The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-08-16
A RAILROAD TICKET.
AN INTERESTING SKETCH OF THE
LIFE OF THE COUPON PASSPORT.
IL Is Born In a Printing Office and Ends
Its Days In n Fiery Furnace-Details Of
Complicated System of Checking Up
the Tickets.

tuhAphcedtu system OF Chectihs Up
the Tickets.
The life Of railroad ticket Is one Of the
most absorbing interest. IL is record Of
intricate simplicity" all through From
the time 10 leaygs the hands Of the printer
until 10 arrives at the Ciico Of the ticket
auditcr Of the railroad on which 1t was col
lect1d il has cseed through great num-
her Of processes that insure its saic trans-
mission, correct sale ard certain return to
tho checking officer OF the road, all Of a
complicated nature, yet all simple enough.
Coupon tickets are, as a rule, OF but Two
kinds. In selling these tickets it is nCces
sary to so arrange them that every road
over which they nre honorcd viii have
something to show for it. For this reason
a COUPON is provided for each road, nrd |
The conductors on that road tear it of when
il is presented TO them for passage.
What is known ms the StromhcrR form Is |
In general use all over the United States.
This is u patented ticket, and all of the !
roads pay royalty for its use. On jour
ney from St. Louis to FL Paso, Tex, there
would be three coupons The ticket would
be sold in st. Louis by the Missouri Pacific
railway, and the first coupon would read
"Missouri Pacific railway. -. Louis to
Sedaln, Mo-" The second would read:
missouri Kansas and Texas railway
Sedalia to Fort Worth, Tex" The third
! would read: "Texas and Pacific railway.
| Fort Worth to destination between the
| punch marks" Every coupon agent has
/ ono of the Stromberg punches and he
punches the point of destination on the
| last coupon.
The other style of coupon ticket is what
| Is called in railroad parlance the skeleton
form" 1t is blank as far as both starting
| point CT destination is concerned, and Is
| issued to the smaller agents. When they
ha ye q call for one of these tickets, they I'LL
| out as many coupons as there arc roads TO
be Travelled over.
The tickets are sold TO the passengers
and remain in their hands for but short
time, if the conductor Of the train Is vigil
liant and no usually is enough so to get tall
the tickets before the next station is
reached.
And there tho puhllc's acquaintance
ends.
Tho conductor, always suavo and ready
to DO obliging has many things on ms
mind TO look aftor. Ono of these IS the
,, disposition of his ticket collections Tor tho
! trip.
/
cral pockets at tho ciid of his trip and as
sorts them in station order. He then
counts them. All collections from mileage
; books are also counted carefully. He then
enters I'D on "a report blank the number OF
tickets collected and the number of mile
noe Sins taken up and between what
polnts. On the Same report he also enters
| the number of cash fares ana between
: what points collected.
This report. with the tickets, Is Enclosed
, in an envelope and mailed to the genera
auditor or the ticket auditor OF the ROAD.
Here tho real work on the ticket begins
The auditor receives reports daily from th
: agents along the line, and 1t is his busl
ness to check them up against tho receipt
y of tickets from train collections.
. The conductors collections are brough
u in and turned over to Young men In TN
n auditors Office and by them opened. Th
o tickets inclosed are carefully counted TO sc
) that the conductors statement on ms II
" mort Is correct. They are then entered Il
- on blank as from, " ito, number
;, y tickets" and "amount,' and the totai
il struok This is done in order to arrive {
the daily earnings of each train. care
10 full record of this is Kept ana month";
- average per trip taken. The traillc olhcia
~ nrc then enabled TO see whether ceftal
~ runs are paying and TO take steps TO mas
them pay or withdraw them. III Is Qua
70 look down the list of certain tram an
% soc how nearly alike are each days carr
s ipgs. Except where there has been bi
III excursion the collections do not vary TO
appreciabo degree from day to day ~,
"a frbo ticket checkers assert all OF Il
III month's collections in order of dostln
So tjon. Thus, IL St. Louis DO the static
Is tbnt Is TO DO checked all tickets from :
Is Louis to jefferson City are got togethe
The agent may have reported the sale
Nos. 5,2l1 to 1870. 100 tickets IL
the business Of the ticket sorter to see no
n many of these tickets have been coiiecV
by and to mark the report OF the agent
,t. show those that have not been turheu
ma Whenever these missing tickets DO come
he ! the report of the agent for tho montn
N. which they were sold is resurrected FRO
he some dusty box and the missing ucR
or checked ms Gin" 1t is surprising nc
th many tickets are belated and how ma
or. never come in. Frequently persons ID
ed tickets that are limited and cannot I
nd. them until the limit has expired, wh
pal they throw them away. In other cases
for ticket may not show mp for month
ny two, when 1t Is unlimited.
in Coupon tickets require lnuch inoro -"
use ful handling than local tickets, ana
md men who keep tho books on them rece
in better salaries than the local ticket sorte
air All coupons tickets are turned over
er. them from the train collections ana
them carefully assorted as to roads OF ISIS
Each ticket or coupon is then carefully
corded in book so that Its history can
-, traced from its start to its destination
. % tho end of each month statement is
~. VI derod TO all interested lines by the II
eu. that issues the tickets of all sales o
VIZ their lines. In this way kind OF clear
onu house arrangement is kept up ana
Iai. debtor road makes remittance to the ci
, Il, Il. itor road after deducting offsetting
anu And then comes the end of the raiir
lces tickets life. As soon as all reports n
mug been checked up and careful divislo'
earnings-that is, the apportionmentto
various divisions of the earnings-has
made. the tickets are filed away for iu'
reference. 1t is absolutely necessary
the tickets should be kept ON hand 10
long time, not less than IL months