The St. Johns herald., 1889-10-31
RAILROAD CONDUCTORS.
One of Them Tells of the Inequalities ant
 Trials of the Work,

Oue or IkeIn 1e1IS or the IHequ7laueS anu
 Trials of the Work,
 ''I have been a railroad man twenty three years and a conductor ever since l could work out of a brakeman's po- sition." said a conductor at the Polk street depot yesterday. Il have had through runs and have served my time in suburban service, and think l know most of the difficulties and an- noyances which conductors. expert ence. In moro senses than one our position is not enviable. We are re- qui ed to be polite and attentive to passengers, and, while most of us want to be, we find it a pretty hard task. We are held responsible for the safety of the passengers and of the train, and are blamed for things for which we are not at all at fault. In short, we are between two fires, one at headquarters and the other right on the spot whenever and wherever any, body takes Q notion to kick.
 There is all the ference in the world between the work of different conductors. The men who have the long runs on express trains have the easiest time. unless you except the conductors of emigrant trains. who have nothing to do but take up tickets and not hear questions. On the lin- ited express trains that stop but few times between here and New York, for instance, the conductors work is not comparable witt that required on an accommodation train. The one conductor can sit down most of the time. the other has to go through hjs train between stations regularly. The men working on suburban trains catch it the worst, and yet many conductors prefer these runs because they en- able them to be It home mo 6. This stopping at every third or fourth street like 8 horse car, when the danger Of accident from careless ness or indifference is greater than on the through routes, is one of the things that mako the suburban serv- ice any thing but desirable from 2 conductors standpoint. People don't think that going back and forth is trave;ing, and they ge'. careless. They stop and chat till the last moment and then get off after the train is under way. Now. Mary Jane, you will come and see me, won't you? And bring your work and the baby and-.' By this time the train has started and we are expected smilingly and gal.antly to help the lady off and throw her bundles after her. This illustration is not forced. It is enacted every day on the subur- ban roads. The greatest annoyance on the through routes, of course, is the asking of questions often natural enough in themselves, but reiterated by one passenger after another till the thing becomes so stale as to be almost unbearable. Often one passenger will make inquiries, and in less than ten minutes somebody in full hearing of my answers will ask substantially the same questions. l have seen times when Iactually thought people were guying me by making their inquiries.
 1t would naturally seem that the men having different routes should get pay prOpOrtionate to the work required and the privations undergone. This however, is not the case. The pay Is uniform, whether we lire at home or have to board part of the time at a hotel, as we have to do when our runs arc long. Con- ductors get better pay than they used to Now our pay runs from S83 to S100 per month. There is 6 growing cus- tom of paying conductors by mileage which affords them much better wages than the ordinary method, aud l ap- p eherd that this plan will some day prevail. In point of remuneration l think conductors have seen their worst days"
 "How about the opportunities for cribbing?'
 In that regard they have seen their best days The conductor who tries to pocket fares to-day is fool The inge- nui,y of railroad managers is too high y developed to permit the cribbing that nee was so common. The conductor who attempts to get rich at the com pany's expense will be tripped up b. fore he has got even the cornerstone of hi5 fortune laid. Chicago News
 PORCELAIN VERY SCARCE.
 Vows Which Will Be Discouraging to