The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-03-12
Millionaire Has Arranged For Cost
lest Journey Ever Undertaken.
(NeM Ynrk Pressl

New York Press)
The 'peripatetic" house party that
James Henry Smith, the silent multi
millionaire. has arranged for Lent, will
include probably one of the costliest
railway journeys ever undertaken on
this continent. NJ. Smith intends to
take his guests-about twenty of his
most intimate friends in New York So
clety-tO Mexico, Central America and
back. The trip is expected to extend
over thirty days. if the journey rs all
rail-, and fifteen days longer if part of
the excursion is made on a yacht. Mr..
Smith does not much care. so long as
he returns TO the city in time to carry
out his plan of sailing for Europe to-
ward the end of May
The railway house party is the most
expensive for of multi-millionaire en-
tertalnment- When the owner of a pal
ace yacht puts her i'm commission he
lSureS on certain expenditure for the
year A few extra guests cut no fig
ure IN the expense. With the railway
house party a few extra guests may
necessitate an extra car, and that
swells the cost greatly The host wants
a complete itinerary laid out for him
by railway experts before he starts.
lie does not want his special train to
arrive at some point Unexpectedly,
with no provision made for Side-track-
ing and no carriages ON hand with
which to take his guests sightseeing to
places of interest. There must be none
of the friction of railway travel that
the ordinary traveller looks upon as a
matter of course The principal rail-
way companies keep a staff of men
busy making estimates for special
trips and of carrying out the details
when the estimates are satisfactory.
DR.. Seward Webb. who married one
of the Vanderbilt girls, is credited with
being M q
party. He took a party of eighteen
friends across the continent three or
four years ago, and thence from Ore
.gon TO Mexico They Travelled in
special train consisting of a bagga ge
car, dining car, parlOr car and two
sleeping cars. Every detail of the
trip, every stop of Importance on the
journey. was arranged before the train
pulled out of the Grand Central sta
ton
The average rate for a special train
on such a trip is 81 a mile. As Dr.
Webb'S train travelled 10000 miles he
paid $4,000 in car fare alone. If Mr.
| Smith covers in the cars the route
which is said to have been laid out for
him his mileage tax will be larger.
But the fares are by no means the
only expense of a railway house party.
Sleeping cars, dining cars and parlor
cars cost 500 day each for the entire
trip. Assuming that Mr.. Smiths trip
0
cars, it Will cost him 1900 for his cars
alone. The railway company usually
supplies the service in its estimate al
though the host may take along his
own chef 70 help him out and perhaps
his own butler. Experience has demon
strated. however, that ordinary house
| hold servants are as much out of place
on railway train they are aboard
a ship.
If a host supplies his own wines, s.
I a 1ah sc
liberal estimate for food. The arrange
ments for this are left entirely in the
hands Of the chef supplied by the COM
pany For twenty guests the cost of
food would be 800 per day, or 81. 600
for thirty-day trip. In entertaining
on railway house party the host is
expected 10 be as considerable of his
guests as he would be in entertaining
them in his country house. His parlOr
cars must be supplied with magazines
and newspapers. He must have car
riages' to meet the train at special
points TO take his friends sight seeing
A fair allowance for wines and Incl
dentals is estimated at 81. 600 for a thir-
ty-day trip The total would be some
thing like this:
Railway mileage S25 600
Cost of special cars ........... 1900
Cost of food NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 5000
Wine and mcidentals o.. .... 1000
Total Observation-Disclosures. $37, 600
This, it should be understood is a
conservative estimate, and does not
particularly apply to a man of Mr.
Smiths lavish hospitality 1t is more
than likely that his railway house par
ty viii cost him in the neighborhood
of