Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-01-21
ter word to use when speaking OF In

tti "oIu 10 use NNtn speaking OF IN
dia conditions.
The railway system is excellent.
Architccturally considered. the Vic
torla station OF the Great Iudia Pen
lnSula Ry., at Bombay, is credited
with being the finest in the world.
1t is Il beauty. The rails are of
heavy steel and the roadbed is rock
ballaStcd. In fact, in the town the
entire yard is covered with rock.
Those who went to Agra, S43 miles
from Bombay, say the road to that
point is equal to any we have in
America. Undoubtedly it is the
same from there to Calcutta. The
running time of the Bombay Calcutta
train is trifie Ovor thirty-three
miles an hour including stops. Fare
Is cents a mile tirSt-claSs and from
that down until the fare for native
servants is about One-sixth first-ciass
fare. Bombay has an excellent
Street-car system. 1t was a horse
car line until about three years ago,
when it was secured by American in
tereSts and electrified. Since that
time it has been sold 10 English cap
ltaIists. The fare is anna q cents.
SO here is where Tom johnson ought
to be. The funniest thing to me is
that no register is used but when
you pay fare the conductor gives you
| Il receipt. This you must keep so as
to show it to an inspector if he hap
pens TO board the car you are on.
AS each one has to be punched show
ing from where to where YOU travel.
1t takes considerable tine Imagine
an American railway system doing
this during the rush hours. Just
think of the expense for receipts. |
guess it must be the only way to pre-
vent the natives from stealing too
much. The receipts are numbered
and the hour is punched, but no date
appears, and it seemed to me it
would be easy to beat the company
out OF fares, but the crowd is never
so great but what the conductor sees
you get on and collects the fare.
In all the buildings in course of
erection | did not see a single eleva
tor for holStin. material. Presum-
ably the wage is so low it is less eX-
pensive TO use manual labor than ma
chlnery. On one building of six
stories they were hosting the stones
to the top with a block and tackle.
Three men were on the ground and
the man at the top assisted. 1t was
SLOW work but they got there just the
same. The stone is soft and is cut
with a saw much as we would cut
wood. When exposed TO the
weather ii hardens. While it does
not look like sandstone evidently it
i is of that nature. The scaffolding is
the funniest | ever saw. If some of
our builders were to see them they
would certainly have heart failure
1t consists of poles bound together
with rope. Sometimes they are
bamboo, but again you will find them
of solid wood. | have seen the ma
tives working on these round poles
apparently as unconcerned as though
they were Oh solid ground. The
stairs from floor to floor, inside or
outside, is just two poles wrapped to-
gether with rope and across which
are poles similarly bound. The ma
tives go up these as unconcerned as
we do on the stairs at home.
| guess the native servants must
be bad thieves Judging from the rep
utation they bear and the checks
with which payment of money is
surrounded. Either that or the
English have cumbersome way of
transacting business. | mentioned
the giving 4 receipt on the street
cars and | did not mind that so
much. went into the hotel bar and
had drink of lemonade. gave the
attendant more than sufficient to pay
for it. and soon he returned from the
cashiers desk with my change and a
receipt for the cost of the drink.
Again, | went into the newspaper Of
flee and bought paper. threw
| down the correct amount but the
paper was not given to me until a re-
ceipt was made out and this and the
paper here handed to me. Next |
purchased some ice cream-juSt q
dish and the usual receipt was
forthcoming. In fact, everywhere
the Europeans were operating stores
there you would get receipt
When | purchased postage stamps
at the postotfice | felt as though
something was lacking when | did
not get receipt with them.
To be Continued.