The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-04
Comparison of " Pay Car" and
Check Systems.
Why Railroads Object to the
Pay Car.
CHECKS AND SALOONS.
Railroads Find That They Work
Together.
Still the Large Railroads Are
Abandoning the Pay Car.

Two or three large railroads have re-
Gently abandoned the practice of run
ming pay cars and have substituted the
system of paying by check. Such a
change is nothing out of the ordinary,
and we suppose the considerations in
any case have found no new difficult
ties or raised no new objections to
either method of paying railroad em~
ployes. Some of the objections to run
ming a special car or train in order to
pay the employees in cash are that
little expense is attached to the running
of the pay train and in guarding the
same, and there is some interruption in
the work of the employees. While the
rules of the railways are usually sup
posed to cover any considerable loss of
time with employees in arranging TO
meet the pay car still it is known that
expectation of the arrival of the DAY
car will sometimes induce a foreman to
alter the plans of his work for the day,
in order to be at some desirable point
when the pay car arrives.
In districts where it is difficult to hire
or retain labor it is not always Drac-
ticable to control employees who wish
to knock off, at noon time or quit
earlier than the regulations permit III
order to start in early on an evening
of pleasure. 1t is not a far-fetched idea
that the handing of the cash to the en-
plOyeS while on duty does in some cases
have the effect of deranging to some
extent the work of these men, how
ever important or unimportant such de-
rangement may be. 1t may and does
also happen, sometimes that freight
arranging to meet the pay car, the
schedule time of which cannot always
be arranged to a certainty.
On the other hand there are some OBJ
fPCfiOnE the Of win "
checks. One of these is that a good
share of the checks usually find their
way to the cOmpany's treasurer through
the medium of the friendly saloon keep
err. While it is true that it is usually
arranged to provide for the cashing of
pay checks by the station agents, so far
as the receipts of their offices Will go,
still such an arrangement does not al
ways provide for every convenience of
the employee who may desire to quickly
turn his check into cash. So far as our
observation has gone. this objection,
which finds its force in the probability
that the payment of employees by check
is likely to increase their dealings with
the saloon keepers. is sound. Some To-
cal banks exact an exchange fee for
cashing company checks, and, where
employees are not personally known to
grocerymen or merchants who are will
ling to receive such checks, there is
often difficulty in getting the cash; but
the saloon keepers are always wide
awake 10 these dltncultleS, and appar-
entity willing to take the risks; and a.
rule, they are more liberal than the
banks when cashing such paper as
they may think they can well afford to
be. OF course, a good deal has been said
of late years about the stringency of
railroad rules in regard to the use of
intoxicants by employees, but for all this,
any person in position to observe is not
deceived by the real conditions OF
course. men addicted to drink will spend
their money for liouOr whether or NOT
they have other transactions with the
saloon men, but the men who are not so
habituated ought not to be placed IN
position to receive courtesies from the
dram shops. On general principles the
less opportunity one has for dealing
with liquor sellers. the better will it be
for himself and for the service in which
he is engaged.-Railway Review.