The Pulaskian., 1917-02-02

Often you will hear someone com plaining because they are charged three cents per mile passenger fare and often do you hear the kicker" complaining of a certain aervice or about the equipment used. n some instances these complaints may be well founded. but in any number of cases you will find the complaining person has slightly exaggerated the facts not because there was any de sire to do the railroad company in- jury, but due to the frame of mind the particular person was in at the time of the occurrence unfavora= ble opinion formed which requires persuasive argument to change. If a train is two or three hours late, due to some cause entirely beyond the car riers control, and the delay is such control, and the lay is such as rend- CTS it impossible to determine the ex- act hour of arrival, and you have waited in a station lighted by oil lamps only-you are generally in pretty bad frame of mind when the train does arrive and are rather in- clined to see the gloomy side of life temporarily in case of unfavor- able weather, or because you were unusually anxious to get home or to your destination early, things will look all the darker and when you re fer to the incident you will most like ly follow the dictates of your first impression"
 [ am inclined to the view that we too hastily eriticise and do not always do justice to our carriers. We never give them credit for their efforts to relieve our discomforts, no matter how hard they may try. The average passenger train in this country with out doubt far surpasses that in any other country, and as a rule they are equipped with everything that is nee essary to make travelling pleasure. Contrast any passenger train you have ever ridden on with the following de- scrfption of travel in Europe, for which we have good authority, and, mind you, this was before the war:
 There the traveller has his choice of three different rates of fare, and all three apply to the same train. He may go first class, for which the charge is about doube the rate eharg- ed on the American roads, he may go. second class, for which the fare will be about the same as charged on American roads; or, he may go third class, which is based on a lower mile age charge than in America. The great bulk of passenger traffic in Flu ropean countries consists of three classes, but no American would con- sider travelling in these third class coaches with their abominable accom- modations. The seats are hard wood, uncushioned, the floors are bare, and the passengers sit huddled together, smoking, sleeping, more like animals than human beings. The caboose of the American freight train is luxu- rious as compared with the third class coach of a Continental railroad, and, while the English lines are lit tie better, they are still far below the average equipment. The American traveller has the benefit of comforta ble coaches to ride in, while in tho European third class coaches they ride in small compartments which contain ten passengers each, one-half of whom face the engine while the other half have their backs to it, the space between the benches being so narrow that the knees of the passen- gers touch. To add to the further discomfort of the traveller these third class coaches have no toilet accom- modations. The five compartments into which the coaches are divided are locked before the train starts, so that if the compartments happen to be filled motion or relaxation of position is impossible for the traveller.
 The American traveller is given free transportation for 150 pounds of baggage, while in Europe he must pay extra for this, and in good many of