The record-union., 1894-07-16
TRICKS OF TICKET BROKERS.
How the Disreputable Business is
Carried On.
Railroad Companies Redeem Portions
of Tickets Unused for
ANY Cause.
rchicago Evening Post, June sth.l

[Chicago Evening Post, June sth.]
CHICAGO, June S.--Bddtor Of the Eoen-
i1g Post: In view of the fact that the
newspapers of the large cities of the
United States have devoted much space
to the reasons assigned by the ticket
brokers (by courtesy, so-called) for con-
tinuing in 'businoss'' (also by courtesy,
so-called) in violation OF the law, pre-
sumo you are willing to accord space to a
statement from the standpoint of the rail-
ways so that the public may understand
the true inwardness of the situation. The
alleged occupation of the ticket broker is
to buy and sell railway tickets. The
title ticket broker sounds as respect
able as merchandise broker,o "tea
broker" or "stock broker" but the oc-
cupation of ticket broker is illegiti-
mate and forbidden by the laws of sew
e raj States. It is probably because of a
misunderstanding of the true state of
! affairs that some of the newspapers have,
| heretofore, advocated the cause of the
ticket broker not comprehending that,
in SO doing, they have placed themselves
| in the peculiar position of recommending
defiance OF laws which have been tested
and declared constitutional by State
Supreme Courts, and if carried to the
Supreme Court of the United States
would, no doubt. receive the stamp of
approval from that highest tribunal in
| the land.
In Canada and in countries across the
| ocean ticket brokerage" is forbidden by
law and is not permitted to exist, the oc-
cupation being considered prejudicial TO
public morals, illegitimate and unneces-
sary. For the same reasons ticket bro
| kerage should not be privileged occupa-
ton in the United States, and, unless all
signs fail, another twelve months will, by
the aid of Congress, the courts and the
people, see the wiping out Of existence OF
u class of persons who prey alike upon
the public and the railroads. In the in
terest of public morals the newspaper
press OF the country at large should de-
mand that public prosecutors and the
courts should enforce the laws on the
statute books.
\ ticket brokers' office, speaking gen.
orally and plainly, is a fence" for the re-
ception and disposal of lost, stolen and
partly used railway tickets. Its patrons
are, In most cases, persons whose moral
obliquity has been secured by frequent
contact with the ticket broker, who in
structs his patrons to lie, cheat, steal and
commit forgery, and commit other
otfenses indictable and punishable by law.
1t is, from moral standpoint, to be re-
gretted that the ticket brokers patrons
are numbered by the thousands. Men
who would scorn to take mean advan
tage in any ordinary commercial transac-
| ton, do not hesitate to perjure themselves
and commit fraud, ii necessary, to beat
the railroad through the brokers' office.
1t is no defense of the ticket brokers'
calling for him to assert that in times
past some Of the so-called weak railway
companies have furnished him with bona
| fide tickets for sale. Without undertake
ing to discuss the reasons Tor the action of
these railway companies in encouraging
vicious condition of affairs-for which
| most Of them are now truly sorry-there
| is no dispute that the ticket broker has
not made 1t a practice to refrain from en-
couraging clerks in railways offices to
| steal tickets and conductors to hold out"
| tickets which have once been presented
| and accepted for passage on trains and
| sell them to brokers, to be resold by
them to other passengers, thus defraud-
| ing the railway companies of revenue
amounting in the aggregate every year
! to many hundreds OF thousands of dol
| lars. 1t is 10 secret that ticket brokers
| buy and sell and resell mileage tickets
which are issued in one mans name, and
| compel the next purchaser to commit
/ forgery of signature to enable him to ride
on trains without detection. The manip-
ulation and illegitimate use of return
! portions of round-trip and excursion
| tickets, by persons other than the orig
lnal purchaser, is part of the stock-in-
trade methods of the ticket broker. He
alters, by acids, punch marks. etc., the
| destination and time limits of tickets and
passes which fall into his hands, to suit
| his convenience and to increase his profits
on these illegal transactions. BY COM
| parlson it would seem that the OcCupa-
ton of burglar or pick pocket is the
more honorable.
| The ticket broker claims that he is a
public benefactor; that he can sell trans
| portation cheaper than the regular ticket
agent OF the railway company; that the
! railway company will not pay the orig
inal purchaser of a ticket as much as he
will for an unused portion; that his meth
| DDS, which he claims to be legitimate,
| force lower rates between commercial
centers. and that he is the senemy of
monopoly" There is no question that q
failure upon the part of those most inter-
ested to enforce the laws against the sale
of tickets by unauthorized persons, j. e.,
| ticket brokers, has had much to do with
q growing disposition upon the part of a
certain portion of the travelling COM
| munity to purchase a scalp ticket" and
benefit their purses by the transaction,
provided the aforesaid lost, stolen. altered
!
conductor and taken up by him and the
holder thereof made to pay his fare, in
! which case it frequently occurs that the
| innocent purchaser resolves then and
there to 'sgo and sin no more"
Allrailway companies Will redeem from
| the original purchasers bona fde tickets
| or portions of tickets unused for any
cause whatever, under reasonable rules
established for such cases and in accord
ance with the laws of the several States,
j and notices to that effect have been given
prominence through the press and by cir
culars and placards posted in stations all
over the country. Ignorance on the part
| of the public in this matter is inexcusable.
It may be of interest to the public TO
know, in this connection, that should a
passenger travel upon a ticket of which
he was not the original purchaser, and an
accident should befalI him on the train
en- route, the railway company would not
! be liable for any damages for which he
might make claim as a passenger. Fur
ther than that, such ticket may be legally
| taken away from him by gateman or con-
ductor, and he has 10 recourse by law.
Finally, it is conceded by all railway
companies that if the laws against ticket
scalping were enforced by the proper
/ legal authorities-and the Grand Juries
all over the land should investigate
ticket-scalping as well as gambling and
/ Ducket-SnOp OpefatlOnS-the public
benefactors' would be the railway COM
panies themselves. They could then
abolish the more or less burdensome re-
strictions regarding limitations and sig
natures at present required for all tickets
sold at reduced rates; and above all, they
could afford to make much cheaper ex-
cursion rates than is now the custom for
| persons attending religious conferences,
disbursements associations, en- camp