The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-07-31

he Keeps Tab un the Conductor by Means
of Il nErl.nl Ernl. Inr-

he Keeps Tab On the Conductor by Means
ot IA Pocket Register.
There are men who habitually stand on
the rear platform OF street cars. That IL
the spottcr's position. Professional spot
tiers never give themselves away" by
counting passengers. The spotter carries
small noiseless register in one of the
pockets of his oyercoat. He is most likely
TO appear on n car that is TO carry big
load He takes his place on the rear plat
form and always appears to be the most
uhconcerned man on the car. The first
thing he does is to glance at the register in
the front of the car. lie makes mental
note Of the number of fares that have been
rnng up. Every time n passenger gets on
he presses the button of the little register
! in his pocket He never appears TO he
watching the persons who are getting in
the car, but he must be careful not to miss
one. lie rides on the platform until the
fares of all the persons who have got on
the car since he took his position have
been collected. His last act before getting
/ of Is the mental registration of the mum
her of fares indicated by the register in the
car. II he has another test to make before
making his report, he will probably stop
under the first electric light, write down
on the blank furnished him The number of
| fares registered when he got on the car
| and the number registered when he got
| oil. lie subtracts one from the other and
! has before him the number of fares the
conductor should have registered. Then
he looks Mt his indicator, and IL there is
| discrepancy between his count and the
count the conductor registered he reports
| the fact to the company
| A conductor who is discharged is never
accused of having stolen money from the
company. The charge is improperly
collecting fares" 1t is not often that a
conductor is discharged the first time II is
reported to the company that he is elm
properly collecting fares" The test is APP
piled to him frequently, and il it is found
that he il habitually not riu ging up fares
for all the persons who tale passage on
his car he is dismissed. Conductors be
lieve that the means employed by spoilers
are unfair. They say that it is often i'm.
possible fer any man to get all the fares
on n car; that it is an easy natter to get
all the fares when car is not crowded,
but wien 50 or 60 persons board a car
bound up town it is next to impossible to
collect without an error Often persons
will get off the car before the conductor
has ItuNi'u thtuls anu uS Ilt ls
by the crowd, they say, he cinnot prevent
this. Then persons are getting on and
off, exchanging seats and doing other
things that mystify the conductor as he
pushes his way through the crowd in
search of the nickles that are due the com
pany.
Persons who travel regularly on the cars
are sometimes surprised that conductors
do not lose their temper oftener. They
are not permitted to "talk back, >" no mat
ter how great the rrovocation may he.
Recently one of the old conductors ON the
Illinois street line lost his temper. The
next day he lost his position. \ woman
got on his car at Illinois and Washington
streets. She offered him transfer ticket,
which, he said, had expired.
at cannot be so, - said she, "for got
this ticket just few minutes ago"
MADAM, you lie" said the conductor,
who maintained that the woman had re
ceived the ticket from representative of
the company at another crossing nearly an
hour earlier. One of the company's de
tectives overheard the remark of the CON
ductor and reported him.-Indianapoli
News.