The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-21

destination was tagged on the trunk.
The same style of check answered for
all purposes, local, foreign, transfer,
exchange, excess, and all. If a trunk
went wrong it was difficult to set it
right, for there was no way to tell its
course except by breaking it open and
sometimes that was not successful.
A complete record of the property
and a subdivision of the different
styles of baggage is the secret OF the
new scheme and it's success. There
are seven different kinds of checks for
use in different circumstances. There
is the local check, which is attached to
a trunk that is to travel merely be-
tween points on one railroad. This
bears the name of the starting point,
name of destination, date, and name CT
railway. The owner of the baggage
gets an exact duplicate of the Piece
which goes on his trunk.
Then comes the special check, pro-
viding for transmission over two or
more different systems. This bears in
addition to the information on the To-
cal check the names Of all stations
where transfers are made and the
names of the railroads over which the
luggage is to pass.
The local excess and foreign excess
checks correspond to these first two,
but they carry the additional informa-
ton of how much excess was paid and
what is the name of the owner. Be-
sides these. there are local and for
eign C. O. d. checks and an ex-
change check.
Done to Avoid Damage Suits.
The marked gentleness with which
baggage is now handled is not due en-
tirely to the philanthropy of the rail-
roads. They are in a measure COM
PEELED to handle with care" Numer-
Gus damage suits resulting successfully
for the plaintiffs have brought them to
it. Formerly people expected to have
their property smashed and battered,
and did not resent it. But some one
more indignant than the rest instituted
court proceedings one day to recover
the value of a valuable trunkload, and
he recovered. That started the whirl-
wind, and now a truckman cannot
break open trunks and be a truckman
long. OF course some baggage is on
the verge of collapse when it is ship
ped, and allowance is made for this,
and the condition of the piece is care
fully noted as a safeguard.
To the capacity for handling bag
gage there is now practically no limit.
Perfect system makes possible the di-
rection of extensive forces of employees
of modern depots have extensive emer-
gency room sufficient for almost any
crush. At the time of the exposition
in Omaha the baggage rooms were
oVercroWded, and much overflow was
handled outside, but it was all kept
under cover of the carsheds.
The number of pieces of luggage
shipped in and out of Omaha in a day.
a month and a YEAR forms an aston
la1- fOfn T,,. u
dull season, but at. the Union Station
they are handling over 800 pieces ev-
cry day, at Burlington Station about
400, and at Webster Street Station 200
In 1901 there were 357 900 pieces han
died at Union Station, 141, S62 at Bur-
lington Station, and about $4,000 pieces
at Webster Street Station. The figures
all show a substantial increase over
those for 1900 The Fall months
from August to November, are the
heavist in Omaha.
And twenty-five men do all this work
the year around. There are twelve at
Union Station, nine at Burlington Sta
ton, and four at Webster Street. These
employees work split tricks, because
the business comes in fits and starts
during the day. There are certain
periods of two hours or so when the
trains bunch in, and then the men are
needed in numbers.
Excess baggage is a big feature of
the business to-day A large percen-
tage of the trunks and cases are over
weight. AT Union Station 5000 day
excess money is fair average, and at
Burlington station it runs over $4,000
a year. Each passenger may carry $50
pounds, and no more than $50 pounds
can go in any one trunk on any con-
ditions.
This adds big financial feature to
the baggage end of the railrcading,
and another innovation now is the sep
aration of this from the ticket accounts
at all large stations. The Omaha sta
tons have cashiers in their baggage
rooms to handle the excess rate. while
formerly the ticket agents did this.
and still do in many small stations.
Theatrical, luggage forms such an
extensive part of the baggage bust
ness that at Union Station a special
truck at the east end of the building
is set aside for this use only, and on
that all cars of Thespian property are
switched. There are special arrange
ments and rates for such baggage as
regards excess and charges.
About Dropping III.