The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-09
THE RAILROADS
 or THE RUSSIAS
What the Car. Is Building i, Europe, Central Asia t2
 and Siberia.

anteed capital for private concerns. The average the whole country over has been about $60.ooe- per mile, which Is excess i've, considering the low cost of labor Many of the. roads have been built as military necessities rather than as a com mercial propositions They were laid out without regard to traffic conveniences, from the track when a slight curve misht
 have brought them right on it.
 You may have heard the story of how the road between Moscow and St. Peters burg was built. The American engineers made the line curve in and out like a snake. taking in all the large towns. The Csar took ruler, laid it on the man ani drew straight line from St. Peters
 burg to Moscow. That's the road l
 want" sad he. and so they .bui.. It. The
 result is one has to drive four or five miles to reach some of the cities and the villages lie far oil the line of the road. All these towns may some day be con-
 nected by electric railroads.
 Russian Depots and Restaurants.
 The Russian station arrangements are
 different from ours. Everything goes
 slowly, and one must come early @ avoid
 red-tape detention. The offices are open
 an hour before the train starts and bell
 ts rung three times before the cars move
 out of the station.
 Every depot has it's first, second and third-class waiting room. each of which has its own restaurant There are also tea peddlers, notion stores and news stands. so that one can buy what he needs without going out of the depot. The restaurants are excellent. The food is as good as you find anywhere and remark ably cheap. A plate of soup is enough for a meal. and Russian soup Is Us good as. any in Europe. There Is one kind cail-
 oA fok nA kn ...A vegetables with a chunk of meat about four Inches square and two inches thick in each dish. The proper way to take 1t is to eat the soup first and after that the meat, A bowl of thick cream is furnished with the soup. This Is poured into it to thicken 1t and a green cucumber or so is also furnished to eat between the spoon fuls. It is not at all bad. I assure you.
 Tea Peddiers.-
 There are always tea peddlers about Russian station, Tea Is brought to the windows at the stopping of the train, it is also served in the depots and is drunken at all hours of the day. The Russians have better tea and more of it than any other people of Europe. Most of the people drink Chinese tea, which is brought in caravans over the mountains of Thibet, and consequently escapes the long sea voyage, which is said to injure the flavor. The tea is served In glasses instead of in cups. It is always taken hot and usually without milk. A slice of lemon Is gen. erally dropped into the glass and several Jumps of hard loaf sugar placed beside 1t. The favorite way of drinking is to take one of these sugar Jumps between your lips and suck the tea through it. The sugar is as hard as rock candy, and it is made 50 for tea drinking. The GUS tom is bad for the teeth and has opened up a great field for the American dentist. I venture one-half of these Russians have bad teeth, and the cavities awaiting fiI- ing with gold or amalgam may be counted by millions. ''<
 Russian Freight Trains.
 The freight cars here are much smaller than ours and the traftic Is less heavy The rates seem low. Heavy goods cost one-eighth of a cent per ton per mile and the dearest freight rate is less than five cents per ton per mile. There is great variety In rates, so that 1t Is impossible to describe just what things cost. The freight brings in the greatest per cent of profit to the road and 1t is increasing more rapidly than the passenger traffic.
 Russia is a farming country, and a large part of the freight is made up of grain and asricultural products. Some of the articles are peculiar. Prince Hil- kon told me that he, was shipping train ASoNo OA 6dAiC OiEuS IIOIl 0lD6Tld to the markets of Europe and I know that the export of poultry is so enormous that it forms an important freight item More than 100000 tons of geese, chickens and eggs are carried over the railroad in a year and the exports of this kind to other parts of Europe now amount to almost s25s0Oo,000 annually. 2 The eggs exported alone bring in about $15,OOO 900. while the live geese sent to Germany are sold for some million dollars more.
 A great many pigeons are being raised and also ducks. turkeys and pheasants. Some of the larger estates have begun to breed cartridges, quails and grouse and others have great fiocks of half wild pheasants which they raise for the mar. ket.
 AS to eggs, 145, 600 tons are now annually carried over the railroads and this traffic Is steadily increasing. The most of them so to Germany and Austria, a large part to Great Britain and some to Belgium and Holland. Almost three million pounds of eggs are exported in bulk, the eggs being broken and the yolks sepa- rated from the whites. The yolks go to Germany, Denmark, England and Holland | and the whites to Germany and Great | Britain. s,--'-
 Live Birds by Rail.
 It is interesting to look at one of the Russian bird trains. The birds are put | In wicker crates, each Of which will hold | about twenty; and there are forty or | fifty such crates in one car. There will i often be 1000 ducks or 1,50O chickens in a | single car. There are whole train loads | of fowls, especially live geese, which | come from central. southern and western | Russia. They go chiefly to Germany. | although some are exported to Austria, 1 France and Turkey.
 As to the home market the chief center 'f the trade is here at Moscow, where lbout a million and half of birds are consumed. The busiest time is Christmas. The birds are killed as soon IS the weather is cold enough to freeze hem, and they are kept in a frozen state lntil needed, This Is so of all sorts 'f fowls and birds. The chief market or poultry is St. Petersburg, where doskow chickens bring 50 cents a pair, urkeys A,OOO capons about s1.16 and geese he same as the turkeys.
 American Goods by Ship and Train.
 At present most of our exports come O the Black Sea or the Baltic. Some .oods are shipped across Europe, but nese are generally consigned to Germany. ne direct shipments go to Odessa, Riga. taval or St. Petersburg. whence they are ent by railroad or by river and canal to inerent parts of the country. The new ailroads will open up the whole empire, na within very few years it win be ossible to consign goods to any village I Russia.
 100000 Miles of Waterway.