The times., 1900-12-31
THE NEWS BUTCHER" TO GO.
Excluded From Trains ON several
RniIronds During the Year

Excluded From Trains ON several
RniIrond~ During the Year.
NEW YORK. Dec. SO.-The day of the
train newsboy. or. as he is more familiarly
known, the news butcher Is seemingly
drawing to a close. He has been excluded
from several railroads within the last year.
and his departure from other lines is only
a question of time. The New York Cen
tral will apparently be one of the first to
drop him. Not one OF several high off,
cials of this road, who were seen by a
reporter, expressed himself altogether in
his favor. The roads which have already
taken action are the Lehigh, the Erie, and
the Chicago and Alton.
The newsboy muct 60 and for no other
reason than that he has become a nuisance
to travellers. The decline OF this business
into popular prejudice and dislike has re-
suited largely from the great cheapening
in printed matter, the establishment Of
news, confectionery, and fruit stands at
stations. and the equipment of through
express trains with libraries.
In the early days Of the news butcher
he had more or less of a monopoly Pas
sengers found themselves in need OF a
DoOh coluiC Ntthig 10 ciffINeu the le-
dium of the journey or a basket OF fruit
to check a growing hunger. The sale of
the comic weekly has now been consider
ably diminished by tho introduction of hu-
morous matter into the daily newspapers.
which are to be bought at almost every
corner. The need for the sale of eatables
on the train has been met by the intro
'duction of the dining car.
With the decrease in business there has
haa a tn tt.
sistence and oftentimes the impudence of
those who pursue it for a living. Corre-
spondingly. also, the prejudice of the pub
lie against the news butcher has grown
apace.
A reporter in travelling recently over
western bound express train out of this
city encountered three different newsboys
between sunrise and midnight Each knew
his business, but piled it in a different
way.
In the first six hours of the journey the
passengers of the train were the helpless
victims of big, burly fellow. whose fat
face rolled up in folds at every turn of his
head He had voice which sounded as
il 1t came through ten-foot megaphone.
Everything about the vender was loud.
On entering the car he closed the door
with a slam as IL to advertise his coming.
The door shut. the butcher shouted. with
his eyes riveted on the occupant OF the
nearest seat, long list Of weekly maga-
zines. He then showed an assortment of
his wares, arranged in fan shape on his
left arm, into the face of his intended
customer, who chanced to be an effem-
mate young fellow, with his hair plastered
to his head and accurately parted in the
middle.
The victim murmured something of re-
monstranee at being held up in such sum-
mary fashion and fdgeted uncomfortably
in his seat The butcher now came to still
closer quarters, and the nervous passen-
ger finally bought a weekly to rid himself
of his prosecutor.
The butcher continued his tactics with
the rest of the passengers, sometimes
meeting with open defiance, sometimes
with stolid Indifference, and occasionally
with unreserved surrender.
The butcher who came on the train next
was PALE faced. tow headed boy, who
tried to work on the sympathies OF the
women passengers. He r1ade a specially
of confectionery. and wherever he found
some mother with one or more children
he almost always drove bargain by ex-
citing the appetites of the little ones. He
laid the sweets before them until the
mother was compelled TO buy some bonbon
or other to still their cries.
The third butcher said little, as if he
knew that his presence was not wanted.
but sought to advertise his wares and
arouse the interest of the passengers by
leaving with each of them a package of
candy or a novel. He would then leave
the car for some minutes, and later re-
turn, as IL to give the impression that
he had just as soon give away his goods
as not II anyone desired to show sub
stantiaI appreciation of his philanthropy
by paying for 1t, however, the butcher
never refused the money.
The news butchers are in the employ
of news agency and work on a commits
sion. The news agency pays the rail-
road for the privilege either q commits
sion of a certain fixed amount each year.
The same agency which employs the news
butchers on the trains as rule operates
the news-stands at the stations along the
road Consequently 1t will make little
difference to the agencies whether the
butchers continue to poster the travelling
public or are relegated into blissful
oblivion.
member of the Union News Company
which operates on the principal railroads
running out of this city. said yesterday:
1T rests entirely with the railroads
whether or not the news butcher should
be abolished. We understand that the
public has come to look on the butcher
as a nuisance, and / would not be at all
surprised if he disappeared within two or
three years"