,wp i pun ii mi i;-tv rwvmf
; -i ' ,
; ; . ' f ' '
r ',
j ' .
If
7 i
I. i ? f '
.
v vi
"AT EVERY STEP YOU MEET A I'HETTY
SWISS GIKL IN A WHITE CAP."
(Copyright. 1!to2, by Frank Q. Carpenter.)
I y ll't'EUNE, Nov. 19. (Special Cor-
I - I respondence of The Her-.) I
I M Iwinril a at fl It I n if Anwirl.Min In-
heard a striking American in
vasion proposition the other
day. Its enuneiator was Adolph
Frankenlhal, our consul at Ilerne. He
niado It In Jest, hut It might lead to matters
ofenrnest. It Is that our trust magnates
should monopolize Switzerland l'or money
making purposes. Frankenlhal says they
could turn the country Into a sightseeing
park and drain the pockets of tho world's
traveling public. They could buy the water
powers and thus concentrate Its indus
tries, and by the addition of electricity
multiply their cut put a hundred fold.
mdeid, the tourist business might easily
bo controlled by a trust, and with It th's
enormous hotel industry, which now an
nually brings In many millions. All that
would be necessary would be to buy thn
best of the hotels which control tho most
beautiful views and then to organize a
system by which cut-and-drled coupon
tickets could be furnished, taking tho trav
eler from his homo in Europe or the
United States and returning him there after
his tour at a fixed price. He could thus
know to a cent what his trip was to cost,
Tk nn, o,n,.n r, hnuf sr.
Tho Una uhlnli nnw nmnlint tn Bhnut
' ....
per cent of one expenses, couia be cut
off and the Increase
in
comfort would be
enormous.
This is the gist of Consul Trankenthal's
proposition. Since then I have looked fur
ther Into the matter and can give you some
facti as to the vast sum Switzerland Is
making out of the foreigners.
The hotel business In this country Is
enormous. Switzerland Is Just twice the
Ize of Massachusetts, but Its hotels and
boarding houses are crowded into a com
pass of less than half Its area. Neverthe
less it has 1,900 hotels, and it Is estimated
that there Is $120,000,000 In the business.
The hotels now take in about $30,000,000
a year and a large percentage of this Is
profit. About half of them are open all
the year round, and during the summer
all are crowded. Travelers to the number
of almost 3,000,000 swarm into Swltzer-
land from all parts of the world. They wan- xne snowy range of tho Alps broadens as
der about from hotel to hotel and from ono yo.u go upward and at last you reach tho
view to another, dropping their money at top wth one of the most beautiful views
every turn. Indeed, the receipts of tho 0f the world spread out before you. Ju9t
hotels during good years are more than below is the Lake of the Four Cantons,
the receipts of the government, and their with a score of Swiss cities and villager
army of employes is larger than our stand- dotting Its shaded shores, and all about
Ing army was at the beginning of the Span- you, walling the horizon, are the mighty
Un-American war. There are about 28,000 Alps, giving you a view of mountain
men and women employed in them, and of grandeur at least 120 miles long. The peaks
these 12,00 are females. f the Alps are covered with snow and
A trust could materially cut down the the snow lies in drifts and masses in the
cost of running these hotels, for it would rocks. In places It has formed mighty
buy things in quantities. As It Is now it Is glaciers, great rivers of ice, which are
estimated that more than $15,OOQ,000 a year slowly but Imperceptibly flowing toward
Is spent for provisions and help. About the valleys below. You are so high that
$$,000,000 goes Into the kitchens, which in everything is dwarftd. The steamers upon
one season consume $70,000 worth of cheese, the lake look like toy boats, the barns
$25,000 worth of tea, $500,000 worth of cof- and houses of the peasants have dwindled
fee and more than $100,000 worth of sugar, to the Noah's arks of the toy stores and
Jt costs the hotels every season at least the great hotels are dwarfed into cot
$3,000,000 for bread, $400,000 for butter and tages.
