The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-11-28
BAGGAGE ABROAD.
The Sipshod Method of Handling 1t In
Great Britain.


Great Britain.
Even moderately enterprising
American Is not infrequently aston
,shed at the conservatism Of the Brit
ish people, shown in their long ana
ouiet submission to shiftleSs and dlla-
tory methods of business. While in
some respects and directions the Eng
lishman is much our superior and can
teach us valuable lessons in demand
ing and securing at all costs his per-
sOnal rights, in others the patience ana
stolid Indifference with which he SUD
mits to laundering methods and actual
abuses which might easily be correct
ed are amazing.
lust now the British public is going
through its semioccasonal fermenta-
ton over the absence Of any efhclent
system upon the railways of the king
dom for handling the baggage OF tray
elers over their lines, and this may
serve as sample and illustration of
what we have said. The American
public is so accustomed when setting
out upon a journey, long or short. to
make a formal transfer of its baggage
| to the railway company in moments
time. placing responsibility for its safe
delivery at the end of the route and
| furnishing means Of mutual identifi-
cation of property, owner and pubilc
carrier, all by single act, that 1t can
| not easily realize the fact that Britons.
who still persist that their railway
| systems are in all respects superior to
| ours, are almost totally lacking In
| methods for the protection and identi-
| fication of the baggage Of the travelling
public.
The American system, originally sim
pie and good has been improved untn
a traveller with much or little baggage
| may receive checks for each piece III
his quarters in hotel, say in south
| western California, dismiss all thought
| Of it from his mind and make his jour
ney to his home in Maine assured that
his belongings, though never seen en-
route, will faithfully follow him all the
way and will meet him at his journeys
end. In the very rare cases when his
| baggage is lost he will receive full
compensation for it.
The traveller In Great Britain deliv-
ers his baggage to the railway COM
pany at the outset Of his journey, but
gets neither check nor other means of
Identification In return. The company
assumes no responsibility. At the jour
ney's end it is dumped from. the lug
gage van. or baggage car, upon a plat
form in a huge mass Of similar parcels,
from which the owner or any one else
may hunt it out and carry it away.
First come, first served" is literally
the rule. The word Of a thief IS of
equal weight with that of the proper
owner, and one stands an equal chance
with the other of gaining possession OF
valuable trunk. In case Of missing
parcel the railway company denies all
knowledge Of the delivery of ~ such
parcel to it, and the owner has neither
check nor any other means of proof
that he made any such delivery. Small
wonder that thefts of luggage increase
from year to year and that the con
slant rumble of complaints grows occa
sionally into threatening uproar. The
British method, to honor 1t with q
name which it hardly deserves. pre-
supposes degree of common honesty
which the facts do not justify.
Thus far no acceptable remedy has
been found. For some inscrutable rca
son British railway managers will no
adopt the American system, though {
majority Of them have personally tax
en- advantage Of it and their patrons
have in large numbers been demanding
1t for years. Perhaps they will even
tually make use of it. When they d.
we shall expect to find them soon afte
its adoption insisting that it originated
with them.-Rochester Herald.