The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-12-27
THE TRAIN-B0Y PASSING
CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE UNDO
ING OF THE RAILROAD "sUTcHsR."

wv 6hHAH'eNs ANON nun ny Dig
The American train-boy the red
man and the buffalo and other inter.
esting species of a picturesque period
in the history of this great continent
is passing away. He can no more
withstand modern commercial meth.
oGs than the red man or the buffalo
could withstand the civillzing inhu.
cnce of the repeating rife and the six.
shooter And at his passing, attention
may be called to the fact that another
time trOdden avenue to fame and for.
tune has been closed to the present
generation of American boys. Few
youths of to-day will be able compla
Gently TO lean back in the opulence OF
old age and tell their grandchildren
the story of how they began life MS a
newsboy on an accommodation train
To-day there are many such old men,
almost as many, in fact, as began theif
march to success on the towpath of
the canal-men distinguished in sci
ence, in finance, in law. i'm the prize
ring, who can point proudly to their
boyhood and attribute all they have
accomplished i'm life to the start they
obtained ns railroad butcher"
But present-day methods and limo.
vations not only have made the ancient
box of densely over-populated figs i'm.
possible as a stepping stone to future
greatness, but they have pretty ef
fectually stopped the industry as u
means of everyday livelihood Within
comparatively short time n number
of trunk lines have dispensed with
the trainboy altogether. In his place
small stands at different stations along
the road have been substituted. Al
these stands the passenger may pur.
chase the same wares formerly so,G
by the boy on the train. The railroad
men say that the new system-which
is similar TO that now in use in Eng
land and on the Continent-is more
economical to them and far less au-
noying TO their patrons.
I'VE were driven to it, said tie
general passenger agent OF one of tha
roads which now operates its trains
without the assistance of the butch.
or" "At first we made certain rules
with n view TO restricting what seemed
TO have become a necessary evil of
| railroad travel; but these rules were
violated, and we settled the problem
finally by doing away with the serv.
, ice entirely The fault, | think, lies
in the system employed by the com
panies which control the business now
| All their boys are paid on commits
sion basis, and when they get to
making too much money the amount
| of their commission Is cut down. Nat.
urally the boys are going to make up
! the deficiency on their own hook If
possible, and they resort to some un-
worthy means TO accomplish 1.-THE
! selling of fake packages of Illegal
! literature is one of the most common
! tricks. AS u matter of fact these
packages really contain nothing but
| harmless advertisements, but that, of
course, does not eXonerate the boys"
| Even on roads which have not given
! up the service entirely rules have
been made which greatly restrict the
| young "butcher's' method of doing
| business. He is no longer permitted to
! entice buyers by leaving his magazines
and boxes OF candy in the laps of pas
| sengers, nor is he allowed To make
more than Il certain number Of trips
! through the train in the COURSE of his
run. The conductors have orders to
! enforce these rules rigidly, and when
| they are broken the offender is re.
| pnrip1 IN his SttnnrintnnIpnt and aifn
| er fined or taken off that run. All the
! business nowadays Is controlled by n
| few big companies, and the rain-boys
| instead of being independent mcr
| chants. dealing in their own stoCl;
! purchased with their own capital, are
merely agents, selling goods on TWEEN.
| ty per cent. commission basis. The
pews-stands ia ali the large railroad
stations, which carry precisely the
| same stock, have cut deeply into the
| butchers" profits, and It is admitted
| that only boys with exceptionally Ia,
| cratlve runs can average more thar
| ten dollars IL week. All of .hese condl.
/ tions naturally have conspired toward
the butchers" undoing. AS IN many
| another calling, it seems to him that
the honor and glory is all behind
! There are train-boys now, old am.
gray and bald and still In the service
who can recall the glad opulent days
when 1t was counted as nothing to
"knock down" sixty and seventy dol.
lars n week Those were the times
twenty-five and thirty years ago, when
the boys either worked for themselves
or were employed by some retired con
ductor or brakeman, who had gone
into the business OH the money lie nal
accumulated from the railroad. and
who gave the butchers" half of all
the profits In those days the train
boys held, ia = lesser degree, of course.
The dazzling position in the social
world which The Mississippi River
gamblers occupied. They made their
money easily--and In great many
instances as dcNterously ms the GAM
lers and they were spenders. Many
of them were "cappcrs' for The three
card-monte mon WlO infested the
trains twenty-five wears ago ana re-
ceiyed as their reward the "holdha
checks which t%,'pej given then for cash
fares, Sometimes these checks amount.
ed 10 thirty or forty dollars II week
The little oval tlg-boX was in the
height OF its activity then and wHs
the butchers" chief source of re,