The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-08-04
USE OF PRIVATE CARS.
DEMAND FOR THEM IS CON-
 STANTLY ON INCREASE.

or LuxuFy tn Travel Declared 70 be
 Lsgiti mate-Used For TransactiOn of
 Business.
 This is the day of the private car, says the Chicago Tribune. Not neces- sarily the private car of state, but the private car of business necessity, Of convenience and of company comforts. For years the presidents of great rail- road companies have had their private cars as a matter of course. Then the heads of some of the great manutactur- ing corporations found them necessary Finaly it became fashion for almost anyone having money enough to seek privacy in special cars. Theatrical stars used them, opera singers affected them more than any other class; then the millionaire's family sought the sea- side in them, and finally it has come about that an ordinary pleasure party, touring a section of the United States, may have its special car or it's special train in all the state that exclusiveness stands for. The present season has marked the building of an unusually large number of private cars.
 The evolution of the private car seems to have been wholly legitimate, however. The need of the first one, used by the president of some great railway system, came about when of ficials of the company found it neces- sary to go from place to place, taking with the mthe clerical help and para phernalia of office. In this car the of ficfal could go anywhere on the line and yet transact business as if he were at headquarters. He had his library, his secretary, his desk, his kitchen, his cook his bedroom, office and lounging room, and he need not leave his car if he did not choose. He could work while the car was running 40 miles an hour, and he saved time and the trouble and worry of packing and carting bag gage. And, saving time, he saved money.
 In many quarters the lay public is not ready to recognize the necessity of the private car to great corporations. It is forgetful of the fact that many of these corporations have so branched out in volume of business that their heads must travel in it's interest. The man has private car just as he has pri- vate office, and for the same reason that he may transact confidential busi- ness there. Without the car the time occupied in travelling would be lost time; with it, the business goes on as usual. It is an outgrowth of modern conditions. A few decades ago men did not live on the railroads as they do now; their business interests were more centered, and it was not so essen- tial to success that they should have a travelling as well as home office.
 But from the private car for business reasons the demand has gone on for the private car for pleasure, and just now there are more of these cars in course of construction in the Pullman shops than ever before at one time. In addi- tion to these specially ordered cars there is scarcely special car of the company that is not in service.
 This condition is as certainly indica- tive of prosperity as anything else could be. It has been always remarked that one of the first things men econo- mize in when times are hard is travel. But just now travel has been booming; every private car is in use, and more new cars are building than ever before all indexes of the fact that times are unusually prosperous.
 In the private car, built for the in- dividual for the transaction of business, the sleeping accommodations are of minor importance in figuring on room. Many owners of such cars have sleep ing quarters for themselves and secre- taries only in addition to the car crew. They need plenty of office room, with a 1ounging place that sn1acks of comfort in everything.
 Tn a pleasure car, however, designed to carry as many as possible of the friends of the owner or renter, the problem is for room all around. There may have to be berths for IS or 20 per- sons, together with kitchen and dining room. More and more the demand is for these cars, completely equipped, and they grow larger and heavier with the requirements. Its average dimen- sions are 14 by TO feet; it is almost home except in the matter of space It is elaborately finished; if has brass bed steads extension dining table. writing deks, arm chairs, lounges, dressers, wardrobes cabinets hot and cold water and fully equipped kitchen, with the best of service. Such a car may cost from s20000 to $35,000, just as it is trundled out of the shops and before it has been coupled to a train at mileage rate And it is then that such a car begins to draw upon mans bank &C., count.
 From private cars to special trains is an easy transition, and this has been especially attractive to parties made up of wealthy people who have planned a junket together. Such a train, running over prescribed route, costs money, but presumably it's passengers have the money to spend. Someone has figured the amount which such ap arty might spend an hour. For @ party of 50 per- sons, comfortably housed, train of five cars would be needed. A combina- tion smoking and baggage car, dining car. car equipped with staterooms and bedsteads. drawing room sleeping car having berths, and as observation car having accommodations for com- paratively few sleepers. For a 20-day tour such train of cars, with service, would cost about $215 a day; on a