The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-23


giant Of the north was felt upon the
worlds commerce almost before his
existence was known, and not con-
tent with the trade of the golden
shores of the Pacific from California
TO Alaska, his arms at once reached
out across the broad ocean and grasp
ed the teas and silks of China and ia
pan to exchange them for the fabrics
of Europe and America"
The "Human Element"
1t is the human elegant" that
makes the story of building a railroad
up into the eyrie of an eagle or down
| into the recesses of a canyon inter-
esting. And it is human slement"
| that makes q putting engine and col
lection of coaches something more
than a train of cars. That moving
thing there of wood and steel is the
home where a lot of "all sorts and
| conditions" are going to live for a
week and to journey from ocean to
| ocean. The Canadian Pacific is, /
suppose, the only railroad on the con-
tinent that runs from the Atlantic to
the Pacific and has to provide for a
weeks uninterrupted entertainment of
| its guests. This gives rise to some
| pretty problems. And fortunately /
| am able, through the courtesy of Mr..
| G. Mel. Brown, the superintendent of
this department, to tell one of those
|
| binatiOn is managed with utmost at
| tention to details. If Genius be, as it
| has been described, IAN infinite capac-
| ity for detail" then certainly the man
| ager of that side of railroads func-
| ton TO house, sleep, feed and care for
| the comfort of its passengers, must
| fulfil the description. Let us see how
| it is done. Building and operating it's
own hotels, sleepers and diners, the
Canadian Pacific Railroad must of ne
cessity have a department of that part
| of its business. In the big, magnih-
| cent stone building in Montreal, where
| are its other offices, is such a depart
ment. The man who sits there has
| 1,200 men under him; sixteen hotels
| along the line are under his finger by
| the end of this year thirty-nine feed
| ing cars, diners, cafe coaches, buffet
| cars will be under his thumb: and 225
| sleepers, both standards and tourist
will be under his whole hand Now
'dry-as-dust figures" as Mr.. Carlyle
| remarks. have no power of exciting
| the Imagination" But the human
element" will. and a human document
l had the pleasure of perusing this
morning. 1t was the report of an in
| spector, and there are eight of them,
who have the responsibility of submit
| ting report every day to the head of
| fee. Mr.. Inspector had been riding
| on three dining cars, and for that one
| day he had something like this to sub
init TO his chief Fruit supply very
| bad. Only oranges and bananas. Ber-
| ries can be added at Is cents. Napkins
not laid fiat on the table, but beloved
| and bowed around the plates (the less
handling napkins undergo, the better,
| lay them fat Mr.. Waiter). Dishes
| scratched out on the menu (the
mind resents that scartch, as
| If defrauded). The negro por-
/ ters have too many friends at the
stations who gather and talk. (More
attention to your passengers, less to
your friends). And so on, through a
| dozen items that one days report ran
| When that report reached the central,
l rather imagine the colloquial colored
| brethren were transferred to lines
where they had fewer friends. the
! napkins lost their bow and fell fiat on
the table, and the dining car conduc-
! tor went to other occupations than
| scratching dishes off the prescribed
| menu. But the interesting fact is. il
| indicates such perfect housekeeping in
the sixteen hotels, thirty-nine diners.
and 225 sleepers; from the smoking of
a range to the fall of a napkin, from
| the hyssop on the wall to the cedar
OF Lebanon" How few travellers real
ize that such vast and comprehensive
oversight is kept every day over the
| smallest detail of their comfort. And
after every trip, the sleepers are FUN
| igated with compressed air and for
malhyde to expel the lingering germs
| of disease!
Companions de Voyage
Trusting the arrangements for our
| comfort during the week to the dill
gent care of the superintendent of
| sleepers, let us enter our transconti-
mental dwelling-house on wheels. The
| first coaches back of the vans are
| marked "colonists"-here is the human
element in all of its pathos. These are
! the immigrants, men, women and chill
| dfen, from every nation under the
| sun, seeking homes and a chance to
live in the wheat fields of Manitoba
or on the ranches of Assinnboia. Here
they are, with all their worldly goods
by their side; the goods tied up in
| gummy bags, or roped in boxes; in
| Vulnerable children carrying their
| share of the I4ares and Penates, ham
mers sticking out of coffee pots, and
| saws done up with sunbonnets. God
bless them! how they fare in the wild
West, what they do, and how they
| succeed will furnish the theme of an
| other letter. Next to the colonists come
| coaches marked Tourists The
| length of purse makes the difference
| between a tourist" and "traveler"
| Short purse enters the tourist sleeping
| cars, where there is every requirement
| for comfortable sleep;no staterooms
| in prilna vera nor upholstering in We
| lour frappe; no dining room embossed
| with Linconston Walton, but clean.
ventilated cars, with a good range in
| the kitchen where you can cook your
| own meals. The man who is sensible
| enough to be a tourist and not
traveller, will not dream that he slept
in marble halls, but he will have half
| the price in his pocket. However let
us go into the palace sleepers in our
| search after human documents. The
| late Mr.. Pullman has had nothing to
| do with the G. p. r. sleepers. They
| always build their own, and they build
| them as roomy and as breezy as the
| prairies, which is quite right Here
| you find your Louis Quinze, Quatorze.
and all the other Louis style of deco
| ration, Prima Vera and Vera Secun-
da, red-fgured mahogany and white
but what are these children of artistic
| imagination in comparison with the
| children of men? We look around
upon our fellow-travelers and try to
| decipher what Mr.. Spencer calls "the
! personal equation That dear old
lady, with face so sweet yet sad with
marks OF pain, surely she is making
her last venture to test the Hot
Springs of Banff for her twingeing
pain. Yonder callow youth, with his