The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-04-30

| General Passenger Agent De Haven, OF
| the Chicago and West Michigan, has
ELECTED some interesting statistics frcm
the present widespread effort Of travel
ing mea to secure the adoption by rail-
roads of an interchangeable 5.Ojo-mile
| ticket. He has gathered opinions from
the general passenger agents of sixty
| three prominent railroads. Only small
minority actively favor the adoption Of
| the ticket. Mr.. De Haven finds that re-
ceipts from mileage books make up from
| 5 to IL per cent. of the total passenger re-
| ceipts. He finds that 1t would be impossi-
| BILE to contine the use of the proposed
tickets to travelling men. Consequently.
! its adoption would practically force re-
duction from 3 cents a mile to cents
mile on a large share of the remaining So
to 95 per cent of the business 1t is also
| agreed that the adoption of the proposed
book would result finally in fiat rates of 2
cents mile.
Pending the settlement of the percent
age dispute, the anthracite coal trade re-
mains stagnant Almost no new orders
are coming in at the advanced prices, and
were it not that the companies books
were well filled with orders taken at the
low prices of March the trade would be In
state of congestion. These orders will
last for three weeks more and by that
time the trade may be expected to be in
a better shape, that Is dealers will see
the drift of affairs more clearly. So gen.
eral is the expectation now that prices will
break that the orders are confined to the
barest necessities. While the companies
are standing up well for the new prices
there is plenty of coal in the hands of mid
dlemen, to be had on better terms, while
some individuals are reported to be selling
on the basis Of SO for stove in New York
harbors.
Not the least interesting feature in the
anthracite situation; according to the
Philadelphia Record. is the fact that pres
sure of a very decided kind Is being
brought to bear on some of these compa-
mes by people who havea away of enforcing
their demands. For example, 1t is fact
that certain bankers have lately taken a
very decided interest in coal, and have
talked with some plainness regarding the
matter to people with whom their coun-
sells might be fruitful. Some bankers
have held conferences with officials and
representatives of certain of the coal
roads other than Reading, and have given
them to understand that it would be de-
sirable, in order to prevent disturbance of
loans, that harmony should be re-estab-
lished at the earliest possible moment in
the coal trade. Further, there is good rea-
son to believe that the Vanderbilt inter-
ests in certain of the great coal roads
have taken the matter very much to
heart and have done a good deal of unob-
trusive missionary work with so far prom.
ising results. Under the circumstances,
1t seems clear that a settlement of the coal
difficulties Is among the probabilities of
the near future, in spite of the bearish
chatter. Furthermore 1t is amang the ex-
| ha hot t1Av ant
will be of more permanent character
and on a broader basis than seemed prob
able short time ago. 1t would not be at
all surprising IL 1t brought about two or
three important changes in the positions
of the various roads. For example, the in
dependent existence of the Susquehanna
and Western may be terminated in the
near future.
THE MOTOR MAN:
A motor man was Peter Brown,
An honest mason he:
For when two bells were rung on him
He rung so mote'er be-"
Tho not an active Methodist,
He stood up every hour I'
To keep the people on the track
Whene'er he had the power.
Although his heart was ever kind
To children poor and rich;
He never thought to spare the rod,
And often used the switch.
He was not called a ladies' man,
And yet twas known full we'll
That when he stopped upon the street
He waited for bell
His speech and manners were precise;
He did not blunders make,
Although within the shop, they said,
He often made brake.
He did not fear the ills of life
No matter what their grade;
Because, to him, reverses were
A portion of his trade.
He ne'er despised the humble poor
Or teased the wrecks of crime;
He would not run on any one
Although he ran on time. -,
He died one day, and DER his head
They wrote this epigram:
"The trolley broke, he breathed his last
Within current JAM
And now beside the power house
When midnight shadows grow
heard these words: pete Brown has
gone
Where he will dynamo"
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
All those creeping, crawling, singing
sensations that combine to make up tho
tortures of any itching disease of the