El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-05-28

ably less than one-half cent per mile.
During the past year more than two
hundred million passengers were car
ried at that rate, and the traffic is
increasing greatlyIfrom year to year
As to the women passengers, those
of the first and second class have cars
especially for them A Hindoo lady
dare not show her face without losing
caste. and no Mohammedan woman goes
about without her head yelled. The
ordinary compartment for such people
has windows of blue glass, which per-
nit the women to look out, but through
which the men cannot see in. The
women come to the depOts in closed
chairs or palanQuins. The pull their
shawls over their faces as they walk
through the stations. and at the same
time may leave their ankles and calves
entirely bare. The ankles often have
rings of silver and gold on them. and
the slippers below may be of gold
thread. In some of the compartments
the windows are so fixed that the wo-
men cannot see cut. and upon one
train which took me up the Himalaya
mountains we had a car covered with
canvas as thick as the tent of a circus.
This was filed with Hindoo ladies
going up to Darjeeling- They were rid
ing through the finest scenery of the
world but for all that they might as
well have been tied up in leather bags
apd sent on as mail.
The Ants Eat the Ties
One of the greatest enemies of the
railroad in India is the white ant. This
insect eats the ties, the telegraph poles
and everything wooden 1t chews up
the posts at the stations. and if a pile
of timber is left unprotected it will
soon be carried away or so followed
out that IL drops TO pieces on touch
ing. have travelled thousands of miles
over India, and I have yet to see many
telegraph poles other than those made
of galvanized iron. The most common
pole is a tube three or four inches in
diameter, and about ten feet in height
This has iron brackets with glass in
SulatOrs. TO which the wires are fast
ened- In other places the poles are
made Of iRon rails like those used
for the road, two of such rails being
fastened together by iron bars a foot
wide In some of the stations the fences
are Of iron rails. and now and then one
sees fences of stone posts with barbed
wire attached
Railway Employees.
The general idea at home is that the
British hold all the offices of East
AHO4d- Inns Is not so. Many good
places are in the hands of the natives.
although the most important ones still
go to the British There are aItogeth-
er more than q half million HinSoos and
other East Indians employed son the
railroads They are the laborers who
build the roads. and at the same time
many of them have important posi-
tons in connection with the traffic.
There are Indian station agents and
Indian brakemen. with now and then
an Indian engineer. Not few of the
conductors are natives, and nearly all
the telegraph clerks are HindoOs or
other East Indians. who have graduated
in the government schools. Altogether
there are about 1000 Europeans and
10000 Eurasians employed. The engi-
neers receive good wages. the best or
them getting $500 per annum. Other
officials are on the whole poorly paid
and the laborers work for a few cents
a day. The employees on the roads
have much worse time than those
who do similar work in our country.
The heat is terrible. and it is not un-
common for engineers TO die of apo
plexy while handling a train.
Frank c. Carpenter.