The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-01-27

stop on the side wa~lk-impeding trafic-and
try TO hin what car you were on. You
do not remember. You try to recall the
face Of the conductor. It 10 useless. Rue
fully you turn to so to your place Of bust
mesa
!, Then you meet q friend.
Tive got a funny story to tell you.
Started downtown on O street car with the
new trousers I was telling you about and
left 'em on the car. Did you ever hear Of
such a fool trickf Did you ever lo~se-any-
thing on a street carr
Your friend suggests:
! Tried the lost-articIe department yet7'
mo; what you have to dor"
"oh. I'd call 'em up. II I were you, tell
'em the time as near as you can that you
got on the car and the time you left It;
the line you were o. and the car, IL you
know 1t. Give them your name and ad-
dress. and tomorrow go out and see II 1t
has been returned
The Advice Of Experience.
You act on your friends advics, ana the
next day you take q car and q transfer to
the iost-article department of the TranGit
Company. with a little hope In your breast
and a great deal OF scorn for yourself for
expecting to find anything that has been
lost on a street car in a great ~city-that Is,
supposing that this Is your first experience
of the kind.
When you lave mounted the night Of
stairs leading to the second floor Of the
Transit Company's building, at the south
west corner of Park and v~andeventer ave-
nues. You see hands on the wall pointing
down the hallway with the words, Lost
Article Department" printed In large let
fera Won ant1r tha ronrn@ 80 fA- --
ment. and an elderly gentleman. who stands
behind the counter. asks you in a business
like manenr what you have lost
He is Mr.. Patrick Maxwell. superintend-
ent Of the lost-srticIe department. He asks
you what kind OF a package II was you
lost, what car you were on and what time
you left the car. Then he goes into one
Of the two rooms where his wealth of lost
articles Is stored and returns In q moment
with your lost trousers In his hand You
are delighted and amazed. and. after sign
ing a receipt for the recovery Of your prop
erty. you suggest that the Transit Com
pany deserves q great deal Of praise or q
gold medal or something for its admirable
system in recovering for passengers and re-
turning to them the many valuable articles
they lose on street cars.
"Humph." says the veteran superintend-
ent, I'VE get cussin's instead"
More than 1000 articles are returned to
patrons OF the Transit Company every
month through this department. They rep
resent In value many thousands of dollars.
The system employed u . very compiets
and successful one.
Conductors are required to turn In every
article found upon their cars. Failure to do
so. in one i~nstance-if It can be proven that
the conductor found the article on the car
and not some p~assenger-is enough to bring
about hat conductors immediate dismissal.
On the other hand. there Is q strong incen-
tive to honesty. in that all articles turned
In to the lost-article department and not
claimed within thirty days are given back
to the conductor who found them
When an article Is found by a conductor
IT is sent to the lost-article department with
the conductors report on II. stating when
and where It was found. A record II made
Of the report. and the article II placed In
the proper box after being recorded. IN
dexed and tagged II It II claimed, the
owner signs a receipt for IL. an entry Is
made on the books closing up the record of
that article. and the superintendent of the
division. In which is employed the conductor
who found the article. IL notified that the
article has been identified and claimed by
such and such Q person. LIVING Y No. ss7