The Portland daily press., 1881-03-04
PRICE 3 CENTS.
Boston Herald.
Railroad Tickets.

There are few industries of such magnitude
of which so little is known as the manufacture
OF these Insignificant looking paste-boards,
which you pay so roundly for, before taking
ride in railroad train or ON steamboat In
point or extent the business is not much now
below that of the printing of the currency Of
the realm, or the production of the various
stamps of the general government, and equal
care and vigilance are necessary in an estab-
lshment where IS and SO bills are turned
out and where millions Of dollars worth of
railroad tickets are printed every day. Both
demand the employment of men Of wide expe-
rience in their calling, and of the very high
est standards of intellect and integrity, { nd
above these, the utmost vigilance is required
to guard against possible temptation to APP
propriate, for an improper purpose, even a sim
gle one of the many millions of tickets which
are handled by the various employees. Until
within the last few years the printing of these
tickets has been done in various sections of the
country, each road patronizing establishments
III their respective vicinities or conveniently
near their different headquarters. The West
ern roads, for instance, would have their work
done in Chicago, the New England roads ia
Boston, Springfield and New York, and the
roads on the Pacific slope in San Francisco
AS the railroad business of the country ad-
vanced aud became perfected IN organization
the system of one road issuing tickets OF the
coupon form over an indefinite number OF 9TH.
or roads became established, and thus not only
more tickets were required, bat there was az
once demand for their speedy and uniform
printing
About the first to observe this new source of
business and wealth was an Enelishman named
George Bailey, who is now recognized by his
followers as the pioneer railroad ticket priuter
of the country. He commenced the business
on an extensive scale in Buffalo, abou5
1860, and few years since retired with AN am.
pie fortune. By making the business spec
lalty, he soon secured the patronage of nearly
every railroad in this section of the United
States. He had machinery and presses built
exclusively for this particular line of work.
and, of course, revoutionized the whole BUSH
ness much to the disgust and financial loss OF
hundreds OF other printers in distant sections
But the business was too growing and prom
lsing to be long confined to single section,
and, through the genius and perseverance of
an indomitable Yankee, nearly one-half of the
railroad ticket business Of the country has
been secured to Boston. Over 100 railroads are
supplied with their tickets from Boston. The
number of passengers which any given road
may carry during the year, does not, by any
means, indicate the number of tickets which
tuat rOtu COuSuueS OrmS are often renewed,
and the old issues of thousands and thousands
OF tickets destroyed without being used. Ev-
cry ticket office, whether large or SMALL has to
keep on hand a far greater number of tickets
than there is likely to be any call for Probs-
bly, fifty tickets are printed against every one
that is sold. Thus, If road like the Boston
and Albany carried 10000, 900 passengers in q
year, basis of SOC, 100000 tickets would be re-
qaired to keep all their offices supplied
As before intimated, the presses and ma
chinery required are very complicated and ex
pensive. Ordinary printing paraphernalia
will not answer, for, beside printing the usual
face OF the ticket, every one has to be num-
bered and counted. This is all done automati-
cally by single impression, and common local
tickets are thus turned out at a rate of not less
than q, 900 an hour, and coupon tickets at q
speed Of about 5000 per hour. The local tick
cts, after they have come from the press, are
again counted by an ingeniously- y-contrived ma
chine, which never makes a mistake, and the
coupon issues are counted by girls All this
having been done the tickets are divided into
packages of 100 each, and when delivered to
the roads receipt for the exact number is re-
quired. Many roads from a distance, tele- .
graph their orders in the morning, and in the
afternoon 100000 tickets are shipped in re-
sponse. During the excursion season the es-
adjustment is often kept running day and
night. r'T