$3,500,000 for vegetables and Jams. All What a place for meditation. The gran
these things are bought In driblets, each deur of the mountains Is Indescribable and
hotel paying for Its own. The trust could you can appreciate the feeling of the cow
run a central supply station and make div- boy who, coming Into Swltzerlat d at n'ght,
Idendtf out of Its savings In purchases alone, awoke to find himself surrounded by thes
A general Impression prevails In the mighty hills. He gazed and gazed, wlih
United State that traveling In Swltier- tear In his eyea, and at last threw up his
Swiss Hotels as
land is cheap. I do not find It so. The
rates at the better class hotels are not far
from the rates at similar hotels In the
United States. None of the 1,900 hotels I
have referred to charge less than $1 a day,
and the ordinary traveler finds that his cx
ptnses run up to over $5. You pay bo much
for your room, and then, like as not, some
thiiiK more for light and attendance. If
you breakfast In your bed room nn extra
chargo Is made, and the beBt table d'hoi,.
dinner now costs a dollar and upward.
Everything extra' must be paid for, and
some of the hosts are little more than high
way robbers whose victims are traveling
foreigners.
I do not know that the railroads of Swit
zerland could bo acquired by any trust, but
they are certainly profitable. In litOO they
paid a net profit of over $11,000,01)0, and
their travel Is Increasing every year. Only
four years ago the government decided to
buy them, and the transfer of the lines
riom private parties to the state is now
i:ndir way. The roads, including the tram
way, have a length of nbout 2,501) miles,
and there are so many rack and cable lines
running tip the Bides of the mountains to
give access to the beautiful views that
Mark Twain Fays, "Every Alp has now a
lidder up lis back like a pair of suspend
ers." One of the nlccm things of the govern
ment railway system Is Its general season
tickets or passes, which Include all Switz
erland. The railroad companies will sell
you a ticket for two weeks, a month, a
quarter or a year which you can use for
that time on all the railroads and steam
boats of Switzerland. These tickets are
sold at fixed prices, and they have to bo
ordered at least two hours before leaving
time. You must furnish an unmounted
photograph of yourself, which Is pasted on
tho ticket.
A two weeks' ticket over all the Swiss
roads costs, according to class, from $7.r.O
to $12, and a imnthly ticket from $10 to $20.
If you travel third-class the price Is $10;
socond class, $14, or first-class, $20. For
three months the rati s are $24, $34 and $IS.
and for the year, $00, $S4 and $120. This
,nat for 120 you COuld Btart in on
January 1 and keep traveling day and night
Svvl8S trains and steamboats, with the
vcry bpst accommodations, until December
31 without extra charge. Such tickets are
... i -..I.- .I......
sold to anyone wnu im hh mi.
I like the Swiss railroads. The cars are
about the same as ours. There is a pass
ageway through the center, with doors ai
each end. The seats of the second-class
are upholstered in velvet; they are clean
and comfortable. The windows nre in
brass frames, and they can be dropped
down ou of sight when you wish to look
out. The express trains have dining cars,
called "wagon restaurants," and the din
ing car porter conies through and calls out
that dinner Is ready In French, English
and German. The Swiss roads are well
ballasted and well kept. The tracks nr
watched for avalanches and landslides, and
at every crossing stands a bareheaded girl,
with a red flag, to warn all that the train
is coming. At every station you find from
a dozen to a Bcire cf hotel porters, in
livery, each bearing the name of his hotel
on his cap.
These notes are writtf n at Lucerne, under
tho shadow of tho Pllatus and tho Rigl. 1
went across the lake to Vitznau the other
day and took a ride to the top of Mount
Rigl on olio of the first of Switzerland s
Klgl on OHO
, l llnAfl T la Ktillt nn 1hp Rnmu
'"' nu-o. -
. . a l nil..), llnnli Thn nnvd
principio as laai up i mu -- -"
ere open, and they are pushed by a little
engine behind.
Tha views are magnificent. There are
no sides to the cars and you rise slowly
above Lake Lucerne, which flows In and
out like a mighty river through the moun
tains you are climbing. Now the view U
hidden by trees, tall, lean maples wall tho
sides of the tracks and the banks are cov
ered with dandelions, daisies and red
clover.
Higher up the lake view widens, moun
tainous islands rise out of the water like
green monsters rearing their heads. Mount
Pllatus comes into view. Its sides arc gray
and hoary and tho snow iu Its crevice i
marks the wrinkles in its withered old
face. You crawl along ravines with precl-
DCes hundreds of feet below you
a Field for
I Jin wmmyt : S - t
Ur j 111 t - -K ' - ' : .
