Omaha daily bee., 1888-11-04

gagged at night. Owing to the half-rate
granted after o'clock, Il great volume
of business is then done, and in addition
to this the inconceivably large amount
of news published by the morning news
papers goes over these wires from city
to city until late in the morning.
All this enormous lot of work re-
auires many skillful hands to exc
cut it; in fact, some of the
trustiest, the most dextrous Of the craft
have night sits. There are fifty night
operators in Omaha, and among them
are some very skillful men at the keys.
AS q general thing, young men fill
these positions, but many gray head
is to be seen bending over the board, as
he maintains the monotonous song
click click-click - click click-click
click-click, throughout the long dreary
hours of the night. The hours of
the ight-telegrapher, however, are
short, as they should be. Seven and q
half hours is his allotted time, and for
all work performed over that time he
receives extra compensation.
Several years ago the Western Union
brought on disastrous strike by lOp-
ping off this extra recOmpense, and tor
time the company was run entirely by
''plugs" and ''sticks," but iteventually
restored the extra. Telegraphers rs a
general thing, are bright and intelli-
gent men, fine penmen, and good
readers, yet occasionally "ham" creeps
within their ranks, as he does in those
of all trades and professions.
The newspapers furnish an army OF
night toilers-editors, reporters, print
ers, pressmen, messengers, mailing
clerks, proOf-readers, stereotypers, jan
itors, and so on. The three morning
newspapers in Omaha furnish employ
ment for probably 200 men and boys, a
little world within themselves, of
which, of course, THE BEE supplies the
greatest number. The majority of
these are the printers. AS a rule the
print" is pretty bright fellow, up
and up on politics, sports and current
matters. He can converse intelligently
and readily. The lease" is a curricu-
lum that would shame that Of many a
college. The halcyon days Of the tramp
typo are gone apparently forever In
most the big cities, and decency and
sobriety are the essential qualities to
the securement and holding OF a''sit"
nowadays.
The barkecper and the gambler, too,
must be rated among the toilers of the
night, ''but not now so much as they
used to be-" as one OF the
former observed to me last evening.
The midnight closing law, which is n
good one, has cut down the numbers of
the former thousand-fold, so much so,
in fact, that they cannot be classified
with the masses OF all-night workers.
Their labors cease at IL O'Clock, that is.
active work over the bar, and, after q
hasty "reading up'' Of the bottles and
glasses that have been in constant use
all through the evening, they doff the
white apron and vest, take night-cap,
and go home like any other ordinary
citizen. Yet there are all-night houses
yet, right here in Omaha, quite num-
ber OF them, who, in spite of police sur
veillanoe, run and ply their unlawful
traffic. Several of these shops have a
pull with the roundsmen, who know the
way by the back door, and who utilize
their knowledge by frequent trips that
way. Whisky, to policeman in these
places is always free. He drops
in, sneakingly, of course, nomi-
mates his liquor like man intend
ing to pay for it, hoists it, smacks his
lips, and with pull at his glove, re.
marks ''kihd o. sharp out ter night"
and walks out.
No more either is the gambler an all
nighter. Like Othello, his occupation
Is gone except on the quiet. The faces
OF the high rollers" and the skins"
and the "pikers" and ''sure-thing men"