Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-05-05
TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESS.

tCI vi COulSC. OO SOOh w thOy w
come part and parcel of our every
day lives, that it is not until the
many factors which contribute to our
comfort are taken into account that
we realize our dependence upon
them.
Twenty years ago the American
railway manager had just pride in
what he had accomplished. A vast
territory of productiveness had been
provided with facilities. Towns and
cities had sprung up, thriving indus
tries had been established and the
future held great promise.
AS the country grew and prospered
and traffic increased, facilities had
improved amazingly and the public
were provided with service so vastly
superior to that of earlier years as
to excite actual wonder.
A few years ago passenger train
equipment had reached a point be-
yond which there seemed little room
for improvement. Roomy, hand
somely decorated coaches and chair
cars, dining cars. in which meals
were served equal to those of the
finest hotels, buffet-library cars
from which passengers might obtain
for the asking the latest products of
famous authors, magazines and cur
rent periodicals. sleeping cars COM
bining every detail tending to the
pleasure Of the most fast. dious,
seemed to compass the sum total of
travel comfort.
Then came the application of cleo
tricity. Each berth in sleeping cars
was provided with it's comforting
individual light. Electric fans were
added, insuring pleasant breeze on
the warmest day.
The Rock Island Lines were among
the first to bring their fast trains up
to the new standard and it's officials
improvements. 1t was their aim to
supply their trains with every con-
ceivable detail of comfort and con-
venience.
Plans were drawn for observation
library-buffet cars which would not
be used for sleeping purposes, but
which might be devoted exclusively
to comfort. At tremendous ex-
pense number of these were con-
structed and placed in service, and
their enthusiastic reception by the
public was instantaneous.
The question of ventilation had
always proven q vexatious problem.
Approaching the importance Of prop
er sanitary conditions and pure air,
the Rock Island management INSTALL
ed ventilating device which proved
so successful in this respect that 1t is
being put into very general use, and
gives promise Of effectually inspiring
pure air and an absence of all odors
In dining cars. without the discom-
fort frequently attending efforts to
produce the same results under FORM
er conditions.
Much progress has been made in
other directions, until today such
trains as the Rock Islands Rocky
Mountain Limited" on it's one-night
trip between Chicago and Colorado,
and the Golden State Limited" on
its three-day journey between Chi,
cago, st. Louis and California, COM
bines every comfort, convenience and
luxury of the well-appointed club.
with the coziness and refinement of
home. There are expert chefs to
delight the palate, well-trained
walters to serve skillfully, expe-
rienced BARRIERS, Wallets to press cloth
ing and courteous porters to do ones
bidding. Libraries of selected fic-
ton, current magazines and period
icals, stock market reports, and tele-
phones-cOnnected at terminals
and separate writing desks for ladies
and gentlemen, are details which
make the journey itself real pleas
ure.
We are certainly in an age of pro-
gress. This Is evidenced by the in
itial expenditure Of about one million
dollars for the most approved steel
passenger equipment by the Rock
Island, as announced by the Chicago
Record-Herald and Tribune of Feb
ruary 18th. The cars will be prac-
tically indestructible and will with
stand any possible shock to which
they might be submitted.
With electric-lighted steel equip
ment. steel bridges, heavy rails on
well-ballasted. carefully maintained
roadway. and automatic block sig
nails. what is there left?
The steam locomotive may in a few
years be supplanted by electric mo-
tors and the airships may take the
place Of both, but in the meantime
the American traveller has at his
command such facilities as beggar
the widest flights of the imagination
OF our grandfathers and at an ex-
pense which indicts the proprietors
OF the old stage coach lines with
highway robbery.