'EVERY ALP NOW HAS A LADDER UP ITS BACK, LIKE A PAIR OF SI S-IENDERS."
f .' j-V '. 7- N.
-""r" It
I :r 1 tt-i'rs-
MR. CARPENTER AND ENGINE
lint nnrl tn xtentorlan tones cried out.
tones cried
'Hurrah for God!"
Tho Alps have a beauty of their own
which in many respects surpasses that of
the Himalayas or the Andes, although the
latter ranges are more stupendous In their
grandeur. It is only the top3 of the Alps
that are bleak and bare. The valleys are
covered with verdure, and there are nests
everywhere in the hills good for pastures
and gardens. These mountains are of In-
calculable value to Europe. Dleak and bare
o il. w i. ki.
denced by the snow upon them, which
squeezes the rain from the winds, and
through the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube
and the Po elves Germany. Austria France
and Italy the water that makes their lands
tillable. It Is the Alps which furnish the
water for tho great river trade routes of
Europe and which Indirectly have made
this continent the most civilized and best
part cf the world.
The blot on the beauty of the Alps U
the Swiss tendency to turn every rock and
view and every cubic foot of ozene over
to the traveler at so much per minute,
The sublimity In God's mountains is ped-
died out for a consideration. There is not
a beautiful view unmarred. Every place
has its hotel. On tho very mountain tops
you find men selling alpenstocks and pic-
ture postal cards. On the Rigl I was offered
a genuine St. llernard puppy, ana was
shown kennels In which the Swiss raise
them to make money, out of the legend that
thev sometimes rescue lost tourists. As for
that, however. I learn that the St. Bernard
dogs have long since lost their Job. The
various hospices kept by the monks are
now connected with nil parts of the moun-
tains by telephones, and the lost party Is
easily found by the trackers going from
to P"8t'
ua lop vi me mgi is a uig uuici, mo
Rigl-kulm, where you can get a dinner for
$1 and full board for about $3 a day, and
there are other hotels scattered from the
hot tern all the w av to the top. If you eo
to sleen at the ton you will hear the toot
of an Alpine horn a half hour before tun-
Trust Operations
AT THE FOOT OF THE RIGL
rUe. waklne vou tin for the view, and
throughout the day a piper plays to the
tourists and comes around and pokes his
tin collection plate under your nose for
pennies. At every step you meet a pretty
Swiss girl In a white cap, who Inveigles
you Into buying pressed flowers and edel-
wels, and the picture postal woman has her
stand at every beautiful point, with half
tone reproductions of the same, which sho
offers you for two cents apiece.
Indeed, the postal card business is fast
,L ii , F!-
rope. There are thousands of stores on
the continent which sell nothing else, and
in Switzerland you cannot travel five miles
without seeinar a nostal card stand. Festal
cards are sold at the railroad stations, at
the drinking places, at every hotel and
restaurant and even In the postofflcea
themselves.
i mean by this there are stands In the
pestoffices, separate and apart from thn
stamp windows, which sell cards bearing
pictures upon which you must put an ad-
dltional stamp before they can go. Such
cards are found In all the department
stores at reduced prices, and boys and men
peddle them about the streets. In Geneva
I f aw a woman pushing a cart which was
loaded with such cards, and while eating
my dinner at restaurants outside the hotel
I frequently have made a man arop aown
a pacxage or caras on ine iao;e, leiung me
look them over and see if I don't want to
buy.
These cards have half tone engravings of
the public buildings and views of the vl-
clnlty. Some bear the coat-of-arms rf the
town, as in Berne, where the bear Is the
mascot for everything. Some, beautifully
colored, represent the types and costumes
of the neighborhood Others are com2
and 1ome "e fanclf,un' artistic. Some.
i v uvV "v ,
are indecent, and of such a character th'it
they would not pass through our mala,
but others are as beautiful as chromos and
suitable for framing. The cards sell from
1 to 10 cents. Some are In seta and
others single. Such cards are now made
in every country, and you can buy Ger
man, English, French and Italian cards
almcst everywhere. The most of the cards
have little more than a place for the
stamp and address upon them, the other
side being given up to a picture, with only
room for one or two lines in writing. The
card saves the trouble of writing letters
to your friends and at the same time en
ables you to show that you remember
them.
