Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 212, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1912 — STOP CRUELTY TO TRUNKS [ARTICLE]

STOP CRUELTY TO TRUNKS

- ' >■' ' ' Ml • .-Pag.; •. Railroad Brings Millenium Nearer by Supplying Cushion Upon Which Baggage May Drop Palnlesaly. By devising a cushion upon which trunks may be dropped painlessly, the Cumberland railway in Pennsylvania almost persuades us that the millennium is at hand. Thousands of summer tourists who effectionately kiss their trunks goodby after strapping and roping them in eighteen directions will offer up a prayer that the Cumberland plan may be universally adopted before another year rolls around. The. new cushion for the prevention of cruelty to baggage is made of pieces of airbrake hose mounted on ash strips. This mat can be dragged wherever a car is to be unloaded and affords a soft lighting place for the precious trunk stuffed with milady’s finery. If some kind genius will only devise a pneumatic-cushioned truck upon which baggage cau be loaded and will provide pads to be placed between the trunks when they are piled high as the tower of Babel in transfer stations a great strain will be taken off the nerves of travelers. Baggage-smashing is the most cruel of trades. The butcher isn’t half as brutat in his methods as the baggageman. Here's success to the Cumberland railway official who Is trying to save passengers from the awful sounds which the baggage hustlers produce, every time a carload of trunks Is turned over to them.