Semi-weekly herald., 1914-11-30
EXTREME CARE USED
WHEN PRESIDENT TRAVELS
(By BURTON k. sTANDIsH.)

TO protect the travelling pubic to the
utmost OF its ability. But when
road has as its passengers the presi-
dent Of the United States it is doubly
solicitous Of that passenger.
Every ythmg must be snipshape-if
things Of railroadng may be so term
ed. The train that carries his special
car must be on time Its eonnec-
tions must be sure. There must be
no hitch Of any kind, and above all
danger even in the slightest degree
must be avoided.
To this end, every road that ever
carries president makes special Of
forts to protect his safety and to in
sure his comfort A special passen-
ger agent, one in whom the company
places highest confidence, travels with
the presidential train from Washing
ton to its destination. Moreover, no
other than the initial road train
master, or division superintendent
goes along to see that everything
runs as it should. They take no
chances Of an accident with such
valuable and valued passenger.
just as an example, President VIII
sons recent trip to Pittsburg may be
cited as showing the extreme careful-
ness with which a railroad places the
itinerary. In the first place, the pas
senger agent looked up the weather
reports the night before the trip.
They showed prospective bad weather.
Then The agent and the trainmaster
and division superintendent knew that
this might mean heavy fog up
through the mountain country between
Connellsyille, Pa, and Pittsburg. That
Of course spelled The possibility OF
danger.
What to do? They could not take
even the slightest chance OF block
ed road. SO early in the morning at
Connellsville tie presidential private
car was shunted off on sidetrack
while the president was asleep and
then it was hitched onto common
ordinary day coach and baggage coach
carrying 10 passengers except a few
railroad men and i group of newspa-
per men. The first section, that car
ried the presidents car as far as Con-
nellsville was allowed TO proceed "a
safe distance ahead, and then the sec
ond section proceeded In this way,
the railroad took no chances Of fog,
although as it developed, there was
no danger from this source.
incidentally on this same trip the
railroad made a remarkable record by
bringing the presidential train back
into Washington exactly 45 minutes
ahead of the scheduled time.
When it comes to comfort on hia
trips, a president has solid comfort
if indeed, there is such a thing
about travelling ON railroad trains. He
has a special car equipped with a
pleasant lounging compartment, where
he may read or write or rest. Then
he has bed room de luxe, with real,
life size, dyed-in-the-wo -wool-and-a-yard
wide brass bed. Moreover, when he
arises in the morning he may have
either his shower bath or tub There
is plenty of hot or cold water.
Then when he has completed his
toilet, he can sit down in the dining
room to a breakfast that cannot be
surpassed anywhere. Letchp is the
Pullman company's official chef 70
President Wilson en- route, just as he
has been commander Of the kitchen
aboard presidential cars for a num-
Der of years. And when it comes to
cooking-well, "Letch" gets all the
medals.
He can cook steak with a touch
of real art. He makes a jelly omelet
that is worthy Of poetry. And his
hot rolls, his fried chicken, his cof-
fee and other dishes are almost be-
yond description even by connoiseur
in the good things Of life.
But the president or rather the
treasury of the nation--pays a tidy
sum every trip. The railroad COM
pany charges % fares for the special
car mileage, and the Pullman COM
pany taelss on another s25 or $50 a
day for the car itself Then, Of course,
the eommissary department amounts
to fair sum. The secret service
pays its portion of the cars expense
inasmuch as its operatives, who guard
the president, occupy part Of the
ear.
A trip from Washington to the
presidents summer place at Cornish,
N. H., puts a crirap in the presiden-
tial travel allowance TO the extent of
500 or more President Wilson, how
ever, bids fair to have considerable
Of the $25,O00 travel appropriation
left over when he finishes the year,
ns he has not done much travelling.
In sharp contrast TO Wilson's travel
ing account was President Taft's. He
out only expended his annual con-
prczsional appropriation but was fore