Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-09-25
o The scALPERs.
A New and Queer Race of People Brougl
Into Being BY the Railroads.

ss- ONe -
A New and Queer Race of People Brought
Into being By the Railroads..
Only those interested and connected
with the railroad business have a
knowledge of the extent to which tho
understanding business has developed.
The business is a most peculiar one,
and possesses points which arc intri-
cate and very hard to understand. In
fact. there is no regular system, as
each person in the enterprise has a
different method for doing his own
business, and then departures from
his established rules are necessary
at times when the disposal of a ticket
is concerned. ST. Paul has its brok-
ers; just as sharp ones as are in
Kansas City or indianapolis, the two
toughest scalping cities in America,
with the exception of Chicago, which
does not count.
The work of the scalpers and their
clerks is to prevent people from
buying their tickets at the authorized
ticket-ofices and sell at their own
Office tickets which are quite often
secondhand. They always agree to
sell at a lower figure than that charged
by the railway tickctagent. and they in
variably do. The railroad companies al
ways allow them a certain commission
on every ticket they sell over their
respective roads, and the scalper, as
an inducement for passengers to go
by his route, divides his commission
with his customer. Scalpers in st.
Paul have been known to be so
generous as to give their eastern
commission to the passengers as
an inducement for him to buy from
them. When there is a rate war
the scalpers generally lay in a large
stock of tickets at a low price. and
when rates are restored they can make
a rate that surprises the general pas
senger agents and ticket agents Of the
roads. They have broker friends at
st. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago.
and when they have not through tickets
in stock (tickets reading to points be-
yond2the places namely they give the
person a letter of introduction to their
agent in those places, who furnishes a
ticket through to destination.
The railroad companies persist in de-
claring the scalpers o nuisance and an
evil, but they appear to be a necessary
evil, for the first thing a railroad com
pany looks out for in St. Paul is to have
a good scalper-one who can tell a
straightforward, up-and-down yarn
without cracking a smile, and have a
purchaser take it as though it was
sugar-coated. The paying Of comm s.
sions to scalpers is being seriously con-
sidered by all railroad companies in
the country, and it is very probable
that commissions will be abolished. Il
this happens the sealper will have tc
depead entirely on the revenue received
from the profit on scalped tickets,
This would have the effect of driving q
number out of the business, as the de
creased revenue would not support then
all. A dozen years ago all ticket
were unlimited mes. : When the rail
road companies proposedlimited tcket:
their effect was felt, as it prevented
scalping at localpoints. Theunlimited
ticket has q number of coupons, any
one of which the holder could detach
and present to the conductors; but the
limited prevents this. as the whole Of
the ticket has to be presented to the
conductor for passage to destination.
The old style of tickets made it a very
easy thing to commence the brokerage
business, but now that the limit is shorI
the tickets are mor difficult to handle.
Lately the railroad companies have
been using an ironolad ticket, which
requires the purchasers signature when
the ticket is bought. and again the pur'
chaser must sign in presence of the
agent of the connecting line on his re
turn trip. But this appears to be q
very unpopular method. and within the
past few months the system has been
almost abolished, and will in time be
done away with, as now the lines run
ming from Chicago to st. Paul and the
lines from Kansas City to St Paul arc
selling round-trip tourist tickets at 6
very low rate, stamping them on the
face signature and Identification not
required" When the lines at Chicago
and Kansas City sell these tickets it is
with q perfect understanding that the
tickets are to be scalped at st. Paul.
The same thing is done to and from
every point in the..United States. Thi;
goes to show that if the railroad com
panies did not approve, assis
and protect the scalpers theil
names would be Dennis. They coule
not exist. A ticket scalper is really
a middleman between the railroad
companies and the public, OF rather il
st. Paul they are a medium through
which the railroad companies sell thei
tickets, and generally all railroad com
panies will howl and call a tickle
scalper a demoralizer of the rates whe,
no really could not cut any rate with
out their consent. They do this. how
.. ever, to throw the burden off their owl
: shoulders. There are somany railroad
! running to competitive points in til
. . United States that the long lines meal
y to compete with the short lines. an
:. put tickets on sale by indirect route
> as cheap as the short lines do, whic:
!, naturally scalps the local points o
! this line. There are points on tn
i Northern Pacific Railway where ticket
, can be bought to Chicago via St. PAT
as cheaply as to st. Paul proper.
> The consequence is that the passer
! ger buys to Chicago, and on arrival i
! St. Paul scalps the part of his tickle
l reading St. Paul to Chicago. and there
by gets back a portion of his fare toSt
PAIL. This ticket is held by the scalpe
L until someone comes along an