New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-13
RAILRoADS ANp SERKANrs.

If the daily revelations continue we shall
soon know the full enormity of the railroads
offences, for every newspaper brings us some
startling proof OF their total depravity. Now
we are solemnly assured by commuters that
they cannot keep household servants, ON ac-
count of the poor train service 10 the suburban
villages. Along the line of the Erie the house
maids cannot reach home from the city at
the conventional hour of 10 p. m. on their
Thursdays off, because the schedule Is not
adapted TO. this requirement Of every well reg
ulated household. Along the line of the New
York Central the housemalds comfort in the
matter of train schedule is indifSerenty con-
sidered. and the hreadwinners OF the families
are 50 irregular in reaching home for dinner
always due TO the lateness OF the trains-that
the cooks and maids Of all work eschew the
suburbs Damnable isn't it? No milder word
Will serve to characterize this situation
The mere publication of the facts regarding
this dreadful suburban suffering should make
the railroads bow their guilty heads Now that
they are processing contriteness Of heart and
a resolution TO reform, they should lose no time
in curing this evil. The suburbs must have
servants and we know of no severer Indictment
against the general incapacity of American
railroad management than the fact that the
suburbs lack this necessity. From the board of
directors and the president down to the lOwly
brakeman, there is no official Of either com
pany who can escape the blame for Bridgets
aversion 10 the suburbs We should have sup
posed that the first thing director would have
done-a director with a grain Of domestic sense.
who had q wife and had learned from her the
magnitude of the servant problem" who had
himself been ministered unto by those foreign
born angels who make the beds and cook the
meals-would have been to provide an excep-
tionaIly attractive Thursday evening service.
What are the brakemen and trainmen gen
orally doing that they fail to make the Thurs
day nights trip back from the city 10 the sub
urbs one dream of bliss for the Br1dgets, the
buxom German friuleins and the golden haired
maids from Sweden? Ii should be the presi-
dents business to see to it that the train crews
on Thursday nights live up to the highest stand
ards OF gallantTy. It is objected that there are
not enough trainmen the suburban trains.
This question we do not purpose to discuss in
general, but the Thursday evening trains should
contain an adequate crew equal to the emer-
gency.
This is only one way in which it seems to US
that the railroads fail 10 do their duty as COM
mon carriers of servants. Why shouldn't they
maintain employment agencies where life in
the suburban kitchen might be described in as
glowing colors as Is life in the suburbs in the
railroad handbooks and pamphlets on where
10 Live? Bridget, Gretchen and the rest might
be taught the joys Of living in the country, far
from urban microbes where the air Is fresh and
garden sass" may be had from the farmer
pedler's wagon. They might be inspired with
A love of nature, of beautiful scenery, of wood
land and meadow. of messy brooks and ro-
mantle dells and majestic hills where they
could stand and watch, as the poetic railroad
pamphleteer hath It, the tall buildings Of the
distant city assault the armament" The rail-
road employment bureaus should guarantee
free transportation 20 the company" of Bridget
and Gretchen at least three times a week when
the company" might wish 10 visit them in the
suburbs, so that these young women who are
the prop of suburban prosperity might not be
restricted 10 the consultations Of the love OF
nature. Moonlight watching of the scenic as
sault upon the armament is more than two
fold pleasure if enjoyed i'm "twosOmes.",
These are things which wise management
would have prompted any railroad to do with
out the necessity Of a suburban appeal TO
railroad commissions, state or interstate We
think. on the other hands that il is a fairly
debatable question whether n railroad should
Ic required 10 furnish TO every commuter. along
with his monthly ticket, a written bond agree
ing to keep the holder Of the ticket in domes-
tic servants during the month Our cOmpre-
henson of the duties of public service corpora
tons is growing. We had only a dim notion of
their scope in the unenligntened pass But =
sense OF fairness 10 the railroads restraints us
from accepting as jet the doctrine that rail-