The St. Louis Republic., 1902-11-30
ENGINE at THE Foor OF The
RId

| which the Swiss raise them to make none,
| out of the legend that they sometimes res.
| cue lost tourists.
AS for that, however, learn that the ST
Bernard dogs have long since lost their
job.
The various hospiees kept by the monks
are now connected with all parts of the
| mountains by telephones, and the lost party
| is easily found by the trackers going from
post to post.
On the top of the Rigi is a big hotel, the
| Ringi-kuinl. where you can get dinner for
| a dollar and full board for about $3 a day,
and there are other hotels scattered from
| the bottom all the way tc the top.
If you go to sleep at the top you will hear
the toot Of an Alpine horn half hour be-
fore sunrise, waking you up for the view.
tourists and comes around and pokes his
tin collection plate under your nose fol
pennies.
AT everv step you meet pretty Swiss
girl in a white cap, who inveigies you into
| buying pressed flowers and edekweis.
A picture postal woman has her stand al
| every beautiful point, with haif-tones re-
productions of the same. which she offers
you for 9 cents apiece
POSTAL-CARD BUSINESS IS
BECOMING IMPORTANT.
! Indeed the postal-card business is fast
becoming an important one all over Europe.
/ There are thousands of stores On the Con
tinent which sell nothing else. and in SSitz
| erland you cannot travel five miles withou,
| seeing postal-card sign.
| Postal cards are cold at the railroad sta
1 tions. at the drinking places, at every hotel
/ and restaurant and even in the Post Offices
4 themselves
1 mean by this there are stands in the
! Pest Offices, separate and apart from the
stamp windows. which sell cards bearing 3
, pictures upon which you must put an ad-
ditional stamp before they can 60.
| Such cards are found in all the department
stores at reduced prices. and boys and men
peddic them about the streets,
In Geneva saw woman pushing a cart
which was loaded with such cards.
While eating my dinner at restaurants
outside the hotel I frequently have a man
drop down a package Of cards on the
table, telling me to look them oyer and see
| II l don't want to buy.
These cards have half-tone engravings of
| the public buildings and views of the vicin-
\ Ity.
Some bear the coat Of arms Of the town.
/ as in Berre. where the bear is the mascot
| for everything.
Some, beautifully coiored. represent the
| types and costumes of the neighborhood.
Others are comic and some are fancifully
| artistic
| Some especially those of France and Ger
| many, are indecent, and Of such character
that they would not pass through our malls.
but others are as beautiful as chromos and
| suitable for framing.
The cards sell from 1 90 10 cents. Some
are in sets and others single.
| Such cards are now made In every coun-
| try. and you can buy German. English,
French, and Italian cards almost every
where.
! The most of the cards have little more
than O r,3o for OF. md odd
| on them. the other side being given up to a
picture. with only room for one or two lines
| In writing.
The card saves the trouble of writing let
| ters to your friends. and at the same time
enables you to show that you remember
/ them.
GOVERNMENT AS EXPRESS
| COMPANY AND BANKER
] I have said that the business Is a big one.
1t brings the Government Of Switzerland
more than half million dollars q year in
/ extra stamps.
The country uses about 40.00o000 postal
cards for internal communications and 15.-
| 100000 for the foreign mails.
This, at 2 cents apiece, brings in an an
nual revenue Of tsl0,00o, and the cards sell
| for at least that much more.
The people here use more postal cards in
proportion to their number than any other
nation of Europe.
as you will find anywhere.
1t has about 1900 post officer and about
1000 letter boxes. and 1t delivers mail to the
| very tops of the Alps.
The postal service does many things that
our officials would not think Of doing. 1t
! acts as banker and express company for the
| people.
1t will collect your bills for you and bring
| the money to the house.
II yon live In Switzerland and a man owes
you. say, g, all you have to do is to send
him bill for the amount in a sealed let
ter with word or two to the post office
on the outside of the envelope. and In ad-
dition a 2-cent stamp.
| NOMINAL FEE FOR
COLLECTING BAD DEBTS
This stamp pays the post office for its
trouble in collecting and delivering the
money to You.
The charge is per cent of the amount
collected.
II the bill Is SO, you pay 10 cents, and II
80, 80 cents. and for this the money will
be collected In any part of Switzerland
II payment fs refused. however. the Gov
ernment will not enforce the collection.
After the same manner all sorts OF goods
are sent out G. o. D. by the stores and
farmers.
erland. and the postrnan will bring you the
package and send back the money.
Farmers forward their butter and chick
ems through the mails, and ] know of two
American Consuls who thus order live tur-
keys, chickens and ducks.
Consul Aeberknecht Of Zurich got his last
years Thanksgiving turkey from Austria
through the mails, and sent back the money
In the sams way, and Consul Frankenthal
gets sll his fowls from the Lower Danube
They are shipped through the post office
/, and the postnaan brings the live fowls to his
v n I'm and v~nkrs tt<v~
/ rian farmers who raise them.
| IL this could be done by our post offices
what an opening 1t would give to the
American farmer in the direct sale of his
products to the consumers.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
Copyright. 1902 by +. g. Carpenter.
Only Time Could Tell.
Hey" shouted the cycle policeman, as
the main in, the big racing car started to
go past hiEi like a railroad train. ..ain't
yon riding iirifie more than eight miles an
hour, sir?''