The sun., 1873-07-10
CAR CONDUCTORS STORIES.
CoNFsssIoNs TO JoHY p PFfTfGRsv
AND GEORGE LAW.

tew more miserable men than the car conduc-
tors. They are generally men who are glum,
ihungry-look ing, ill-tempered, ,unkempt, and seem
Go be weighed down by some great care. 1t Is
, an effort with them 10 be polite and they collect
tho fares with the stolidity OF automatons. Nor
,mally they are like other men, but the overwork
which they are subjected to depresses their
spirit and the whole class seem to be chroni-
cally tired. Letters Of complaint from these ILL
used men, "a from every other class. have reach
ed THE sun and the proper pains has been
taken to ascertain the grounds Of such COM
plants.
The conductors life Is at best shiftless one
Men are appointed and disappointed by scores
daily, and at the stables Of the various lines
placard with Conductors wanted " on one side,
and Not wanted on the other Is always dis
played, and the men on the road consider them
selves safe only from one days end to the other,
A trip or two with an old conduct or educates
new man for the business. II Ia then his
friyiicge to wait his chance for a car. by
suspended. he at length II able To gain a car OF
bis own. The story II his life after this is told
by a conductor of the Seventh Avenue Railroad,
Ina communication to THE SuS, as follows:
We are compelled to work. says he, from
day. No one who ha- not tried it can realize
how utterly exhausting y is to stand on ones
feet almost constantly, fifteen hours a day, fire.
Grentiy for three weeks a. a time. Tho men
have no time either for recreation, mental inn
the daily papers, no time for proper attention to
personal cleanliness, In short. literally no time
tOr anything but To work anu sleep.
INSUFFICIENT TINE ron MEALS.
when the cars are running "on time" the
BarClav and Bronze street lines are allowed
about half AN hour each Tor dinner and supper
and the Seventh avenue line from twenty to
twenty-five minutes for dinner and ample time
FOR supper but as the cars manage to keep
on time an average of about three days In
seven and as the health OF the employees Ia a
secondary consideration, the lost time is deduct
ed from the mems time for meals. For inst tancc
should a car chance to get blocked In Church
street for ten or fifteen minutes In the trip be-
fore dinner, the conductor and driver have so
much less time for dinner and should the de-
tention last half an hour or more, as is very often
the case, away goes their dinner altogether. and
they are comtelled To- MI their stomachs with pie
cake, or whatever else they can carry In their
think no one sees them. for woe betde the man
who Is caught eating on his car Last winter,
when the detentions were SO frequent that we
could-yery often Mr. several days-make oniy
seven trirs instead of eight the regular num-
Der; scarcely a week passed that | Din common
with the other conducturSl was not compelled
20 work two or three days Of hfteen or sixteen
hours without eating ANYTHING. except when |
had an opportunity of buying a sandwich, which
was ALWAYS compelled 10 eat while my ear was
running; During the be-; spell Of last week the
grades regardless Of time, which obliged the
men to work considerably longer than usual.
No thought was taken ~ the men. Those who
had fifteen minutes for dinner were few and
fortunate; those who had i've minutes only
were not so fortunate. but were largely in the
majority. Inc conductors are compelled to
commence work at a different time every day,
thereby constantly changing their habits and
Any person of regular habits knows how nju-
rious II is 10 20 to bed, and get up, and eat at
same car every day. The conductors have the
same car only once IN four months.
=, TnE STREET CAR THIEF FACTORY
part of their wages. The drivers receive Sl.15
per day. lhe conductors receive only g, and
are therefore expected To- steal g. more. No
conductor who collects all his fares and does
not knock down more than e. day will ever
be discharged for stealing. To quote the Presi-
dents words to a member of the MIiter'R
family We do not pay our conductors enough.
day. Those who do not take more than that
consider pretty honest fellows. Those who do
take more we don't keep The Directors may
answer for making men thieves, compelling
their families suffer- "Oh, they say. 1.-THE men
wOu d steal II we paid them e. day" don't
believe any such thing. Let them pay their con-
ductors - day, with plenty of time for meals
and regular hours for work, and thcy VIII find
plenty OF conscientious. good men who would
feel an interest in studying the welfare Of the
company, and who would turn in every cent
the collect; hut they Will never cet men to work
for the interest Of the company a. long the
company works them ike slaves and treats them
like dogs.
