Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-18
on THE WAY TO RUSSIA
Trip From London Long and Ex-
pensive.
TAKES OVER FIFTY HOURS
Costs More Than Twice as Much as It
Would in America.
CARE OF BAGGAGE IN ENGLAND
System is Regarded in That Country
az Superior to ours-Jour-
ney to Dover.
CARE OF BAGGAGE IN ENGLAND
Ely wIILI.ME cuRT1s.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record.
Herald.
ON THE NoRD EXPRESS. June %. 1906.
It Is long journey from London to Rus
STA and an expensive one. about as far as
from New York to Kansas City or Omaha,
and about twice as long and twice as ex-
pensive. It requires outfit Of tickets.
There are two fast trains week from
London with only one change OF cars at
the Russian border. which Is necessary be-
cause OF difference of gauge in the tracks.
All the Russian railroads are broad gauge.
The journey is advertised for fifty hours,
but It Is little longer. and the waits at
Ostend and at the frontier of Russia are
deducted, although that is not customary
in measuring railway time. You leave
London at . o'clock Monday morning and
reach st. Petersburg at 2 o'clock on We'd
nesday, with difference of two hours in
favor of the latter city, because of longi-
tude. The time might be shortened consid-
erably, for the train does not run faster
than twenty miles an hour after passing
east of Berlin and the waits at the stations
are long and frequent.
Passenger travel In Europe Ia about one
third more expensive than In the United
States. Second-elass rates about the
same as our frst-class, or regular rates,
while European first-class charges are
about 80 per cent higher and the charge
for sleeping car accommodations Is just
about double the regular Pullman tariff In
the United States. European passenger
rates need regulating very badly. and ii Mr..
Tillman would bring his pitchfork over to
Germany or Russia he would find plenty
of opportunities to use it. We are not the
only people afflicted with over-charges and
Determinations in transportation Every
shipper. wherever you so in all parts OF
the universe, has the same complaint to
make and the same story is told in every
civilized language. In all my travels l
have never yet discovered a railway Utopia
where the tariffs are satisfactory to all con-
cerned and where no determinations are
made. Great Britain Is supposed to be
tation arrangements are concerned, but the
other day heard indignant shipper as
sorting that he had to pay as much TO send
a package of goods from London to Can
terbury 1t cost him TO send the same
thing to Norway, and ne felt like pulling
the railroad up by the roots to get even.
In Germany on the government lines, as
well those owned by private corpora
tons, shippers find dissatisfaction for the
same reasons and | suppose 1t is also true
in France and elsewhere. In Russia the
government controls everything and Is ar
bitrary but just. The minister of commune
cation, Prince Khilkoff, who was educated
in America, knows his business. He Is prob
ably the best railroad man in Europe.
Sleeping Car Monopoly.
For these long journeys you get your
tickets in little books, about four inches
square, printed on pink paper, with one
leaf for every different railroad you pass
over, or for every division of the long roads
The sleeping car ticket is always as large
a passport-about the size of sheet of
foolscap paper-but most of the space is
taken up by rules and regulations printed
q, 1,rnn ~ tc,- arN1 fha
verse side is covered with advertisements
and list of hotels belonging to the sleep
ing car company in different parts of Eu-
rope. 1t is French concern and has quite
as much monopoly as the Pullman COM
pany. 1t not only operates the sleeping
cars on nearly all the railroads In Europe,
but also the dining cars. any number of
railway eating houses and hotels in Lon
don. Paris Berlin. Monte Carlo, Rome,
Venice. Vienna, Constantinople and dozen
other different cities. 1t owns the two
principal hotels in Cairo, Egypt These
hotels. and much other property, have been
purchased out of the profits of the sleep
ing car business, and yet none of the gov
ernments have ever attempted to pass
law reducing the rates which, as rule.
are more than double those charged by
the Pullman company for similar distances.
The regulations are very strict and often
offensive. For example. you cannot reserve
a berth in advance without paying for 1t,
and If you pay for it. you cannot surrender
1t in case something happens to prevent
your journey. The sleeping car agent will
sell it for you on his private account and
charge you 10 per cent commission after
every other berth in the train is sold, but
It will not be redeemed at the headquarters
of the company except for especial reasons
and under pressure from influential persons
in the government. on the stock market.
Once when / was on my way to CONSTANT
nople / was recalled about the middle of
of the journey and afterward sent In the
remainder of my sleeping car tickets for re-
dempton. l received a letter from head
quarters asking my reasons for giving up
the journey. When / wrote them that 1t
was sickness in my family they replied that
such an excuse was not sufficient. don't
think they would redeem ticket even IL
the passenger died. They would not con-
slider even that sufficient justification for
giving up journey.
A single first-class ticket from London to