The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-28
PULLMAN CAR DOOMED.
Patents Have Expired and the New
Sleeper Is a Wonder.

1 NRGN 4OIk 1ISSS.J
The Pullman company turns out be-
1 tween 700 and 500 sleeping, dining and
| combination cars annually. Railroads
| are forced to haul these cars over near
! ly 100000 miles Of track and pay big
| rentals for the privilege" The rentals
! alone amount to about .$a50,000 a year.
/ The road that does not carry a Pull
man is severely handicapped. The
] company pays per cent on a capital
1 Of $74.0O0,00U. For nearly forty years
/ the roads have been in abject slavery
Of the Chicago concern, All rivals have
| been swallowed up. Patents have been
swallowed up. Patents have been an
| nulled, competition has been sup
| pressed. Today, however, the Pull
man trust is practically without a pat
| ent, all having expired. Any road Is at
| liberty to build its own sleepers, and
a few systems have made a success
/ OF It.
There is now-sfter years of litga-
| tion-anOther Richmond in the field, a
| palace car far ahead of the Pullman
| as the Deutschland is ahead of the clip
1 per ship Of half a century ago. 1t is
! periodically called the Columbia, and
| is in operation between New York and
i Philadelphia. For several years il was
/ used on Canadian roads, but now that
/ It's standing has been settled by the
/ courts and the natioTal government
/ has allowed ali patents, it has become
an institution of the United States. A
! contract was made a few days ago for
/ twenty Of these cars with one of the
| leading railroad systems OF the country.
| Seeing is believing. At Jersey City
| you enter a beautifully decorated par
! Tor car containing some twenty-five
| comfortable grass chairs on a green
and white carpet. The windows are
| broad, high and numerous. The chairs
| are portable. A laVatOry at one end is
so spacious that four women can make
! their toilets at the same time. at the
| other end are most ample accommoda-
! lions for men. The Kitchen, buffet,
| cOld-storage, linen Closets etc. are
generous. But there is not the remOtest
! hint, sign or suggestion of a place TO
sleep. You bought q berth check, but
there is no berth. Yet you are assigned
to this car. It looks queer. You begin
soon to wonder where you are to rest
your head.
Want to go to bed, sir?'' The po-
ntest Of porters is Mason. a graduate
OF Amherst college, black as the ace
of spades. chief demonstratOr Of the
| Columbia under the tutelage of r. L.
/ Spencer and J. II. Plummer. Which
carr" you ask. Right here, sir. AL
| low me to move your chair" A space
as long as berth and as wide is
| cleared on one side of the car. and two
| trap doors are lifted to a vertical posi-
| ton, forming a section from the top to
! the bottom of the vehicle. Mason, hav-
| ing provided himself with a hand brace
| about three and a half feet in length.
| a wrench instead Of bit forming the
| business end, attaches 1t TO a counter
| sunk nut and bOres away Up from
/ the depths-a cast steel chamber be-
near the fioOr-rise two exquisite beds,
/ ready made for the occupants; white
| sheets. big, clean pillows. white blan
| kets, felt mattresses as light as snow
| flakes, and steel springs under all.
Watch in hand, you time Mason. IN
| exactly one minute and twenty seconds
| the two berths are ready, the section
| inClOsed with curtains. The chairs?
| had almost forgotten TO say that two
are placed on their sides in the steel
/ chamber vacated by the berths, where
they remain until the section is re-
| turned to it's hiding place When all
the berths are made up there is not a
chair In sight. It takes the average
! Pullman porter from twenty to thirty
minutes TO make up the old-style Pull
/ man berth. And what do you get? A
| board called a blanket, weighing about
thtrtY-flve pounds Gin hnagination),
| made Of horse-blanbet material and of
a color guaranteed to show no dirt, two
little dabs of cotton called pillows.
Did you order a brass bed on the Co
lum.bta? Mason gives his brace a few
J turns when, Phoenix-nke from the
ashes-that is, from the track rises a
dainty little affair ready for conveying
you into the arms Of Morpheus. Ny,
ny! Think of the advanced possibili-
ties Of Harlem fiats Screw pour bed
out OF the floor at night, screw it back
IN the mOrningi When all trains are
operated by electricity Mason will press.
a button and bring up berths and~brass
beds in less than forty seconds.
Steel chambers under the car are,
strong and perfectly ventilated de-
lightfuny warmed, dustpFoof, cint1eE-
proof and InothDDoof. The fresh air
| stTealdng through cleans the bedding.
The stowage in these receptac1es of all
bedding and the absence Of weightya
compartments In the top of the car
lower the center Of gravity ito the point
| of safety, The Columbia viii never
| topple over. The Pullman rolls down
embankments and often lands bottom
upward. The Columbia weighs 5000
pounds less than the Pullman of like
design. Mr.. Plummer says that he Is
willing TO go into a collision with the
Columbia as his battleship. and win
u 1AAON5AN7a " AOAD IAN VI u44HlesuS'
You enter the Columbia, finding it a
parlor-chair car. Suddenly it is con-
verted into a sleeping car, and as sud-
denly casts off the aspect of the dormi-
tory and becomes a dining car. Forty
men can smoke in II hour after hour
without offending the non-smoker. By
some peculiar trick OF ventilation the
smoke disappears through the roof.
The Cramps are thinking Of adopting
the device of under-1oor bed recepta-
Giles for the ships of the navy. AS all
new vessels are electrically equipped,
an officer will be able to operate his
berth by pressing q button. The dis
appearing bed wifi greatly enlarge his
| quarters. No more folding beds. couch
beds, etc. No more stationary hunks.
WORSE THAN EXPECTED.