Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-23

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/(PkN1 N Wnat the counter
ZTRH. A} feiting Of greenbacks
MJV w., w is to the government
NI hr, VV the countsrfeiting of
Hl1 BNN\\' tickets is to the va
FtH TWNN\\ rious railroads. The
YlNn WY discovery that hun
NG dreds Of thousands
Of dollars worth Of
railroad tickets have been counterfeited re-
Gently. to the financial loss of railroads and
passengers alike is receiving the serious
consideration of railroad officials and 1t is
likely that the result will be the Inaugural
ton of new methods in printing railroad
tickets. That the counterfeiting Of rail-
read tickets on a large scale has not been
successfully attempted before is. all things
considered, somewhat surprising.
During the recent meeting In this city OF
the Association of American Railway Ac-
countants considerable time was devoted to
discussing this evil. and various methods for
protection were advapced. The members Of
this organization areemploycd in the audit
ing departments of the great railroads CT the
country, and are thoroughly familiar with
the details OF the counterfeiting and the
irroads 1t has made upon the railroad re-
ceipts of the different roads In CONVERSE
ton with an Evening Star reporter. the day
after the convention adjourned, one Of the
prominent members thereof. in discussing
the counterfeiting of railroad tickets, said:
Lucky So Far.
THE railroads of this country have been
exceedingly lucky In the matter OF having
bogus tickets issued at their expense. Up
to within the last two years our losses
have been comparatively small. while the
losses In Great Britain and on the continent
have been corresponGingly heavy. OF course,
tickets were counterfeited in this country.
but the perpetrators Of the fraud were ap-
parently easily scared off, as the tickets
they issued would disappear after being in
circulation about a month. Then, after a
lapse Of about three months, the spurious
tickets would again come to the front but
before we could get a trace of the counter
feiters We would cease to find them in our
accounts The successful and large business
done In this line in Europe has impressed
me with the idea that the counterfeiters are
from that country, as the greatest inroads
In oar business were made during the
worlds fair at Chicago last year. Through
correspondence with foreign railroad off,
Gals. we also learned that the counterfeit
ing of railroad tickets in their countries was
at its lowest ebb last year. This makes II
a plain case of two and two make four.
These foreigners are still in this country.
and unless we devise some new method OF
checkmaung them, they will divide among
themselves considerable Of our revenues.
Il can see no reason why persons who
are inclined TO swindle in such a manner
as was adopted by the counterfeiters whose
work has been discovered lately should not
find il very easy 10 carry out their design.
The paper upon which most of the tickets
are printed is not hard to initiate; in fact
1t may be bought in the market in New
la he
any other sort Of paper stock. There 10
nothing unusual or difficult about the print
ing of these tickets. the only requisite be-
ing the possession of q machine which as
the tickets are printed, numbers them in
consecutive series, and these machines are
readily obtainable. the same as any other
printing machine. Their high cost might
OF course deter a woud-be counterfeiting
gang from purchasing. but. If a printer
could be found who already posses sed one
had no work for Ii to do and had no
scruples against counterfeit.ng, ii would be
the simplest matter in the world to produce
duplicates of the tickets OF most of the
railroads of the country. Slack work eases
up a mans conscience considerably, you
know.
Easily COuntcrfefted.
Take the tickets used by the poor bene-
fit concert in Convention Hall last winter
They were an exact reproduction Of our
way station tickets. and the man that
printed them could just as easily print
railroad tickets. Several OF the tickets
were sent to me as a sample. The commu-
tation tickets issued to suburban passengers
near this and other large cities are rather
more carefully gotten up than the trip
tickets, but their counterfeiting would not
be safe, aside from the fact of their more
elaborate printing, for they are used for a
month at time. and their source could be
easily traced. The additional expense to
railroads CT producing tickets by means Of
no rrin lat NOT
easily duplicated. which could not be sue
cessfully initiated, would not be great, for
once the plates are made the presswork on
such tickets would be no more expensive
than on the plain tickets now in use OF
course many Of our way tickets have a
small scroll work on the back, but where is
the conductor that will take the trouble to
turn q ticket over during the rush Of bust
ness a way train, where the chance of
catching a bogus one is about one In fifty.
with so many ticket offices in every city
CT the country working separately from the
railroad company whose tickets they SELL
with so many ticket agents, or ticket
scalpers,' as they are less politely called,
the counterfeiter finds that to shove HE
queer as a coin counterfeiter talks Of put
ting his bad money in circula ton, Is an
easy affair indeed. OF course this refers to
scalpers outside the national association,
the members of which are reputable and
trustworthy. After the counterfeiter has
located his 'Scalper' with an easy con-
science he sells his work at a nominal rate.
The crooked scalper knowing perfectly well
what kind of stuff he is handling. claps on
a price considerable less than the railroads
regular fare and resells the bogus ticket to
the innocent customer happy at saving a
fye-dollar bill on a twenty-dollar purchase.
How They Are Disposed OF.
"While the customer may be the owner
of a conscience he has given 1t a sharp
prick by purchasing from an agent minus
a good reputation. the great reduction from
the regular price defining the latter's status
as plainly as words. He starts for the rail-
read station with the ticket deftly folded in
his hand, so that the shrewd gateman at
the entrance to the platform sees only one
quarter of it, which is not enough to deter
mine its fraudulent makeup. There are
many gatemen that will unfold a ticket,
bat even then they are hard to detect. The
gateman, with a rule forbidding him to open
the gate to some hundreds of people until a
few minutes before the train Is scheduled
to pull out is far too harassed and hurried
to give the bogus ticket more than pass
ing glance to see that the holder Is moving
toward the correct train. The traveller has
overcome the first obstacle and has entered
the cars There the conductor. with Ques-
tons hurled at MIN from all four points OF
the compass at one and the same time has
to examine tickets of various sizes and col
ors but all without common Identifying
mark to certify to their eenuineness. Some
are presented to him, il should be remem-
tered, by regular patrons OF the road. whom
ha wall EpowS. others iadies children