The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-26
NOVEL HOUSE PARTY.
Millionaire Has Arranged For Cost
 feet Journey Ever Undertaken.

From the 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 costlest rail- way journeys ever undertaken on this continent. Mir. Smith intends to take his guests-about 20 of his most intimate friends in New York society-to Mexico, Central America and back. The trip is expected to extend over 30 days, if the journey is all rail. and 15 days longer if part of the excursion is made on yacht. MT. 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 form of multimillionaire en- tertainment. When the owner of a palace yacht puts her in commission he figures on a certain expenditure for the year. A few extra guests cut no figure in the expense. With the railway house party a few extra guests may necessitate an extra car, and that swells the cost great ly. The host wants complete itinerary laid out for him by railway experts before he starts. He does not want his special train to arrive at some point unexpect-
 
 tracking 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 railway com panies keep a staff of men busy making estimates for special trips and of carry ing out the details when the estimates are satisfactory.
 Ta, Talh ybn dad nf the Vanderbilt girls, Is credited with be- ing the iniuator of the railway house party. He took party of IS friends across the continent three or four years ago, and thence from Oregon to Mexico. They travelled in a special train consist Ing of a baggage car. dining car, parlor car and two sleeping cars Every de- tail of the trip, every stop of importance on the journey, was arranged before the train pulled out of the Grand Central station.
 The average rate for special train on such a trip is $2 a mile. As Dr. Webbs train travelled 10000 miles he paid $20 000 In car fare alone. If MT. Smith cov- CTS 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 @ railway house party. Sleep Ing cars, OlIllnS CATS anu PdIloI Cdl cost $50 a day each for the entire trip. Assuming that MT. SmI.-- 5 trip lasts 30 days and he uses only five cars, it will cost him s7,500 for his cars alone. The railway company usually supplies the ser vice in it's estimate, although the host may take along his own chef 10 help him out, and perhaps his own butler. Ex- perience has demonstrated, however, that ordinary household servants are as much out of place on a railway train as they are aboard a ship.
 If a host supplies his own wines, s5 a day for each guest is considered a lib- eral estimate for food. Ths arrange ments for this are left entirely in the hands of the chef supplied by the com pany. For 20 guests the cost for food would be s1O0 a day, or S3,000 for thirty day trip. In entertaining on a railway house party the host Is expected to be as cons4Aerate 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 carriages O meet the train at specified points to take his friends sight seeing. A fair allowance for wines and incidentals is estimated at s2,OOO for thirty-day trip. The total would be some thing like this:
 Railway mileage ......s....'.''...''''szo Cost of special cars. rs..................... 75OO Cost of food .................,...... 5000 Wine and incidentals ................ 2,20O
 Total ........................ ''''''SS',VVo
 This if should be understood, is con servatiye estimate, and does not partcu- larlv apply to a man of MT. Smiths lav ish hospitality. It is more than likely that his railway house party will cost him in the neighborhood of s5o,ooo.