New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-22
THE TICKET SCALPING INDUSTRY.

Advocacy of the bills now before the Leeis-
lature TO prohibit the business of the railroad
1icket-scalper is based upon the conviction that
n the business was ever legitimate and useful
II has ceased TO be so and become the reverse
There may have been a time when irregular
competition Of this sort generally operated to the
advantage of travellers giving them privileges.
II not rights, which the railroad companies were
in the habit of Withholding. and in that way
tending to lberaze railroad policy. But with
the growth and simultaneous degeneration of
the business an opposite effect has been pro-
duced, and one of the chief arguments now made
in behalf of the proposed legislation Is that the
transportation companies are compelled for thelr
own protection to maintain various annoying re-
strictions which they would prefer to relax, and
to refuse reduced rates under circumstances
which otherwise would warrant the concession.
This is a perfectly valid argument, and II It
stood alone and unrefuted would go far toward
settling the case; but it Is not the only argument
nor intrinsically the most important
A graver question IS whether the State Is pro
tectng an essentially fraudulent business. The
obvious facts and the internal evidence seem 10
prove concusively that the business of ticket
scalping Is to great extent fraudulent ana IS
lucrative for that reason only. The pretence IS
still made that the scaper is public benefactor
because he provides a market for tickets which
purchasers have not been able to use and eX-
cept for him could not dispose of. The truth Is
that railroad companies almost universally re-
deem unused tickets at their full value though
we are inclined TO think that they are at fault in
not making that fact more widely known. 1t
follows, therefore, that if scalpers supply pub
lie necessity it must be the necessity OF market
for tickets which have been fraudulently pro-
cured or whose validity has been exhausted. 1t
is in evidence that railroad companies of THIS
State have honored counterfeit tickets represent
ing a value Of more than $4,000. most OF THIS
loss having been sustained in the single year
1896 and that these counterfeit tickets were all
sold by scalpers But the men engaged IN ths
traffic say that considerable part OF their stock
is obtained directly, though clandestinely. from
railroad companies anxious to get around laws
and agreements. We have seen no proof or
this but if it be true. what Of 1t? Is the State
prepared to protect chcanery Of that sort?
1t IS said also that it is the business Of the
companies to secure themselves against counter
feiters forgers and dishonest employees. The
fact is as we have said. that the public. rs well
as the companies, Is incOmmoded. injured ana
TO a considerable extent swindled by means OF
ticket -scalpers. But II this were not the case;
If the companies were the only sufferers. what
then? Would the state be under no obligation
to interfere with an industry that was demon
strably fraudulent, not occasionally and by ac-
cident, but constantly and by calculation? That
Is not supposed to be the theory on which laws
are made or the basis on which society Is con-
sttuted Are transportation companies the
creatures Of the law only that they may be
rlgldly supervised and punished when they do
wrong? Doubtless that is the condition to which
a good many persons would like to reduce them,
but the desire dlsgraces all who share 1t. The
State Justly and benefcially exercises the power
Of regulating rates, requiring the adoption or
rules and appliances designed TO promote com
fort and safety, and otherwise deciding to an
important extent how the transportation bust
ness shall be conducted. BY so doing it spe-
officially incurs the reciprocal obligation of de-
Tending the transportation companies against
,awless infracton Of their rights They are en-
titled. for example, to protection from the frauds
which understanding not only promotes, but
depends upon for its existence, and the state
for its own credit as we'll as its own advantage
is bound to afford that protection.