Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-02-17

the different classes, which increase the
public must bear. Each item of loss, IN
the shape of services for which they get
little or no pay, must evidently be con.
sidered by them among other items of
expense, in adjusting the proportion be-
tween cost and rate of charge for service
for which they do receive regular com
pensation. Any individual who may be
shrewd enough to travel extensively on
scalped tickets, without detection, would
certainly profit largely by the practice.
But, while it may be to some a pardona-
bic or even commendable transaction, to
get the better of a corporation, in almost
any manner, it is a transaction fraudu-
lent in it's nature; and further, one
in which very few can indulge extern
sively without an occasional failure and
loss going far to offset any previous saw
ing. So that from the standpoint of the
travelling individual and public, moral
considerations are against the scalping
system, while pecuniary considerations
are at least not in favor of it.
There is a further consideration in
favor of this measure which the TRIBUNE
is justified in stating, if for no other
reason. by the tone of recent u%tterances
OF leading men of all parties in the state.
which indicates that both the people
and their representatives have come to
realize the vital Importance of the rail-
road and steamboat lines as a factor in
the development and prosperity, past and
future, of North Dakota, and that there
is a prevalent disposition to accord to
these corporations the same fair and un-
biased treatment in matters of legisla-
ton which other interests de-
mand and receive. This consideration
comprises the simple fact that the exist
ing system which the bill would check,
imposes a decided injustice upon the
companies and, more particularly, upon
their employees. 1t is not only very
probable that the scalping system is an
actual barrier, preventing the benefit of
many concessions from the companies
reaching the public, but it Is certain
that it entails much hardship AS we'll as
frequent losses, upon a worthy and
Woodworking class of public servants.
Conductors are continually being in.
formed of additions to their bulletins of
these scalp tickets which it becomes
their duty to take up whenever pre-
sented and collect full fare. The add.
tion of this duty would seem sufficiently
o%nerous, and it is rendered ~unjustly so
by the fact that when n
OF these numerous fraudulent
tickets is accepted, through the deceit
practlsed upon him, the conductor must
pay the fare that is thus lost himself.
The fraudulent nature of the tickets is a
matter very difficult to show, necessitat-
ing in almost every case a disturbance
with the passenger offering one of them.
The injustice here is manifestly not in
the company requiring the fare to be
paid, but in the existence of a system
which compels a loss to an innocent
party, who cannot protect himself and
has absolutely no redress.
There would seem to be no view of
the subject which does not indicate the
propriety of some such measure as that
proposed by Senator McGillivray. The
effectiveness of its provisions in detail
to accomplish its object is, of course, a
matter for the legislature to determine.
The propriety of dong away with the
pernlcious system at which it is aimed
Will scarcely be disputed after the SUBJ
ject has received a proper investigation.
THE y ~ 4,