An Awful Mix-up

1920

By W. D. Boyce (W. D. Boyce's Talks)

Two years ago, when the United States was in the middle of our active part of the European war, the railroads of the United States became so disorganized and inefficient and the service so rotten that the Government had to take them over in order to save the day. Now, when things are getting back to normal again, it is stated that the railroads will be returned to their owners about March 1. Prior to the Government taking them over, the railroads had to do their own financing and prepare for the payment of interest on bonds and dividends on stocks as well as provide for the upkeep, repairs and new equipment. The facts are that they paid out all they took in during the year in interest on bonds and dividends on stock in order to keep up the fictitious values of bonds and stocks. As a result they let the railroads run down so much they were in no condition to supply the needs of the country at the time that the Government took them over.

Now the Government has spent a billion dollars or more on the railroads and has increased freight rates 50 per cent and the railroad officials, if not the stockholders, are glad to get them back. Some of the railroads, however, seem to be disturbed concerning their return and predict they will not get back the same baby that they turned in to the Government hospital. This the cartoonist for The Saturday Blade has tried to show on page 1 this week.

It is a very serious question whether the railroads should be owned by the Government or be restored to private ownership. Private owners have had the chance to demonstrate in times of peace what they could do with the railroads. They had the same opportunity in times of war and made an absolute failure of it. Now they will get the roads back in times of peace, but with a dividend guarantee which will require another big boost in freight and passenger rates. The public will have another chance to watch the operation of railroads by private owners in times of peace, and, unless I miss my guess, after a thoro trial they will insist that the Government take over the roads permanently.

No doubt many things which the railroads should have done under Government operation they did not do. Remember that the Government was obliged to keep at the head of the road those officials who had been at the head of them under private ownership. There is more than a suspicion that many of them did not care to do their best in operating them because they wanted the roads returned to private ownership and if a good showing was made they never would be handed back. Now we will be in the position of Finnegan and it may be a case of "On again, off again, on again, strike again."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 6.

Ocean Heart

1907

The throbbing, and vibration of the engines of a modern steamer have a most extraordinary effect upon the human heart.

Let it be said at once that ocean traveling does not in any way injure the heart; on the contrary, it benefits it, with the general health. But the vibration of the machinery is transmitted to this vital organ with the most extraordinary results so far as medical examination is concerned.

A ship's doctor will tell you that when he listens through his stethoscope to the beating of a man's heart at sea it seems as if every moment the heart would stop. With sturdy and invalid passengers it is just the same. The heart appears to the doctor as if every beat would be its last. This being the case, it is exceedingly difficult for the physician to ascertain the true condition of the traveler's health, and he generally resorts to the expedient of slinging his patient in a hammock, where the vibration is considerably lessened, though no device can overcome it altogether. — London Answers.

Author of "Flying Machine" Poem Sees First Airplane

Author of "Darius Green and His Flying Machine"

1910

John Townsend Trowbridge Wrote the Poem 40 Years Ago, and the Whole Country Laughed

Boston. — Among the thousands of persons who witnessed the recent aviation meet at Boston there was no more interesting spectator than John Townsend Trowbridge, author of the poem, "Darius Green and his Flying Machine," which made the whole country laugh 40 years ago.

Despite his advanced age, 83, Mr. Trowbridge journeyed from his home in Arlington, Mass., to this city in order to take his first look at a machine which had been his dream from boyhood — a machine which would fly. He was introduced to several of the aviators, among them Glen Curtiss, Grahame White, Wilbur White and others, and the old gentleman was immensely pleased to meet them.

When Mr. Trowbridge wrote about Darius Green, 40 years ago, no one of that time expected to see a flying machine that would fly. There were lots of machines that wouldn't, but the idea of usurping the realm of the birds carried something uncanny with it. The baleful results of experiments of those times were always looked upon, more or less, as deserved.

Speaking of the days of Darius Green, the poet says: "I never dreamed when I wrote that poem that such a thing as a flying machine was possible in my time. I never had the thought of actually seeing one. While I have never attempted to build one, I have followed the aeroplane development from the first, and it has always seemed to me that the greatest factor and the hardest to overcome would be the motive force.

"I have never known that there were such powerful motors, and motors so light, as they are now using. They were a revelation to me. I don't care to make any prophecies as to the future, but it seems to me that the large machine for carrying passengers is possible, and only a matter of time."

Traveling Second-Class in Europe

1907

What It Means to Ride Second Class on the Railroads

A delusion of the guidebooks is the advice to ride second class on the railroads of Europe. It is often pointed out that first class and second class are frequently but divisions of the same car, and this makes a great impression on the inexperienced traveler, particularly if his purse is limited.

Lauding at Plymouth, Southampton, Havre, Cherbourg, Liverpool, you are at once conveyed to London or Paris on "steamer trains," under the same excellent conditions that have prevailed on your trip, but thereafter you are at your own resources, and if you are wise you will not only travel first class, but you will see to it that your seat is always engaged well ahead.

If you travel second class between cities that correspond to New York and Philadelphia, say where intercourse is frequent and numerous, you will most likely have to stand up in all second class compartments. To get a second class seat between Vienna and Budapest, for example, is about like boarding a train for Coney Island at Brooklyn bridge on a summer Sunday afternoon, and if you do get a seat somebody else sandwiches and sausages on your lap.

Another point to be remembered is that in Europe you cannot engage a whole sleeping compartment for yourself, as you can here. You have to show a ticket for each berth. Therefore it behooves the person traveling alone at night to seek out before arranging the trip some suitable companion or for parties of three or five or any odd number to make similar provisions. — Travel Magazine.