The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-04
MUCH SYSTEM IN TIE DINING GAR
Lots of Bookkeeping Necessary
 for Rolling Restaurants
CONDUCTORS THE CAUSE
For Every Ounce of Food Taken Out of Terminal Stores-How Com
 panies Prevent Waste and Provide Delicacies
From the New York Evening Post.

From the New York Evening Post. Travellers who have often heard "the
 last call for the dining car" paused
 moment when they read the other day
 about the young New York lawyer who
 had been poisoned by something he had
 eaten on one of these travelling restau-
 rants, and had died soon after.
 The incident was sufficient to cause re-
 mark. for. though people are often pois-
 oned in restaurants and hotels, even
 those of repute and excellence, 1t is un-
 usual to hear of such an occurrence on a dining car. No doubt the fact that sta- tionary restaurants are more plentiful
 than those that travel may have some | thing to do with this, but 1t would be unjust to the railroads to neglect to say that they take every precaution to serve their patrons with the best of food, pre-
 pared under sanitary conditions.
 Travellers, indeed, demand the same service and the same variety of dishes and wines that can be found in the best hotels, and this demand is met by the
 men who work in the little kitchens that | fly over the rails at the rate of mile
 a minute. And not only must they please
 their patrons, but they must render a strict account to the superintendent of dining car service--the man who Is held Irresponsible for its efficiency by the gen. | eral passenger agent and other high of- | fiicers.
 | It Is no sinecure to operate 40 or 30 high-class restaurants, when they are going and coming in all directions, but that is the task which faces the men who ,oib fNx- %ha 1i,I- % rious railroads It naturally follows that they must place great responsibility in hundreds of employees out of reach, that l they must make in1exible rules for their conduct and enforce these rules to the letter. Also they must eliminate waste
 and pilfering, and make their rolling
 restaurants show a profit A thousand
 and one details are involved in the work, and new problems must be faced daily. l Perhaps the most important part of the dining car service Is the -commissary
 station, which Is always located at 8
 convenient terminal. These stations are
 fitted with ice-ohests and every conven- fence for keeping supplies fresh, and
 they are prepared at any hour to furnish anything that will be used in travelling
 restaurant, from vanilla iavoring to tar ragon vinegar or champagne. from silver polish and cigarettes to squab and rack | of lamb.
 | All these things, amounting in value I to hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly, are entrusted to the dining car crews, which usually consist of con-
 ductor, chef, or head cook, four under cooks, and five or six walters for each car. The conductor is held accountable | for every ounce of salt. for every pound of beef he takes out. He cannot lose or ,4 fny, day | of the commissariat knowing it. That
 makes him exceedingly careful and he
 does not fail to impress his subordinates
 with the necessity of accounting for ev- erything that is put in the oven and served at the tables.