The story of the Pullman car . se with which the travelermay reserve in advance accommodations on thetrain which he intends to take. In the ordinaryrailway coach it is a rule of first come, first served and the late arrival is often obliged to take a seatwith a stranger. By the Pullman system, however,a call over the telephone or a stop at the local ticketoffice is all that is necessary to make as definitereservation of space as for a theater, and the traveleris wroth indeed when in rare instances a slip occursand he finds his seat or berth has not been held forhim and has been sold to another
The story of the Pullman car . se with which the travelermay reserve in advance accommodations on thetrain which he intends to take. In the ordinaryrailway coach it is a rule of first come, first served and the late arrival is often obliged to take a seatwith a stranger. By the Pullman system, however,a call over the telephone or a stop at the local ticketoffice is all that is necessary to make as definitereservation of space as for a theater, and the traveleris wroth indeed when in rare instances a slip occursand he finds his seat or berth has not been held forhim and has been sold to another. Naturally so general a convenience has led torank abuses from which the passengers invariablysuffer. Chief among them is the practice of hotelclerks and porfers, especially in large cities and atsummer and winter resorts, to reserve far in advanceall the desirable Pullman accommodations on popu-lar trains in the names of supposititious travelerswhom they claim to represent, and later sell these [142] Digitized by Microsoft®. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® OPERATING THE PULLMAN CAR tickets to the hotel guests at a premium or for the tipwhich invariably follows. By such practice the distribution of space is placedin the hands of outside parties, out of the controlof the railroads or the Pullman Company, and thetraveler is obliged to look to these irresponsibleindividuals for his accommodations. In addition,the tip or extra fee increases the cost of the ticket,errors in duplicate sales are made more frequent,and a critical and unfriendly feeling is created inthe mind of the passenger who has been unable tosecure a lower on early application at the ticketoffice, but was able perhaps to secure one at traintime from the unused tickets turned in by hotelporters. Naturally the feeling is created that therailroad or Pullman agents are holding back spacefor a tip or a favorite, and playing favorites isnever popular with the public. There are several good stories tol
Size: 1222px × 2044px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorhusbandjoseph18851938, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910
