Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-29
Scalpers Laugh at the Limited
Tickets and Say Only Law Can
Break Up Their Business.
CONGRESS Is CLOSELY WATCHED.
Freight Agents Look for Big Shipments
Tomorrow When the Reduced
Rates Go Into Effect.
BIG BONUSES PUZZLE OIL LAND OWNERS
Dealer Tells HOw Grapes Are Bought by Sample in
the Auction Rooms.

"All this railroad talk about knocking
out the ticket brokers is SO much rubbish, %
remarked prominent passenger man yes
:erday. "This has been the pet scheme oi
the leading railroads for years, and they
haven't succeeded yet. and won't, unless BY
Congressional enactment. At every passen-
ger meeting someone is ready to pro-
pose a new form of ticket to
remedy the evil, and the unlimited one is
the latest. 1t will prove as useless
as the others, and the railroads will never
adopt 1t. Ticket scalping can be stopped
either by amending the interstate law to
make the Business illegal, or BY an act TO
charge fares by the miles travelled. The
latter scheme would divide up the business
and give the traffic to the short lines, which
would soon crowd the longer roads to the
wall. 1t is apparent that the various in
terests of the country would suffer in con-
sequence, and such a law would never be
passed.
One of the Beauties of Organization.
The ticket brokers' have a powerful or
ganiEation, and they are prepared with
money to defeat hostile legislation
In this connection 1t may be said that an
amendment to the interstate law to make
the payment of commissions unlawful was
pending before the last House. 1t died
natural death with other bills that never
breatbed after they were boru. The Ameri-
can Ticket Brokers Association had two Of
their best men, Gustav G. Lansing, of New
York e
on the ground all the time to fight
the bill. These men prepared circular
which they intended to scatter as a final
shot If at any time the situation became
threatening, snd there was danger of the
bill passing. Now that the danger is over,
the committee concluded to distribute the
circular anyhow, and one reached The
DISPATCH yesterday. 1t Saws:
Revelations of the Millennium.
The plea that twenty-five millions would be
saved by the abolition of commissions is used
BY The advocates OF this measure-not that the
amount is paid in commissions, but the ex-
penses incidental to its payment help to make
The sum. The millennium depicted by the
friends of the bill reveals only two or three
union Offices in the larger cities, the depot Of
noes alone in other places, the closing of the
HuuloelleSS aSenCIe6 ana tle QEscharge Oh the
representatives and travelling agents The in
Qucement TO influence passenger traffic being
removed, il is claimed the visits OF the travel
Ing agents would be unnecessary AS a cap
stone TO these arguments it is stated that the
dear people shall reap where the ticket. travel
ing and passenger agents have titled and sown
in the past The public shall have the benefits |
OF the twenty-five millions saved How true is |
this?
The interests involved, whether those of the |
ticket broker or ticket agent. are not selfish, |
neither are they violauve of the law as it |
stands to-day. 1t ~ eeds but a retrospective |
glance to tully realize the tendency of trans
portation lines to Capitalization. At the same
time the greed of corporations demands higher
rates, and as the rate per mile is fixed by char
Ter acts, extra fare is charged for passage on
limited trains" ano other Special features
Yet the aim of those instrumental IN effecting
the passage of the Interstate commerce law
still falls short of the mark-the prevention of
discrimination.