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Show CRITIC RAPS 0. S. PULLMANS Plenty of Baths in Hotels; Not Enough Wash Bowls on Trains I1Y GRANT R, GORDON Special Cable to the Standard-Kxam. Inor. (Copyright, 1 922, by the Standaid-Fxamlner Standaid-Fxamlner ) fMargot Asqulth has been condemning condemn-ing the American railroads as "barbarous "bar-barous Institutions" and now comes a French critic who says even worse things, especially abont our sleeping cars which differ so greatly from the Frenrh "wagon-Ill ' with Its many Individual In-dividual compartments. American travelers will recognize much to sympathize sym-pathize v. ilh In the recital ) PARIS, Feb 25. 'The thing that puzsled nie most about your country," said the Frenchman who hod Just returned re-turned from Anvrlca. "was the startling start-ling contrast between your hotels and vi hi r sleeping cars. "When I arrived In New York I went to a hotel that boaHted a private pri-vate bath for overy gue.st- When I traveled to Chicago I spent 24 hours Ina Pullman car that had four wash basins for fifteen men We herded j Into u tiny smoking compartment at i S a. m. and stood with our coats and waistcoats over our arms waiting our turn to wash and shave 'After the lavish privacy of the New York hotel the promiscuity of the American sleeping car Is disconcerting I assure you that when I contemplated the sleeping arrangements that first night on the train, with a score of people peo-ple of both sexes disposed on shelves rn i one vast compartment, separated only by swaying curtains my first Impulse was to pack my valise and alight at I the next stop. LIKE OPllI DSN "T overcame the wild thought, but as I laid behind that palpitating green I draper, and listened to the low even Ibrenthlng of those about me. I could 1 not help Imagining myself In some den of opium smokers, and thinking that 'only the stupefying fumes of some lul- ling drug could make such a situation tolerable t -, my ult ra-moriern American frbnds who build the hotel with 2 000 1 rooms 2.000 baths. "When finally the surprise of the j situation wore off. I d find another astonishing as-tonishing fact about American railway , travel and more than once longed ; heartily for Home poppy or lotus to : still my slumbers! I think I had lust lapsed Into nnronsclinifrif-Ji when : there was a violent shock of steel against steel. I could not be sure at first whether It was an earthquake or merely a collision between our tr-iln snd another I sat up In a cold perspiration per-spiration wondering lmpotently If It was worth while to make a gesture of saving mvpelf. To my surprise the car seemed to bo still intact there were no shattered glass or splintered wood, no twisted Iron. Not even the shrieks of the wounded and dying were audible. aud-ible. I pushed up the window curtain All that happened waa that the train had come to rest at a railway station. Soon, with more clanking and Jolttng the train started Its march westward. A dozen times that night I think the experience was repeated. The last tlm when I learned later the dining car was attached It seemed as ir Vulcan and his whole Olympian blacksmith black-smith shop wore endeavoring with gigantic gi-gantic hammers to pound the train to bits. DEKP MYSTERY "WJiy when the simple Introduction of spring buffers ut the ends of each car' would make night travel almost a pleasure Instead of a hideous tor- ture, do you practical Americans tol- erate such nerve shatterlngs It will always al-ways remain one of the deepest mysteries mys-teries of your mysterious land " The impulse to ask po frank a critic his opinion of prohibition was irresistible irresis-tible He smiled a faintly ironical smile before he answerevs: it Was In dry American that I got drunk for the first tlmo In my life,") he said. "Your compatriots, 1 believe, I the most hospitable people In the world. Everyone that I nvot Insisted 6n sharing with me whatever little stock of alcohol he could assemble, and with such an air of bestowing a truly regal favor that refusal was impossible. impos-sible. 1 'Anyhow.' he mused, "one must drink somcthlnk and between intoxi-f intoxi-f eating one's 'elf with distilled s-plrlts and wrecking one's digestion with lco water and fantastic mixtures of sweet syrups and Ice cream, the former Is' to be chosen without hesitation. "But don't Imagine I share the opin-j Ion of so man)' Americana that, the permitting of wines and beer would bring an end to the Illicit traffic In spirits Most of those I met had sup-' piles or whisky and gins and expressed a frank disdain for wine- 'Wine is no substitute for whisky any more than whisky Is a substltue for cocaine. "No, I sec no reason for a European to quarrel with America's decision on the prohibition question, on the contrary, con-trary, it seems to mo a distinctly American Am-erican trait to wish to reform the world In Its own image Americans, many seem to have the Idea that if you wero only more like America It vould bo far better off." |
