The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-01-18

Washington, January 15.-The Sen
ate committee on inter state com
merce this morning resumed its hear
ing on the anti-ticket scalping bill.
Pending the resumption Of the testi-
mony of George M. Mckenzie. of Chi
cago. a statement was submitted to the
committee by Bert w. Lyon. editor
of The Commercial Traveller. of St.
Louis. Mr.. Lyon said that he made
the statement In rebuttal of some as
sertions heretofore made to the COM
mittee by +. J. Feely, of Chicago. and
p. E. Dow, of New York. who claim
ed to represent the Commercial TRAY
oilers of the country. Mr.. Lyon was
absolutely satisfied that a great ma
iority of the commercial travellers
were in favor of the pending bill.
Mr.. Mckenzie presented ~afidavits
from various ticket brokers In Chica-
60. st. Louis, Boston, Louisville and
other cities, setting forth that they
had purchased tickets directly from
the authorized agents of railroads.
and in some cases receiving commits
sion thereon. Senator Elkins enQuir-
ed what the annual volume of Mr.. Nc
Kennels business was and he replied
that it aggregated last year $500. 900.
mo wonder you are making a fight
against this BILL" said Mr.. Elkins.
The questioning Of Mr.. Mckenzie
brought out the statement that the
bulk of his business was done over the
weak lines.
Senator Tillman asked sharply:
Cant you produce some absolute
proof in the shape of Cancelled checks
or some other kind that these railroad
men who have appeared have lied?
That's what we are trying to get at"
Mr.. Mcenzie then submitted some
further statements of brokers. afew Of
which had attached to them cancelled
checks.
do you as a broker" inquired Sen
ator Cullom, pay heed to the state
laws requiring that no railroad ticket
shall be sold except by authorized
agents of the railroads." w pay
no attention to Inat law" replied Mr..
Mckenzie.
You say" said Senator Elkins,
chat in 1894 you did a business ag-
gregating $500, 900? Now what was
your profit on that business!
81 will say" replied Mr.. Mckenzie,
chat in that year we-my partner and
l-udu I'VE OLlCcS. Jul dSSiC6dbS u
mess was 81, $3.50, 600 and our net pro-
fits about $4,000"
In the course of Mr.. McKenzie's
statement he presented to the COM
mittee certain pastors which the
brokers had used to extend the time
Of limited tickets purchased of the
Wabash road, the pastors bearing the
name Of George II. Daniels, now gen.
eral passenger agent of the New York
Central road, who was at one time h
general ticket agent of the Wabash.
Mr.. Daniels desired to offer a brief
explanation of that statement. He
said that during the time he was the
general ticket agent of the Wabash
system he had reprinted the entire
stock of passenger tickets Of their lines
at a cost Of $4,000. He explained
that the pastors presented by Mr.. Nc
KenZie were used by the road in the
making out of limited tickets and were
for the convenience OF the Wabash
agents and not for scalpers. The
particular pastors presented by Mr..
Mckenzie" said Mr.. Daniels, were
used several years after / had severed
my connection with the Wabash sys-
TEN. 1t is likely that many of the
tickets even now being old by the
Wabash IA my name. / desire to
say as emphatically as 1 can that l
never had any connection with ticket
s~calpers, have never broken a rate
agreement and have never sold tickets
to anybody over n line with which
/ was connected for less than the reg
ular rate"