II II car breaks down the conductor must not
IeaVe ~ untll men are sent from the depot TO
take charge OF 1t, be 1t one hour OF six. Then
he resumes his work after having lost one, two.
or three trips, and on pay day he finds twenty
hve cents deducted for every trip he lost while
he was wat,h hing the conlpany's property. In
case Of tre or detention from any other cause,
the same thing l. always done, In winter when
they are compelled to double up" the cars
rarely make over seven trips. The twenty-five
cents Is Invariably deducted for each trip lost,
even though; AZ Is GENERALLY the case, the men
have to work an hour or an hour and half
longer than their usual time.
Every man Is compelled 70 pay So for a cap
before he knows whether he will suit or not.
Many Of the men have large families, and as men
are very often told after working one or two
days that they do not suit, 1t seems on just
and reasonable that the company should lind out
whether the men they employ are fitted for the
work before making them 90 TO this unnecessary
Il mot tlaar .Yf
Ing the tint have been on the road where any
consideration was shown for the health or wei
fare Of the men. There l. no place provided for
the men who are On the extra list-no place to
sit and read, or smoke, or talk during the two
work, except airty six 10y twelve hole, fun OF
yermin and foul odors-so dirty that few con-
ductors enter II except when obliged to.
In fact, the general treatment Of the men Is
about the same as that Of the coolies on a Gu
ban plantation.
ON some Of the roads in this city the men
make only seven trips, and are better paid, be-
sides having ample time for meals: The Broad
way road have been constantly changing their
men for three years let them, as an expert
ment, try the plan Of paving the men fair
wages and treating them like human beings,
and they Will fnd plenty OF men who will be
glad 70 remain with the company and work
faithfully.
ExToHrIoN on THE EIGHTH AVENUE ROAD.
On the Eighth Avenue Railroad charge Of
son Is the Superintendent Of the road, and his
Bon Charley the starter. The son has full power
OF putting men on and on the line. and, accord
ing to the charge, this power affords him even
greater income than his salary. A conductor
who has been eleven years on the road says that
Mr Charley Wilson sells the cars to the highest
bidder and thereafter obliges the conductors
to pay him s. to so month IN order to keep
their places. This is adruitly managed" saws
the conductor. Charley doesn't say much, but
he hints pretts loud. II green fellow gets ON
the road End doesn't hand over the little pres
ent every month he is bounced Then he
goes to the father, who SAYS he Is short Then
u he says he'll make IL all square the father
tells him he shall 20 back 10 his place. Two
collections were taken from the conductors foI
500 diamond ring for Charley, The first money
was all collected, and one Of the conductors
was made treasurer and he ran away with II, and
another collection was taken for IT, Then twenty
conductors gave fl5 each, and bought diamond
pin for him which cost 500, and subsCrip ptiuns
were taken for $50 worth Of oil paintings, and a
gun costing $40 lhi- all comes out Of 81 day.
The same conductor who related the above con
fessed that he had pilfcred from the road for
the support Of young Wilson. lie continued
the practice year or more, in which time he
saws he gave to the Supcrintcndcnt silk dress
Tor his wife, which his sister brought from Ire
land, and an ONerCOat. lie gave his pfeUngs
of $40 month regularly 10 Mr.. Wilson in an en-
velOpe, which that person hastily put away, say
ing nothing about IL. lie at length confessed
everything TO his priest, WhO directed him 10
Mr.. Pettigrew, one Of the chief stockholders OF
the road and Mr.. Geo. Law, the President of the
road. The conductor stralghtway saw these
nnf pth th.rp pt tpra auuit "a Ia In,