Evening star., 1897-06-12
COLORED ROGUEs ON PARLOR CARS.
Omcials of the Companies Tell Their
Side Of the Story.

From the New York Press.
Palace car porters are being resisted. not
only on Pullman's, but on Wagner's and
other railway coaches used by luxurious
travellers. And they are being resisted In
their imperative demands not only by the
travellers. who are long sufferers, but by
the owners of the cars, who have discovered
that the public isn't as complaisant as Ii
was Last week the New York and New
Haven porters were incorporated at Albany;
last week, also. the Pullman porters re-
quested their employers to increase their
wages AS matter Of fact, the Pullnans
are the last to put a check on their porters.
Other similar companies already had taken
q resolute stand against their aggressops.
According to a complaint sent in 20 the
Pullmans, 1t Is In work rather than wages
that the palace car porter feels deficiency.
He makes objection to the recent rule of
the PullmanS requiring that the conductors.
not the porters, snail collect the pay for
food and drink and smoke in buffet cars.
This the porters say, deprives them of
extra remuneration, commonly called
tips" which most of the passengers were
generous enough to give to porters for wait
ing on them. In lieu thereof. the Pullman
porters petition that they shall receive an
increase Of wages.
AS usual, there is another and quite as in
teresting side to the story. This other siGe
n0iCS the porter up 10 view as nuHioflslS
have pictured him-a modern Dick Turpin-
the evolutionary eastern SUCCESSOR 10 the
road agent Of the west extracting reve-
nue. not only from passengers. but syste-
matically skinning their employers, and
thus managing to live well on :he normal
wage of s25 a month. This, of course, is
the corporation side of the story.
"This is the way the porter worked IT,
said the eastern superintendent of a palace
car company not Pullman's) yesterday.
1.-The company would supply him with.
say, 500 worth of wines. liquors, cigars
and foods when he left New York for
run to Boston. At the end of the run he
would turn in the money received. There
would be only $50 or SO in return for 500
worth of stock supplied to him, although
1t was known that the train had been
one wkereon the buffet patronage was
large.
what was the explanation? We found
that when We had supplied three hign
grades of cigars for passengers. bought
from the leading house In New York. the
porter substituted cheap cigars. You would
call for a 15-cent cigar and the porter
would bring you 5-cent cigar or worse.
which he had brought aboard with him.
and he would pocket the L. cents. 1t was
Of handing out the stock furnished by the
company he would hand out a cheaper
grade from his contraband supply. and
pocket the money. II twenty-five small
drink TASKS Of whisky We're put in his buf
fet all but few would be returned un-
touch ed-he had refilled the first empty
TASKS from a bottle in his pocket and had
kept the money he received.
That Is why the companies operating
palace cars make the rule that conductors
should collect the money for meal. wine
and tobacco checks. We wanted our pa
irons to get Just as good stuff as we pro-
vided for them. There is no profit for US In
running buffet cars. 1t is done simply for