Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-06-21

in the track; and rOadbed was made
smooth; curves in the road were
Strengthened; faster time was made in
response TO the requirements of an i'm.
periouS public, and trains were run on
Sunday, because the business man in
Chicago must be in New York on Mon
day. But all these changes and i'm
provementS consumed years of time
and waists sums of money for the
accomplishment 1t will take until the
end OF time to make a perfect railroad,
for railroad can never be finished.
It requires superhuman effort to keep
it in paSSably good shape, and when
times are bad and crops are poor (as
they frequently are), the money is no.
to be Md to keep it in prime condition.
The careful managing railway official
increases expenditures for permanent
Improvements when Jones pays the
freight" ana the farmer, the merchant,
the tourist and the ubiquitous com
mercial traveller are aboard the trains,
rhIrty-fve years ago, or thereaboutS,
q weary traveller worn out with sleep
less nights in the Cramped cushioned
seats OF an ordinary COach-luXuriOuS
as it was then in comparison with the
ancient coach of twenty years before
conceived the idea that a sleeping-car
was a necessity. Necessity became the
mother of invention, and the palace car
of to-day and tonight is the outGrowth
of an inventive genius.
With the creation of the comfort fur
nished by the sleeping-car came a host
of demands for more eXClusiveness and
luxury than was served in the ordinary
day coaches, The American travelling
public are free-born aristocrats by
birth and education Nothing in a
railway train is too good for the Amer.-
can who has money, and he is willing
to pay we'll for all that he demands.
provided that he gets it. If he dOsen't
get it he kicks-and rightly. too.
Following the sleeping car came the
exclusive car, for which an extra seat
fare is charged, for short and long
journeys by daylight; then the dining
and lunch cars without which, to-day,
no railway line of any Importance is
unprovided. In most cases meals are
served la Carte-pay a fixed price for
what one orders seryed-but there are
some roads which continue to charge a
dollar per meal, wheather it be an
eight-course dinner or a crackers and
cheese with bottle Of beer) luncheon
1t is a matter of strife between roads
as to which shall provide the best food,
properly cooked and served. The cook
shop of our American dining cars COM
pels enthusiasm from even ouy
saturnine English cousins.
Steam heat for all cars in trains
vestibuled cars and coaches, electric
lights in ceiling and at sides of cars,
and at heads of berths in sleeping cars
(for those who are afflicted with
insomnia, or who wish to read after
night are perhaps the latest additions
to the close of the century improve
ments, What more that is new TO
follow in the twentieth century the
writer does not attempt to prognosti-
cate In his thirty-five years of rail-
way service in the passenger depart
ment he has seen perfected the large
portion of the various items herein
recorded, besides many not referred to
at all
The consolidation OF many short. in
dependent lines into large railway
systems has been boon TO railway
travellers in that fewer changes of day
coaches occur on long journeys, while,
for illustration, a passenger can
traverse several routes across the
United States of America with not
more than one change Of sleeping cars
en- route,
Speed of tr,ins has been inrroo '"d
from 10 miles per hour, in 1870. To an
average rate of from 80 to GO miles mr.
hour in 1899. At what rate shall we
travel ten years hence? OF what
service to our railway system will
electricity be when know it's power
and how it can be utilized? May we
not look forward to the time when we
can breakfast in New York city and
dine in the early evening in Chicago?
The mechanical cOntrivances which
make American railway travel safe,
speedy, comfortable and luxurious, call
forth the admiration not only of our
own people, but of all the peoples who
populate the rest Of the world.
And yet, these are only some of the
items which show the development OF
the railway passenger traffic system Of
this, the greatest Of all civilized
countries.
The present system Of booking or
ticketing passengers for short and long
distances is most complete. Nearly
every railway coupon ticket seller can
name the fare to the inGuiring pass
enger from his station to any princi-
pal city in the world, and what is more,
can furnish the ticket with its few or
many coupons Cas the case may be- il