The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-07
A MAN WHO KNOWS 1T ALL.
a GLIMPSE behind THE BUREAU
OF INFORMATION.
Ten Seconds for "a QuestfOn-The
Three HOurs-His Position no Sine


cure.
From the Philadelphia Press.
over the top Of the little box-liSe room
which is half in. half out Of the splendid
waiting room Of the Broad street sta
ton. ingoing and outgoing travellers read
the words: Bureau Of Information"
They have learned to look upon this in
stitution as a necessity place where
they can find out anything appertaining
to travelling. and many other things be-
side. They never bestow thought upon
the man inside OF the little window, liter
ally "the man who knows it all" They
never think OF the great work he accom-
plishes in a day. Of the mistakes he reeti-
fies or causes them 10 avoid. or Of the time
and abor he saves the patrons OF the road.
Nor do they think Of the great strain that
such a man must necessarily undergo, and
they wonder if he happens to speak crisply
and abruptly, and call him disagreeable.
Some idea OF the work done by the
man in the Information Bureau may be
had from cold figures. The day is divid-
ed into two shifts, one beginning at
o'clock in the morning and ending at
3 o'clock in the afternoon. and the other
taking in the remainder of the day up to
midnight.
Perhaps the busiest turn" in the day
is that beginning at o'clock and last
ing until in the evening. This takes In all
the people from the outlying districts who
have been spending the day shopping and
the suburban residents who hurry home
from. business-the two most numerous
classes. In the winter IL includes theater-
goers. and in the summer those who leave
for seashore or country after working
hours.
For six years and a half. with slight in
termissions, S. c. Bradford has been
cooped up in the little cubby-hole at Broad
street station. For a long period Of that
time he has had this afternoon SHIFT"
An employe of the Pennsylvania Rail-
road Company was stationed at the box
one day to keep an accurate tally on the
number of questions Mr. Bradford was
compelled TO answer between the hours Of
o'clock and o'clock. The result showed
that he was asked 1,1T2 questions in that
time. This seems almost incredible. II
means an average of one question every
ten seconds during the whole period o.
three hours. Imagine what this really
means, and then wonder. If you can.
why answers are sometimes short ard
abrupt.
Notwithstanding his long service In this
trying position. or perhaps, indeed, be-
cause of it, Mr.. Bradford possesses a
wonderfully unrufied temperament. In
stead of being grabbed and surly, as one
would naturally think a person would
be who is pestered to death with questions
every day of the week. he Is exactly the
al ME
laugh and ready to meet anybody more
than half way in politeness. Seh-control
he has to a nicely,
His is a position much like that of an
umpire at a base ball game, a necessity,
and yet target for everybody's coma
plants.
To begin with, the man who undertakes
to run a bureau of information must be
a living encyclopedia of railway matters.
That is an absolute necessity. He must
have all of the trains. their time Of arTl-
val and departure at his tongues end;
he must know what connections they
make all ever the country, both with 9th
or roads, with steamboats, and with
stages; he must know whether they stop
at Pottsville or not; he must be able to
tell the mileage to out-of-the-way places
that only one person IN a thousand ever
heard of; and ali of this information must
he given quickly, and above all accu-
rately
Rarely does he consult time tables, al
though they are at arms length. He has
not the time, for usually there are a half
a dozen people waiting TO find out some-
thing. But this is not all he does. Every
article found on trains is turned over 10
him, and he must take care of this part
of the work as well as the simple an
swering of questions. Then people pile all
sorts of other things on him.
2+ronQprg n know oil n hort how
to get to various portions of the city. 50
he Is a street car directory. Outgoing
travellers want to know whether it is
raining In Spooktown, so he must be
weather bureau and prophet So, alto
gether, he has to be a wonderfully clear
headed and well informed man. he must
keep his wits about him all the time, for
If he once gets 'rattled" 1t is an all-day
affair.
Such man in such a place becomes
great student of human nature. He can
tell how to handle questicners in the most
effective way. II they really want to knew
something, he can give 1t to them in the
best possible shape for their own good.
If they are asking questions for fun, he
can turn them down effectually with
out giving offense. OF course. his expe-
riences are as varied as the colors in Jo-
seph's coat. They are numerous and pa
thetic, annoying and pleasant, all mixed
up in days work.
Few people have any idea of the abso-
lutte idiocy of some of the questioners
that apply for information to Mr. Brad
ford. Here is a specimen:
F1ustered-leoking man, evidently anx@
ious.
Can you tell. me where John Smith
lives?"
Does he live in the city or out?" asked
Mr.. Bradford, as he reaches for the direc-
tory.
out He uses this road every day"
Two hundred or more John Smiths con-
front Mr.. Bradford in the directory.
What does he do?"
II don't know"
Have you any idea which line he goes
out on?'
mo. but know he goes from this sta
tion."
well, I'm sorry. but I can't tell you
where he lives"
Surprise on the part of the anxious man
isn't this the information bureau?" He
fears he has gone to the wrong place. He
reads the sign over the window, Bureau
of Information"
"Humph" concludes he. whats the Use
of having a bureau of information that
can't tell anything" lie walks away Of
Tended.
A very much excited woman takes his