Omaha daily bee., 1900-09-27
NILE ON NILE OF TICKETS
Paper Vouchers Sold During Year Would
Pave Long Strip Of Track,
ARD TOWER WOULD REACH MILE INTO AIR
Passenger Might Ride Five Hundred
Miles n nay for sixty Years Be-
fore Using Annual Mileage
of One system.

General Passenger Agent ]. Francis OF
the Burlington has made some interesting
computations and comparisons relative to
the number Of tickets issued during the
course Of a year from the general passen-
ger headquarters Of his system The tick
cts issued by the Burlington last year,
said MIR Francis. "if placed end to end,
would reach from st. Paul to Chicago. a
distance Of 43O miles. After carpeting the
route OF Its electric-lighted limited be-
tween these cities. there would be five
miles OF tickets left over to cover the side
tracks.
From the Omaha Offices of the Burling-
ton there we're issued last year llJ0O
mileage books Some of them those con-
tanning 1900 miles measure just twenty
six feet when pulled out. I'ut the 1000
mile books, more commonly seen, are nine
feet long. II these II 500 strips of mileage
were placed end to end they would extend
a distance OF twenty miles.
"If these mileage books could be placed
one on top Of the other we would have a
stack higher than any church steeple in
existence--2S7Is feet. II would be task
for one person TO use up these mileage
books. In the lot there is transportation
for 1O,550.00O miles. If one should ride
500 miles a day for sixty years he would
just about use up all the mileage. n one
should conhne his travels to the S,096 miles
OF the Burlington route 1913 trips over the
entire system would be made before the
mileage would be consumed.
But there are other tickets besides the
mileage books. The tickets most commonly
Used by our agents are known as book tick
cts One hundred OF them are bound to-
gether In the form OF a book and on issuing
the ticket the agent writes in the name Of
the starting point and the destination. OF
these our Omaha agent used 453 900 last
year. Allowing 200 for an inch in height
we should have a monument Of tickets tow
ering 1S9 feet In the air
Tower of Card Tickets.
Wherever the ticket sales from one sta
tion to another are very numerous and the
demand regular card tickets take the place
OF book tickets. OF the former Just about
900, 900 were used last year. A stack of
$50 card tickets measures eight inches in
height. BY a little calculation 1t is shown
that years supply would pile up over a
half mile And the tickets in this paste
hoard monument would not include the thou
sands OF card tickets printed for special eX-
cursions. II on top Of the millonth card
ticket were placed the excursion tickets
issued during one year for county and state
fairs, expositons, conventions. picuics and
similar occasions, our card tower would be
nearly a mile high. and the Washington
monument would seem like a boys size
tombstone in comparison.
"As with all other roads the Burlington
sells many tickets to points off its own lines.
These through tickets are made by pastlng
together as many strips as are called for by
the different lines over which the passenger
will travel | have seen a coupon ticket
pasted up till II reached a length OF FIVE
feet The purchaser Of this ticket, of course.
was going to do considerable travelling over
a number of lines and make numerous stop
overs. We issued over 100, 900 coupon tick
cts last year. II they had all been Gve feet
in length they would have covered ninety
five miles, or more than the distance be-
tween New York and Philadelphia.
"In addition to the tickets issued from
Omaha are those sent out by the Chicago
and the St. Louis general Offices In order
to find out how many miles OF tickets were
issued by the entire Burlington system last
year a conservative estimate is the multi.
plication Of the Omaha issue by three From
the latter office we find twenty and one hal
miles of mileage tickets, seventy -one ant
one-half miles OF book tickets, seventeen
and one-half miles OF coupon tickets anc
thirty-fve and half miles of card tick
cts, in all 145 miles OF paper and cardboard
good for travelling. Three times this amoun
makes 435 miles of tickets, or somewher,
near what is used by the entire Burlington
system In a single year"