, 1888-12-20
the PASSENGER TRAIN CONDUCTOR.
The Most ExactinE Position In the Ranks
of Railroad Employee


The Most ExactIng Position In the Ranks
of Railroad Employee
The passenger train conductor has
in many RESPECTS the most difficult
position in the railroad ranks. He
should be a first class freight conductor
and a polished gentleman to boot. But
in his long apprenticeship on a freight
train he has very likely been learning
how not to fulfill the additional re-
quirements fla passenger conductor
ship. In that service he could be un-
couth and even boorish and still fill
his position tolerably well; now he
feels tho need of a life time of tuition
in dealing with the diverse phases of
human nature met with on a passen-
ger train. He must now manage his
train in a sort of automatic way, for
he has his mind filed with the care of
his passengers and tho collection of
tickets. He must be good at figures,
keeping accounts, and handling
money, though the freight train ser
vice has given him no experience in
this line. Year by year the clerical
work connected with the taking up Of
tickets and collecting of cash fares has
been increased until now on many
roads an expert bank clerk would be
none toe proficient for the duties i'm
posed. The conductor who grum-
blingly averred that ut would take a
Philadelphia lawyer with three heads"
to fill his shoes was not far out of the
way.
Every day, and perhaps a number
of times a day, he must collect fares
of fifty or n hundred persons in less
time than he ought to have for ten.
OF hat large number a few will gen
orally have n complaint To make or an
objection TO offer or an impudent asser-
ton concerning n fault of the railroad
company which the conductor cannot
remedy and is not responsible for. a
woman will object 10 paying half fare
for a ~10-year-old girl or TO paying full
rates for one of 10. A person whose
income is ten times larger than he de-
serves will argue twenty minutes to
avoid paying 10 cents Gin cash)
than he would have been charged for
a ticket. Passengers with legitimate
questions TO ask will couch them in
vague and back handed terms, and
those with useless ones will take mop
perfume times TO PROFOUND them.
These are not occasional but every
day experiences. The very best and
most intelligent people in the COM
munity excepting those who travel
much) are among those who oftenest
leave their wits at home when they
take a railroad trip.
ALI these people must be met In a
conciliatory manner, but without
varying the strict regulations i tho
least degree. The officers of the reve-
nue. department are memorable mas
tiers, and passengers offended by
alleged uncivil treatment are likely to
make absurd complaints at the super
intendent,s Office. A conductor breads
an investigation of this sort, however
plants may be, because it may tend
to show that he lacked tact in handling
the case. But after becoming habitu-
ated to this sort of dealings, there are
still left the occasional disturbances
which no amount of philosophy can
make pleasant. These are the en-
counters with drunken and ~disorderly
passengers. The conductor, starting
at the forward end of his train, finds,
perhaps, in the first car one or two
''toughs" who refuse payment of faro
and are spelling for a fight.
Care must be taken with this sort of
character not to punish him or use the
least bit of unnecessary severity, for
he will, when sobered off, quite likely
be induced by a sharp lawyer to- sue
the railroad company for damages by
assault. The conductor, however, if
he be one who has Gin his freight train
experience dealt with tramps is able
to cope with his customer and confine
him to the baggage car or put him off
the train. But a tussle of this kind is,
at best, far from soothing to the tenn
per, and the very next a may con.
tain the wife of a millionaire, who will
expect the most genteel treatment and
critically object to any behavior on
the part of the conductor which is not
fully up to the highest drawing Don
standard. Experiences of this kind, it
can be readily imagined, are exceed
ingly trying. The conductor cannot
give himself up completely to learning
gentility, for he still has need for his
old severity.-B. B. Adams, Jr., in
Scribner's Magazine.