The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-22

public ask for a revision of the inter
state commerce law giving the commits
sicners some powers, which they do not
now possess. Among the members of
the senate committee on commerce, the
feeling is general that the scaIping
question should be treated as part of a
comprehensive measure. The house
leaders. however. do not feel hopeful
in the present state Of affairs Of getting
comprehensive bills of any sort passed,
and they are inclined to take half
leaf rather than the risk of no bread at
all.
Standing by itself, anti1scalping legis-
lation is favored by practically all in
telligent students of the railroad ques-
ton. A row of ticket brokers' offices.
occupying valuable store space in the
heart of the business districts of our
large cities, with their clerks and adj
vertising devices, show a useless wheel
in the machine Of transportation. The
regular railroad ticket offices could sell
the transportation just as well, and if
the expense of maintaining these mid
dlemen in the trade were only divided
between the railroads and the public.
it would be profitable alike to both
Then, as has been so often shown. the
ticket scalping institution is a direct
and considerable encoura cement to pet
ty theft and even forgery on the part
this article was once approa ched by the
agent Of certain railroad, of whom he
was about to buy ticket, with the offer
Of Hmade-up" ticket, which would
save him about 20 per cent of the regu-
lar fare, and, of course, cut the agents
own company out of just that much.
The railroads assert. with a show of
reason, that they could and would give
great many more privileges to the
public if they were protected against
the abuse of such privileges by the
scalpers. The fact that surdry railroads
here and there are themselves doing
business with the scalpers, as Mr. Nc
kenzfe showed in his testimony, does
not improve the scalpers' case, any more
the fact that certain victims of robbery
and fraud compromise with the
crooks who have despoiled them.
The attitude OF many labor unions,
particularly the Knights of Labor, is
what might have been expected. They
have taken the side of the scalpers and
arc pouring petitions and memorials
into congress by the bushel This is
having it's effect upon timid congress-
men, and may be the means of sup
pressing the anti-scalping bill as
separate measure The basis of the
trade union attack is doubtless a gen
eral opposition to the railroads as such.
AS anti-scalping legislation is something
the companies are pleading for, the
unions are out against it by way of OPP
posing their traditional foes"
Another argument has been used
which may have some effect upon the
silver Democratic vote in both house
and senate. 1t is alleged that the rail-
roads contributed enormous sums of
money to bring about the election of
Mckinley, and that in return they were
promised an opportunity to recoup
themselves through the abolition of
scalpng. The trouble with this story is
that it has already been fitted to so
many different situations. Nothing has
come up concerning the railroads, di-
rectly or indirectly, since the Inaugural
ton of Mckinley that has not been de-
clared in Populistic circles to be an eX-
change for campaign money A few
weeks ago the president had about made
up his mind to appoint Judge Paxson,
of Pennsylvania, on the interstate com
merce commission, instead of joke
named Litter, whom Senator Cullom
was apparently urging for the position.
Put the story was at once started that
Parsons appointment had been bar
gained for during the campaign. When
the pooling question was preached, the
same sort of a yarn was set forth. In
fact, it will be impossible. for the rest
of President McKinley'S term, to at
tempt any necessary business legislation
in which railroads or other corporations
arc involved, without arousing a Popu-
listic howl of this kind. - Sane and SER
sible people were tired of it long ago,
but the howlers are not. and there are
congressman who are silly enough to
take in all such chatter at it's face
value and allow their official conduct to
be guided by it.