The suburban citizen., 1901-01-12
THE TRAIN-BOY PASSING
CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE UNDO
ING OF THE RAILROAD "6UTcHER."

i've bubtnessi NOW Run by Big hArIhs'
The American rain-boy-like 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
ods than the red man or the buffalo
could withstand the civilizlng infu.
ence 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 as a
newsboy on an accommodation train
To-day there are many such old men
almost as many, in fact, as began their
march to success on the tow-path Of
the canal-men distinguished in sci
ence, in finance, in law, in the prize
ring, who can point proudly to their
boyhood and attribute all they have
accomplished in life to the start they
obtained as a railroad butcher"
But present-day methods and inno-
vations not only have made the ancient
box of densely over-populated figs i'm
possible as stepping-stOne to future
greatness, but they have pretty et'
fectually stopped the industry as n
means of everyday livelihood. Within
a comparatively short time a number
Of trunk lines have dispensed with
the trainboy altogether. In his place
small stands at different stations along
the road have been substituted At
these stands the passenger may pur.
chase the same wares formerly solo
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.
ave were driven to It," said the
general passenger agent Of one Of the
roads which now operates its trains
without the assistance of the "butch.
er" "At first we made certain rules
with a 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 a 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 IL
possible, and they resort to some I'm.
worthy means to accomplish 1.-THE
selling Of fake packages Of illegal
literature is one of the most common
tricks. AS a 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 butchers" 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 a 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.
ported to his superintendent, and eth
er fined or taken off that run. All the
business nowadays is controlled by !
few big companies, and the train-boys |
instead Of being Independent mer
chants, dealing in their own stock |
purchased with their own capital, are
merely agents, selling goods on TWEEN
ty per cent. commission basis. The |
news-stands in 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 lu.
crative runs can average more than
ten dollars a week. All of these condi.
tions naturally have conspired toward
the butchers undoing. AS In many
another calling, 1t seems to him that
the honor and glory is all behind.
There are train-boys now, old and
gray and bald, and still in the service
who can recall the glad opulent days
when it was counted as nothing to
"knock down" sixty and seventy dol
lars 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 on the money he hal
accumulated from the railroad, and
who gave the butchers" half of all
the profits. In those days the train
boys held, in a lesser degree, Of course,
the dazzling position in the social
world which the Mississippi River
gamblers occupied. They made their
money easily-and in a great many
N or M II. |