratch their names on the
plate glass windows. Some of the rich fell
lows from the country think nothing of
getting into bed with their muddy boots
on, and some are filthy in the extreme.
We have to watch things very closely else
they are stolen destroyed Why, we
have had passengers throw blankets out of
the windows just for fun, and we have to
make a careful tally of our stock at the
close of every run"
The Railroads of the Argentine.
And still the Argentine is one of the best
railroad countries in South America. 1t
has more railroads than any other country,
and it is now building many new lines,
There are 11,OO0 miles of railroad in oper-
alton. Three years ago there were not
th,,, n
better every year. They are chiefly in the
hands of private parties, and the govern
ment is giving up its idea of controlling
them. 1t is different in Chile, where the
roads are also good. although they are not
moro than one-tifth as extensive in length
of lines. The Chilean government seems to
be gradually acquiring the roads, and is
also building new ones.
There is no place in the world where it
is easier to build a road than in the Ar
gentine pampas. The tracks go for hun
dreds of miles over land which is per-
fectly level and SO solid that but little bal
last is needed One of the chief expenses
is in the matter of ties There are no trees
on the pampas. and all kinds of lumber
must be imported. The most of the ties
come down the Parana river from Para
quay The favorite kind is of quebracho or
other hard woods which are so heavy that
single tie will often weigh 200 pounds.
The wood is so hard that spikes cannot be
driven into it without first boring holes for
them. After the rails are once fixed it is
impossible to draw the spikes out. Such
ties are very expensive, SO much so that
the Southern railroad not long ago tried
the experiment of importing ties from Aus
traia because they We're cheaper than the
Paraguay ties.
How Railroads Are Built.
The most of the railroads are in the
hands of the English. Some have been
built much like our roads at home with a
heavy Capitalization and with their ups
and downs on the stock market 1t is safe
to say however, that more than half
billion dollars has been actually spent in
constructing railroads through the Argen-
tine In 1896 the capital stock of the roads
footed over S5lo $4,000 and their gross re-
ceipts were more than $}1 900. 900, while the
expenses were not more than $4,000 9pO
1hfs made n clear profit of S1J 00O 900 gold
during that year The most of the roads
are English broad gauge, or wider than
any OF our roads at home The rails now
belng used by the Southern railway weigh
seVenty-four pounds to the yard They
are of steel. They are imported from Eng
land, whence most of the rolling stock
has been brought. although now the chief
companies nave their own stock and are
making cars. There are few Baldwin
and Rogers engines. but these are chiefly
on the government lines.
Italians are the chief railroad workmen.
Inc work Is done by contract, one Italian
taking a gang and doing his work by the
Jop or the yard. The captain of each gang
is called capftaZ and he is responsible for
the work of his men. Upon a road in Pata-
gonia which l visited l found twenty gangs.
each containing ten men, laying tracks
lhey Were given SO much per mile The
Workmen lived in tents which they put up
along the railroad, and they were supplied
with provisions from provision car.
Grocery Store on Wheels.
Ihis provision car Of the Argentine is a
curious railroad institution which l have
not seen elsewhere. 1t is called a provi-
deria, and it is, in fact, little grocery and
department store on wheels. The car is
fitted up with shelves, upon which are
clothes, tobacco, liquors, groceries and in
short everything that the men can possibly
want 1t has a store keeper in 1t, who
furnishes goods to the railroad men at the
lowest possible rates
Ihe company supplies the goods and pays
all the bills. 1t keeps about $4,000 worth
OF goods in stock, and sells them to its
men al such rates that it's profits are about
per cent. 1t puts the goods at such prices
that the men know they can buy more
cheaply of the provideria than at the
stores.
For instance, good Italian wine is sold
for about 40 cents of Argentine money
quart. This is less than Is cents American
Bee1 costs about cents of our money a
pound, and clothing is proportionately
cheap Among the curious things / saw in
one Of these stores were London jams and
Indian chutney l saw olive Oil, macaroni
and all kinds of crackers
l was interested in the track LAYERS and
visited them in their camps was told that
a man could live about 90 cents of our
money day, and that the average man
received about SO gold a month and saved
about 60 cents day out OF his wages.
Freight Cars With Sails,
Among the discomforts of railroad riding
In the Argentine are those which come
from the wind. 1t blows on the pampas at
times with all the force of Kansas bliz-
zard. l am told that while the road from
Bueros Ayres to Mendoza was building the
cars were sometimes blown off the track
and that 1t was customary to put sails on
the freight trains and allow the wind to
push them along over the rails. This how
ever, doubt. as l am prone to do with |
other stories told here in this land of lux
ury, laziness and lies.
do not doubt, however, the stories as to |
the dust. There is no land where the dust !
bIoWs more than it does here The dust |
storms are thicker than snow storms They
sometimes stop the cars, filling the grades
and cuttings SO that you need a plow to get
through. During a storm a few years ago
1t took 1000 men week to clear the track
of one of the roads