The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-10


once Down to the Ticket Sellers
window-After a Party of CArpen-
tiers.
From the Nets York Times.
'No one would imagine" said railroad
passenger agent few days ago, "the ex-
tent 20 which railroads seek Individual GUS
tom. / do not mean little cross-country
roads, but all railroads, from the smallest
TO the greatest in the country. The general
belief is that railroad is great grasping
corporation that cares for nobody, and that
any one who wishes to do business with it
must 60 to it. But this is far from being
the case. A railroad will chase a man up
for a week, or hundred miles. or send a
dozen men after him, il necessary, II It is
known that he is going 20 buy only one
long distance ticket. All this outside pas
senger business is done by the passenger
agents There is not a railroad in this
country that could pay dividend il it were
not for the money brought in by its pas
senger agents.
"Here is an illustration he went on, "of
how the passenger agent works. A short
time ago. some builder in California, where
wages are very high, figured out that it
would be cheaper to hire eastern carpenters
at eastern rates for the winter and pay theIr
fares both ways. He sent an agent east,
and the agent found the men in Auburn,
n. Y.-forty-six Of them. knew nothing
of this, but some other business took me to
Auburn day or two before the men were
60 start for California. On the way met
another passenger agent, and we arrived in
At.hu eo0othor No n fba Gam
trail ticket Office there, as our custom is,
and handed our cards to the ticket agent.
He looked at them, smiled. and put them
up in O rack beside nineteen others.
"'These are to-day's callers he said.
pointing 20 the other cards. There are
nineteen OF them, all passenger agents.
You two make twenty-one The Others are
all after the forty-six carpenters who are to
start for California tomorrow. You could
not fire gun in Auburn to-day without
hitting q passenger agent
at would seem impossible 10 any out
sidet," the passenger agent continued, "that
80 many agents should be after these men
who could start from Auburn only by tax
tnR the New York Central road. But l
will explain to you how it works The Cen
trial goes only to Buffalo. and 1t was the
mileage between Buffalo and San Francisco
shat the agents were after. From Auburn
20 Buffalo Is only one stage of the journey.
The next stake is from Buffalo to Chicago,
where there are three roads, and the tickets
may read by any one Of them. The third
stage is from Chicago to Kansas City, where
there are five roads. Each OF those three
roads to Chicago and OF those five roads to
Kansas City wanted those forty-six fares.
But that was only a beginning. From
Kansas City the tickets might read either
by way of ST. Paul or by way Of Omaha,
Denver and Salt Lake City. From Kansas
City to st. Paul there are four roads, and
TO Omaha there are six. So the possibilities
increase all the way across the continent.
Each of these western roads, you under
stand, has its eastern agents watching for
just such cases. The Centrals agent Ia Au-
burn would sell tickets reading by any Of
the routes beyond Buffalo-it made no diff
ference to him which. 1t was the business
of each of those nineteen agents to get that
party of forty-six carpenters over his own
road, and some Of them had TO be disap-
pointed
The passenger agent appears in many diff
ferent forms. Every railroad has its general
passenger agent, who has charge Of ell the
passenger traffic Of his road and oil the sub
ordinate passenger agents. He usually has
one or two assistants and the next man in
authority is the general travelling passenger
agent. This officer has Immediate charge of
all the travelling passenger agents, who may
number 10 or 100. Then there are the
general eastern passenger agents In Boston
the New York passenger agents, who make
an army in themselves; the emigrant
passenger agents. with headquarters
on Ellis Island; the western pas-
senger agents, stationed in all the large
western cities; and on some roads, the New
York Central for example, local passenger
agents, who look after the passenger traffic
over comparatively small districts, such as
between New York and Poughkeepsie,
Poughkeepsie and Catskill, or Catskill and
Albany. These men must be at home in all
the towns IN their districts they must make
intimate and particular friends of as many
people as they can, ana must keep their
eyes carefully hut not obtrusively upon
their neighbors' affairs. Such is, in brief
khe passenger agent OUTFIT required by every
railroad of consequence.
By general consent among the passenger
agents, George II. Daniels of the New York
Central is the father Of the profession. He
has been 30 long in the business, and has ali
Sts curves and sinuosities reduced to such q
science. that his opinion is beyond discus.
sion, AS an after dinner speaker he is a
dangerous rival of DR.. Depew, and be Is
often known to charm in business by wire
that men on the ground fail &c secure. Here
h Mr.. Daniels account Of the general pas.
senger agents work:
81 can only" he said IN reply 20 a cues
zion. repeat what l told the agents them.
ScANoc ~ q AAhACt bOo AOnk hkO. IL SOunQt
like joke, but assure you it lie all true
Having been q pool commissioner for
eight years" Mr.. Daniels said, 81 could tel
you a great deal about general passenger
agents. but won't do IL. could tell yor
individual incidents that would harrow VI
the souls of many but will confne myself
TO what the press calls glittering generali
vies.
"The general passenger agent is the mos
important mau on the railroads. leas
chose who ask favors of him think so. TIL,
general passenger agent is a man of varied
attachments. Acknowledging the press al
the most mighty power OF the nineteenth
century, he stands in with the editor
With profound respect for the church a
che guide and teacher of the world, b,
makes reduced rates for the clergy anC
runs excursions for the Sunday school fol
almost nothing. Believing that the stag,
has an elevating and refining influence upor
society, he votes for party rates.
His duties are as varied and as arduou.
as there are days in the month. On Sun
day he must attend church 60 prove thai
the railroads set a good example to the com
munity. Monday night he must take
party OF ticket agents TO the theater anC
show them about town, in order that they
may be impressed with the Hberality of thu
company, and In the hope that they vii
sead their business over his line. AT al
early hour on the following morning b,
Nha -