[Illustration: Bedroom and observation section of a costly private car. This car represents the apotheosis of railroad travel]
But one of the most convenient features of the Pullman service is the ease with which the traveler may reserve in advance accommodations on the train which he intends to take. In the ordinary railway coach it is a rule of "first come, first served" and the late arrival is often obliged to take a seat with a stranger. By the Pullman system, however, a call over the telephone or a stop at the local ticket office is all that is necessary to make as definite reservation of space as for a theater, and the traveler is wroth indeed when in rare instances a slip occurs and he finds his seat or berth has not been held for him and has been sold to another.
Naturally so general a convenience has led to rank abuses from which the passengers invariably suffer. Chief among them is the practice of hotel clerks and porters, especially in large cities and at summer and winter resorts, to reserve far in advance all the desirable Pullman accommodations on popular trains in the names of supposititious travelers whom they claim to represent, and later sell these tickets to the hotel guests at a premium or for the tip which invariably follows.
By such practice the distribution of space is placed in the hands of outside parties, out of the control of the railroads or the Pullman Company, and the traveler is obliged to look to these irresponsible individuals 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 in the mind of the passenger who has been unable to secure a "lower" on early application at the ticket office, but was able perhaps to secure one at train time from the unused tickets turned in by hotel porters. Naturally the feeling is created that the railroad or Pullman agents are holding back space for a tip or a favorite, and "playing favorites" is never popular with the public.
There are several good stories told of the action of the Pullman Company in cases where they "had the goods" on the offending hotel porters. As the company is in no sense required by law to make refund, but does so only for a convenience to its patrons, it is possible to refuse to make a refund if the case justifies the action. At a popular watering place an enterprising hotel employee figured out that on the day following Easter a large number of guests would leave on a certain popular train. Accordingly, like the theater "scalper," he purchased outright a large block of tickets on this train, in fact, every lower on the two Pullman sleepers. Fortunately the local agent of the company sensed that there was something "rotten in the state of Denmark" and made provision for two additional sleepers beyond the usual two which travel warranted. Being able to secure satisfactory accommodations direct from the agent the passengers failed to patronize the hotel porter's be-tipped and premiumed wares, and he, "stuck with the goods," tried a few days later to throw them back for refund on the Pullman Company. Their refusal cost him an even hundred dollars and broke up a peculiarly bad condition in that particular locality.