Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-11-22
Scalptng in 81. Paul.

| Share for Shafe-GeneraE Notes and
scraps.
Scdtping in 81. Paul,
II one is to believe the reports that are
current on the streets, and which are but
1he repetitlons of what the scalpsrs say of
the railroad people, and what the railroad
people say of the scalpers, tickets can ba
purchased over any of the roads LEADING
rom OF. Faul to the east for less than the
price fixed upon at the ticket offices.
The readers of the Gr
tvAan a. -sAs vas entered into he-
the Ch; INC lineage, Milwaukee & St. Paul.
Aha. l Ta st. Pae.i 81 Omaha and the
class tio1.a ioale' Axirg the price of second
for s sIs a' 800 ana fixing a penalty
naen+ raas, for less. This arrange
faction ted in complete dissatis-
aoreen ali around and local
st p .ent was entered into here in
mn Ani, between the same roads, for the
: pose of circumventing the festive seal
r,er,who was doing a very lucrative business
at the expense of some of the roads, which
appeared to be losing their grip on the
| business. Finally, after a good deal of
! trouble, new agreement was entered into
| between the railroads and some of the
scalpers. This arrangement did not op-
perate any more satisfactorily than did
the first one, and number of cases of vio-
| lation was proved under It, and ever
since the difficulty has been gradually and
| surely increasing until now, if the reports
| of the scalpers and ticket agents can be
relied upon, the price of tickets is really
| nominal, and everybody is trying to
get all the passengers they can at almost
| any figure. There is no telling how low
tickets haue been sold, but they certainly
! have gone good deal below the sum fixed
upon by the railroads.
The assertion was made yesterday, and
that, too, by railroad officials, that Dave
Grammar, ticket broker on Sibley street.
had sold twenty tickets over the Albert
Lea route to Chicago for a less price than
they could be bought for at the ticket of
flee. When the subject was brought to the
attention of Mr.. Whitaker, the ticket
agent of the Albert Lea route, he most in
dignantly denied it, and declared that it
was one of those old stories that the oppo-
sition routes were retailing about the Al
bert Lea people because the latter was
beating them so badly in regard to the
passenger traffic. He assured the GLOBE
representative that the albert Lea route
TOOK out the biggest train on Tuesday
night that was ever taken out OF st. Paul.
When Mr.. Whitaker was informed that
1t was currently reported among the scalp
ere and railroad men that the Albert Lisa
had been greatly aided in obtaining pas
sonasrs by Mr., A. z, johnson, the en-.
grant agent, who has en- Sfic6 in the Sec
ond story over the Office of the Albert Lea
people, he was very much
annoyed and could see no good reason for
such unjust aspersions upon Mr. johnson.
He declared it was impossible for the lat
ter to have done SO without being detected,
but in reply the G1eBE man informed Mr..
Whitaker that the difficulty was not as
great IS it at fDst seemed. Mr.. Johnson,
1t was said, had an inside track arrange
meut with the steamship companies, and
he cosld put in the price in saca q NOV
that it would be impossible H. s.rro 10y
just how much he s.s for the rail
roao rare and how much
the steaT.ship expenses we're.
IL osp.g impossible to separate the two, Of
course nothing could be ascertsinsd about
the scalping. 1t was kind of blind pool.
Mr.. Whitaker denounced the circulation
of such reports as shameful. The Albert
Lea route, he seid, was pursuing its own
straight, forward course, and if in SO doing
1t got the largest share of business it was
as good thing as he wanted, and it was
NOT necessary for him to enter into any
swindling arrangements.
This is what Mr.. Whitaker says, but the
,, ticket brokers and some of the regular tick
ct sellers declare that the statement
that Johnston has been playing into the
hands of the Albert Lea route is true, not
withstandIng the denial referred to above.
The brokers are very free in talking
about the matter, and do not let out
any railroad office, but include them all,
| and assert that they are all cutting, one as
much as ae other, according to their
| ability. Each one, they say, is striving to
get the largest amount of the business.
and all resort 10 the same sort of mauip-
ulation to ''get there" As to the scalp
ing business, they declare there is less of
1t than people thought there
was, and that defeated roads are very apt
to take hold of this '-hue and cry"
In regard to the extent of the scalping
done here in st. Paul, there is no denying
that it is quite extensive. The principal
| thing after all, is to ascertain what is to be
the result of all this matter. Many think,
or profess to think, that it will result in
| regular rate war, but this is not regarded
as at all probable by those whose opinions
| are the most valuable. When they have
violated the local agreement until there is
not enough left of it to violate, they will
have the general managers agreement
to encounter. The best opinion is that
there will be no rate war of any conse-
quence here, but that the rates will con-
tlnue to be cut, and that there will be a
sharp local rate contest all along for some
time.
The AIfeged Sale of the 5ranitobn