Omaha daily bee., 1913-12-28
. The eorter .Uho [shes your bag expects

same is true OF water ice favored with
lemon, orange or raspberry. The fancy
kinds cost more and. If you are so ex-
travagant as to desire a portion Of char
lotte russo, big as you can buy al
most anywhere in confectionery store
for q nickel, the charge at the hotel will
be 10 cents. A slice of apple pic
costs 20 cents, deep-dish peach pie
costs 2j. and cup custard often costs
you % cent per person.
Tie rates in the dining cars on the
railroads are almost os high. 1 have
the bills OF fare from which 1 ordered |
my meals in the last few days. They
come from the leading railroads OF the
country and 1 pick out a few items at
random.
Meals on Dining Cars.
| Two lamb chops, 6j cents; scrambled |
| eggs with chopped toast. go cents; roast |
, beef with Drowned potatoes 70 cents
| phagetti, % cents; baby turnips. Is
cents; spring chicken, whole one |
7LJO; serloin steak costs 81; bacon |
and eggs, 60 cents, and two boiled eggs, |
25 cents. All soups 25 cents or more. |
and no orders are taken for less than |
% cents per person. One must pay at
| least 80 cents before he is allowed to
have bread and butter, without charge, |
on the side.
1t was in refreshing contrast to thse
a la carte meals that 1 found on one
Of the fast trains from Milwaukee TO
St Paul, the old-fashioned 81 dinner
that we used to have everywhere as
we rode over the country. These have
been discontinued on must of the lines.
and as the fast trains do not stop for
meals, one is forced to pay the high
priced a la carte rates or go hungry.
In order to show the difference be-
tween the old one-dollar dinner and the
meals Of the present, 1 have taken one
item from each of the courses on the
81 menu, beginning with blue points
and ending with coffee and cheese, |
and added up the prices OF the var
ious dishes as they are on the a la
carte list. The total is just $5.64. In
other words, the dinner which we used
to have for 81 now costs us more than
five times as much. If our pockets can
stand it.
Custom of Tipping.
In addition to these, the regular eX-
perses of travelling, is the custom OF
4 tipping which has swept over the
United States, north, south, east and
west 1t is common on the railroads
, and in almost every hotel, and there
are certain hotels where the tipping is
farmed out to outsiders. The streets
are given over to certain taxicab COM
, panies, whose charge is about that of
the regular rates, and the cloakroom
attendants are supplied out of the fees,
which the travellers give them. Tips
are commonly expected by the walters
. at meals, and the percentage which Is
commonly paid is higher in our country
than anywhere else in the world The
: lowest tip possible is 10 cents IL the bill
runs under 81, and 25 cents IL it is 1925
or more A fair rate for large bills is
considered about 10 per cent of the sum.
The fees begin as soon one enters
the hctel. The porter who takes in your
bag expects fee and you give from 10
2 cents to a quarter to the boy who shows
i you to your room. 1t used to cost from
so cents to 81 to get from your train to
Il the hotel and back. 1t now costs more
e than twice as much. The red-capped boy
d at the station expects % cents to carry
= your bag to the taxi and the taxicab
IS charges from 50 to - cents to the hotel,
9 while the driver looks for additional
q fee Then there is the 10 cents to your
e room and the % cents back to the taxi
IS when you leave. There is taxi charge
u to the train and another quarter to get
3 TO the cars. In London the initial taxicab
rate is IS cents and you can go a mile
A. or so for a shilling. Tuppence there is
Is equal to a dime here in the way of fees,
IN and fees are now less common than here.
la sleeping Car ExtOrtiOns.
70 Speaking of the fees on the trains, the
a sleeping car porters should be so well
paid that the passenger will not be ex-
pected to give % cents or more every
E. day In addition. The company which
70 owns most OF the sleeping cars is said
re to pay low wages on the basis that addi-
% tional sums will be given by the paasen.
l. gers. That company is now stocked al
Id $3.50 10000 and it has been paying divi
Is dends of per cent for more than TWEEN
he ty-tive years, In 1898 it gave its stock
% holders a stock dividend of 80 per cen
nj and in 1906 il cut another melon by which
he they received gratis another stoci
a dividend. of &c per cent. The stock O
this company has at times been wortl
no upward OF $50 on the market, and, never
40 theless, it expects the public TO pay 70
al the service of making up the berths 70
ts which II charges 81 per night
n News stand Graft.
M Another unfair tax upon the travein
Z, public is the extra charges at the news
a. ! stands Of the hotels and I'm some case
an at the railroad stations. In the Unio
ar depot in Chicago l picked up pamphle
IA guide Of that city OF the shape and siz
.n OF similar guides TO Boston, PHILADELPHIA
ono and Washington which sell for % cent
- There was no price mark on the Chicag
"a book and when / asked the newsma
q. told me the price was Is cents. l OF
jected whereupon he said: Il tell 20
the price is IS cents. II you don't bC
lieve me you can go to the stand at IN
ice other end of the station"
ish But what aoes the book cost iu tn
'ay stores downtown