The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-16
LUXURY OF PRIVATE CAR
MANY BESIDES RAILROAD MAGNATES
ENJOY 1T NOWADAYS.
1t Costs a Good Deal, but a Large
Number Of Persons Seem to
slave the Price,"
New York Sun.

New York Sun.
The use of a private car in this country
not many years ago was almost exclusively
confined to the officers of railroad COM
panies. The presidents car" or, as it
was sometimes called. the directors ear"
was part Of the equipment of nearly all
the railr Dads of any, even of a moderate,
degree OF consequence.
In theory 1t was a vehicle used by the
| officers of the road in their necessary trips
of inspection over the line. In practice
1t became very often a junketing convey
ance, in which persons connected with the
road and having sufficient pull frequently
took their families or friends on long tours
about the country. The car was dead
headed" from one line to another as a
regular part of the then existing code of
interrailroad courtesy.
Many Of these cars were very luxurious
| and expensive in their appointments. The
extravaganza in this respect did not stop
at interior decorations and embellishments.
There was no objection in those days to
proclaiming the fact that you were travel
ing in a private car. The exterior adorn-
ments of the car, the distinctive decora-
lions which emphasized the fact that 1T
was q private car limited broadly that
the person using ii was a deuce of a fellow
all these were not spared.
AS a natural consequence envy was
stirred. There were invidious comments.
In the railroad strikes of 1871 these private
presidents and directors cars came In for
severe onslaughts. The ~demagogues or
the stump and the sanctum took up the
cry. Railroad ''magnates' were roughly
handled. They were described as bloated
characters wallowing in downy depths OF
upholstery as they travelled. They never
rode or sat in their private cars, in the
Bryanesque language Of the day. They
always ''lolled." The railroad magnate
lolling in his private car" was a character
kept conspicuous in the public eye.
One result of all this was that in the pri-
vate cars absolutely necessary to officers
of great railroads, the external adornments
were kept down to the last INIT. The in
teriors might be as costly and elaborate
as you pleased, but that was counted the
best car which in its outward appearance
looked as near like an ordinary sleeper as
possible.
A PLAIN EXTERIOR.
But the use of private cars with the in
crease of wealth and the development of
car-building plants and car-building skill
steadily grew. Furthermore the beauties
and luxuries of the free-to-all sleeping,
dining and observation cars have been SO
greatly augmented, especially since the
Chicago exposition. when the then rival
Pullman and Wagner companies were in
| competition, to see which could turn out
the best and most luxurious thing on
wheels, that now the presidents and di-
~rectors' cars, by comparison with those
used by the ordinary travelling public, are
distinguished externally only by their So
Der, unattractive outward appearance.
AS a matter of fact, where one private
car is now used by a railroad ~'magnate' a
dozen are used by. plain, everyday Amer
lean citizens who like luxury in travel and
have got the money to pay for ii. Within
the last ten years, especially since the era
of prosperity set in. the private car on
the end of an express train has become an
everyday sight in the great migratory sea-
sons of persons of wealth.
The private car service of the Pullman
Company has been very rapidly on the in
its increase the private car travel of the
railroad 'magnate" has proportionately
decreased. The ~'magnate" still uses his
car for the legitimate purpose for which ii
was called into being. When he wants to
take his family or his friends on a pleasure
tour across the continent, to the Yellow
stone, to Mexico or to Florida, however,
he goes to the Pullman Company and rents
a car or a train and pays his mileage on
the railroads he goes over just as though
he had no connection with railroading him.
self.
Perhaps the evolution of the Pullman pri-
yate car for pleasure travel may be said TO
date from the time when, some years ago,
the company took two sleeping cars,
changed their interior arrangements and
fitted them with gun racks and dog ken
nels and began leasing them to hunting
parties going long distances 10 remote
wilds, where the car became the hotel and
general starting and rounding-up head
quarters.
Then came the construction of private
cars for long distance travel pure and SIM