Ill 



WASHINGTON D.C. 



RAILROAD travel in the United States is a very 

 different matter from railroad travel in Great 

 Britain. The imperfections of our railway system 

 at home are the constant theme of all who hold 

 no railway shares. One says that they should be 

 nationalised ; another that they need to be Ameri- 

 canised. That governments do their work more 

 expensively and less efficiently than private enter- 

 prise is the sad conviction of those who take note 

 of such matters, and, as for Americanising our lines, 

 fifteen hundred miles of railroad travel in one week 

 assured me that American methods would com- 

 pletely fail in England. The conditions are wholly 

 different. Our longest journeys at home are so 

 brief, that the run between one terminus and the 

 other would be no more than a stage in America. 

 We feel fatigued after a run of hours ; the American 

 spends days and nights on the track. We call 

 ourselves busy, and take what we call express 

 trains. The American tries to arrive before he 

 starts, reckless of risk, feverish to be first in the 

 race. In memory of one or two dreadful railway 

 accidents at home during last year, in one of which 

 a number of Americans were the sufferers, I feel 

 some hesitation in calling attention to the admitted 

 frequency of " wrecks " in that country. The 

 officials are less to blame for this sacrifice of life 



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