I have said that the business is a big one.
It brings the government of Switzerland
more than $300,000 a year in extra stamps.
Tho country uses about 4,omi,ii'U postal
cards for internal communications and l.'i,
(00,000 for the foreign maiM. This, at 2
cents apiece, brings in an annual revenue
of $;U0,0f0. and the car.ln sell fur at least
that much more. The people here use mere
pjstal cards in propori ini to their number
than any other nation of Eurt pe.
Switzerland has as goo.l a postal service
as you will find anywhere. It has about
16,000 postofllces ami abeut 2,oou letter
b:.xes, and it delivers mail to the very
tops of the Alps. The postal service does
many things that our ofilclnls would not
think cf doing. It acts as banker and ex
press company for the people. It will col
lect your bills for you and briim the money
to the house. If you live in Swilzeiland
and a man ewes you, sav $2, all you have
to do is to send him a bill for the amount
in a scaled letter with a wold or two to
the postofllce on the outside of the en
velope, and In addition a 2-cent stamp.
This stamp pays the postoflice for its
trouble in collecting and delivering the
money to you. The charge Is 1 per cent of
the amount collected. If the bill is $lo.
you pay 10 cents, and if $.".0, 50 cents, and
for this the money will be collected iu any
part of Switzerland. If payment Is refused,
however, the government will not enforce
the collection.
After the same mann.'r all sorts of goods
nre sent out C. O. It. by the stores and
farmers. You can order gcods of any store
in Switzerland and the postman will bring
you the package and fiend back the mi tiey.
Farmers forward their butter and chick
ens through the mails, and I know of two
American consuls who thus order live tur
keys, chickens and ducks. Consul Lleber
knecht of Zurich got his last yi ar's Thanks
giving tuikey from Austria thrcugh the
mails and sent back the money iu the same
way, and Consul Frankenlhal gets all his
fowls from the lower Danube. Th- y ar.
shipped through the posli.fiice and the post
men being the live fowls to his door and
returns the money to the Hungarian farm
ers who raUe them. If this could be done
by our postofilce what an opening it would
give the American farmer iu the direct sale
of his products to the consumers.
FRANK (J. CARPENTER.
Pointed Paragraphs
Chicago News: Every man knows that a
crank is some other fellow.
A ri pe often gets tight because that is the
way it is taut.
The man who U willing to help you U
usually unable to help himself.
It is a curious psychological fact that a
man can be in a dozen different minds.
Some men come into the world asking
"Why?" but no one is able to answer.
It is easy to have tho patience of Jo'o
wlr n tho boils are on some olher fellow.
The politician absorbs a lot of liquids in
truer to mane nimseir solid with the biys.
Avoid abbreviations in w rit Ing otherwise
you will get Into the habit cf breaking your
word.
Employes may not be mcddlesc me, yet
they are always minding somebody else's
business.
Policemen should be successful specula-
tors. eo many Bervnnt glrIa ,et them ,n on
)ne grcun,j floor.
, , , . , .
1,a,h struggles are sad, but they are
nothing In comparison with the struggles
of some people to live.
Don't snub a man because he lcoks green.
A watermelon has a similar look, but it is
8""Hy all right at hi art.
When some men talk, othrs are apt to
regret that automatic ear-closers have not
yet been placed upon the market.
Time files but you can't make tho man
believe It who is compelled to wait five
minutes for a train at a country station,
it
UllClC 1 " II 11 1 111 S JKlXllllS
A catfish on de line is wort a whale In d.
watah.
Ef yo' don't pull up de weeds yo' won't
dig up a crap.
Do hlghah de white lolluh de blaekah d
coiahed pusst n looks.
De biggest shoutah ain't de man what sees
de contribushun plattah.
When de 'possum thinks he's slyest he's
closest to de frylu' pan.
Sleep's mighty good, but de rabbit ain't
a-gwine to wake do gunnah.
Empty in' de pantry for dinnah ain't a-
gW'ne to sot de table fer suppah
Cole pertaters from yo' own patch is bet-
(ah dan ch fronj npighbor.8
Youths' Companion: De watermillion dat
Is greenest In de rind may hab de reddest
heart.
De man what's alters gibin' away giner-
ally has to go a-borrowin" to de man what
keeps what he gits.
