The San Francisco call., 1896-05-05
NewsboyS Doing a Big Business
in Streetcar Trans
ferS.
MR.. vINING's PLAN a FAILURE.
The Attempt to Stop the Traffic Only
Increases Public Interest in
the Boys.

"Dey can't get de best o. de boys" said
"Blokey'' Rhodes. the newsboy, when he
was asked yesterday about the working of
the new transfer system.
He referred to the Market-street Rail-
way Company and 10 the transfer agents,
the car conductors, the policemen and the
spoilers. He spoke with confidence and
likewise with contempt.
Nobody has ever been known to get the
best of the boys who make up the class
that "Blokey" represented, but Manager
Vining is still Iaborlng IN his effort to
accomplish the impossible.
"Blokey'' stopped to sell a paper and
give away a transfer, which transfer had
been given to him. and then he continued
his philosophical declaration. He spoke
for all the newsboys-for the little fellow
who is lame, for the colored boy who has
TO help support his mother, for the boy
whose parents are dead, and for all the
other youngsters who make up the enter
prising community of boys in business
about the corner of Market and Powell
streets.
"It's all right" he said. "De company
wants to take away from us boys W hat de
people dat rides are willin' to give us, so
it pays two more salaries TO keep de trans
fer agents at work on de corner. OATS good
for de two men and it don't make no differ
ence to us. De company is just playin'
for bluff. 1t thinks We won't dare to run
up alongside O. de transfer men in uni
form. And dey have cops around all de
time, too.
when a man comes along on de Mar
ket street or Powell street corner and
! wants a transfer at de Baldwin Hotel cor
ner, he asks de conductor for transfer
| ticket. De ticket dat he gets is no good
Il he +u %r% %o1ya l1,,< y l.
60 up with it and brace de transfer man
| for a new check, see? Dey put de man to
| lot o. trouble after he has paid his nickel,
an you bet he don't like it. Dis second
check, de one he gets from de feller in de
new uniform, is de one dat's good for a
ride on de second line.
DE company fggers dat people who get
transfers amt goin' to take de trouble of
exchanging 'em on de street corner for de
sake of givin' de negotiable checks to us
| boys, but OATS where dey're playin' right
into us. A man who's put to so much
| trouble once, specially if he's in hurry,
don't forget it right away. They gets mad
| over it, and once in while they're Just
| boilin' at de company. Den de mex time
| dey come along dey get de usual transfer
| an exchange IL at de corner, and give it TO
me or one o de boys.
'A good many of 'em do it now Just be-
! cause dey're mad about de whole business.
but still we've all got lots O. friends who
give US transfers when dey change deir
minds about usin' 'em.
''De people look at it this way: When
dey pay de money dey're entitled to GER
tain amount O. travelin'; an if dey want
to give away a part O. what's der right
dey don't suppose it's nobody elses busi-
ness.
'We get more transfers now dan we ever
did before, an besides, de ticket is good
all day long. Dey don't have time to
punch de checks under de new style An
even if people don't stop to exchange de
checks dey give 'em to US and we make
out to get 'em changed all right. We're
still ahead o. de game, an l guess we're
goin' to stay right wild 'em-"
| One of the newsboys claimed to have re-
ceived and disposed of ten transfer checks
yesterday afternoon, and he was still
doing business at the old stand.
The transfer agents were too busy with
| their rush OF business to notice who gave
or received the checks, and the policemen
seemed to have grown naturally tired OF
| the whole performance.