Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-08-24
PRESIDENTIAL TRAVELS.
RAILROAD ARRANGEMENTS WHEN A
CHIEF EXECUTIVE TRAVELS.

for Presidents - The Matter of Paying
Fare - Arranging Time Table.
1t is only in recent years that presi-
dental iourneying has been made
spectacular. The early presidents
could travel about without being
moBbed. Jackson and Taylor walked
the streets of Washington and stopped
to chat with a friend like any other
citizen, and when they travelled no
one thought of standing and gazing at
them or of forcing himself upon them
for handshake. Then the president
of the United States could travel as
simply and unostentatiously as he
pleased. Now he goes in special
train and the band at every cross
roads station plays Hail to the Chief"
horribly.
There was only one president who
had private car. That was Lin
coin, the nan of all others who was
simple in his tastes. 1t was not a
very fine affaf-. Today it would not
be used for second class traffic. All
other presidents have travelled in pri-
vate cars offered for their use by rail-
road companies or sleeping-car COM
panies.
Just after the election of President
Mckinley some railroad men got to-
gether and planned special car for
the president, which was to be finer
than Queen Victoria's. 1t was to be
built throughout of native products,
ana the blending of native woods in
its decoration was to suggest every
part of the country. All the material
was to be contributed and the labor
was to be done in the railroad shops.
This scheme was so attractive that
presently it expanded into plan for
an entire train for the presidents use,
to be an appanage of the executive
Office, not Mr.. McKinley's private
property. The elaborated plan pro-
vided for a baggage Car to contain a
dynamo for heating and lighting the
other cars, sleeping coach for the
presidents secretary and clerks, and
a special car for the president and his
guests. AS planned, the presidents
car was to be SO feet inches long, or
Is 12 feet longer than Queen Vic
toria's, while its width was to be 8
feet 8 inches. At one end was to be
the kitchen, with quarters for cook
and porter. A salon in the middle of
the car, two bedrooms, bathroom
and an observation room were also in
the plans. Nothing has been done
toward building this train and the
project seems to have fallen through.
SO the president in his outings will
use other persons cars, as most of his
predecessors have done.
Sleeping-car companies put at the
disposal of the president the finest
cars, and railroad officers tender the
use OF their private coaches, because
as they go about the country they are
a peripatetic advertisement for rail
road and sleeping car companies, and
either one would be very glad, if it
were necessary, to pay something for
the privilege of carrying the chief
magistrate. Only one railroad man
disagrees with this proposition so far
as known. He was the general pas
senger agent of line running east
from st. Louis when President Har-
rison visited that city. The railroad
Ahbi hhO N"' iidhbbihSS bhO u llJo W uS
allied with the same interests as the
general passenger agent, though on a
different line. He declined the invi-
tation of another road to take the
presidents train east through loyalty
to his own people. And then the gen
eral passenger agent made him pay
the full tirst-class fare for hauling the
presidents special. 1t was repaid
him later and that is about as near
as president of the United States
has come to paying fare in long
time.
When President Cleveland made his
first trip west he paid fare for him
self and all the members of his party.
The interstate commerce law had
just gone into effect and he was afraid
of being criticized for violating it.
But the five or six frst-class tickets
which his private secretary bought
did not pay for the fine special train
that he used.
Hauling the presidents special is
an expensive undertaking. On most
roads it means side.tracking all other
business for the time. One of the
big coal railroads once put every
freight car on side tracks at night
because the president was going over
the line. Another road side tracked
hundreds of ears OF grain and live
stock and left the track clear between
the beginning and end of the presi-
dents journey. AS an additional pre-
caution pilot engine is sent ahead
of the presidents train to see that the
track is safe.
To arrange the schedules for a
presidential journey is no small un-
dertaking. George w. Boyd has done
more OF this than any other railroad
man, and he could arrangeto take the
president safely around the world on
forty-eight hours notice. When the
president wants to make long jour
ney he usually calls Mr.. Boyd in for
consultation as an expert. Mr.. Boyd
looks mp the regular schedules of all
the roads to be covered and calculates
the running time of their trains. He
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