Omaha daily bee., 1892-11-27
DUTIES OF THE RATE MAN
Figures are His Beacon Lights and Com
mon Points His Windmills,
REQUISITES OF AsUccESSFUL RATE MAKER
Something About the individuals who
Make Rates for the Railroads Centering
In Omaha-Importance of the Rate
Desk to the Passenger Department..

Make Rates for the Railroads Centering
In omaia-Importance of the Rate
Desk to the Passenger Department..
To the passenger department OF railroad
the rate man is quite as necessary as the
driving wheels TO n locomotive. Useless
each without the other. lie is tho source OF
pleasing earnings to u railway corporation or
the reverse. as his ability and usefulness
show themselves in the daily discharge of
his business. In more senses than one he is
ploddor, working early and late over tho
multifarious duties of his calling, which are
those of figures rather than words. While
the evidences OF his careful judgment aud
wise experience arc constantly uppermost in
the minds of those who, by arbitrary rules,
are placed above him, tho rate man is by
force of circumstances unknown TO the world
al large. Figures arc his beacon lights aud
common points his windlniIls which must
constantly come within the point Of his
lance, a la CervanteS.
He is usually quiet force in the com
munity, known only TO his intimes as
good fellow with rather narrow IDEAS OF
government and that which lies beyond the
point OF his pencil" for 1T has long been
standing Joke among rate makers that rates
are made with a lead pencil, and not by the
| superabundance of gray matter commonly
! attributed to the men who create rates for
| trunk lines.
| The requisites for n goou rate man are the
samo almost rs in any profession or calling,
| Unlimited experience, excellent judgment,
| profound memory and good mathematician.
Wits him figures are the sine qua non OF
| success, and he dreams of them at night rs
well as uses them in the day time. No
| desk In the passenger department OF
| railroad is so important as the rate desk aud
IL Is the highest salared part of the de-
ated from it to positions OF prominence in
| the railroad world, as it is q steppingstone
| to chief clerKships and not unusually to
| heads of departments in the passenger serv-
| ice.
l.. A. Stark has been making rates for the
| Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley rail-
| road for several years, having come to the
rate desk from the construction department,
| after serving an apprenticeship in general
| Office work and in the ticket stock room. He
Is lutte, oldfashioned man with deep fur
| rows in his brow and does not look unlike
some of the characters described by Dickens.
| He knows his system like book and needs no
| guide to tell him where any point Oh his line
is located. When asked what he thought
| was the chief requisite to a successful rate
clerk he unhesitatingy replied experience,
! which is the consensus of opinion of those
who occupy desks in the railroad Offices in
] Omaha.
The Burlington rate man is J. e. Bucking-
ham, beardless young man scarce turned
22 who has been with this road five years
and came up from stenographer's position
to his present responsible place. In his
judgment the chief requisite for rate clerk
is good memory. mot only is it neces-
sary for the good rate man." said Mr.. Buck
ingham rs he leaped through tariff sheet,
fixing the basing rates in his mind, ito
know his own rates, but also the rates of
no% 4Se ees eesraDby He of mus sso
and be quick and at the same time accurate
i'll arriving at rates. With the Burlington a
somewhat different system is pursued re-
Ralding the rate desk than is usual with
other Lines. Ordinarily the rate and division
desks are nseparable but with the Burllng
| ton divisions are made in the ticket auditors
office under the supervision of the passenger
department. Divisions according to Barring
ton ideas belong to the auditors Office, and
| we do not come in contact with them do
other roads. Experience. think, is one of
| the chief requisites to good ratio man and q
| gooG memory"
Pacific. JACK Durham, chief rate clerk !,
James Thompson, George II. Black and II.
Z. Wallace. In many respects MIR. Durham
although very young man, is one of the best
| rate men in the transmissouri country. he
Is product OF the Union Pacific
entirely, having started with them
as an Office boy eight or nine years ago
From that position he took stenographer's
assignment and later went into the ticket
stock room and from there to the rate desk
For the past year and u half he has held the
position of chief rate clerk. He has a
! wonderful memory and without referring to
his map can tell approximately where every
railroad station in the United States is
| located and the rate to each point lie
knows every town on the Union Pacific sys-
TEN and Is regarded as an authority upon
rate questions by his superlors. James
| Thompson has been making rates for ten
years and belongs to the thorough steady
going school of clerks who make up in eX-
actness what they may lack in rapidity. He
iH rn1nn a. "A not pinfnp
| George *. Black and L. G.. Wallace are COM
paratively untrled men although both show
ability along the lines necessary for the sue
cessful maker of rates.
James N. Brown, the acting assistant
general passenger and ticket agent, occupied
the rate desk under Mr.. Teobetts, and during
the early days of Mr.. Lomax's connection
with the Union Pacific He is said to have
been IN excellent rate man, and although the
fates have been kind 10 him he still regards
tho rate desk as the most important in the
PASSENGER department Mr.. Brown came
TO the Union Pacific as assistant rate clerk
from the Burlington, Cedar Rapids &;
Northern five years ago Shortly after he
became the second chief and later the chief
clerk IN the passenger department, ana
acting assistant general passenger agent.
w. Ill. Murray, who is now assistant
chief clerk to.Alr. &. Mackenzie OF the passen-
ger department, was mighty good rate
clerk in other days, and now in ADDITION to
his other duties is the official computer OF
tho Montana and Utah rate sheet
The Equitable of Grand Island is tho sec
ond largest assocation-in the state having
2,l3S shares IN force at the present time,
The fifth semi report, issued In Sep
temDer, shows assets aggregating $50, ,7G4. 90.
OF this sum $50. 900 represents loans made to
stockholders. The Equitable reports fair
demand for money, although very little
building is being done most of the money
going to pay off mortgages held by eastern
loaning companies.
THE THEITERS
Daniel Sully, the Irish American comedian
who always succeeds IN winning warm