The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-28

to order the telephone company to take
our private addresses out OF the book.
And, furthermore, II you ever call up
that railroad company, you viii ma that
the operators will not connect, you with
any Of the officials until you have been
cross-exafnined. 1t makes lots Of trouble,
for many people have important things 10
say to us that they cannot explain to sub
ordlnates.
And many big men have been MORALLY
indignant because they couldn't talk 10
us over the wire without submitting to
examination by the girl at the phone first,
Even some Of our directors have called us
down hard for what they called our idiotio
red tape,
and this fellow wasn't contented with
his own little revenge He put up lot Of
Their houses e' 70 do the 1 same ss thing
1One day he actually got forty,three
men together when q car was delayed,
and I'll be hanged II one Of them after the
other didn't call US up with the very same
call US up at our offices or houses, They
were too clever. No, sir, they called us up
at the club where we were giving dinner
TO visiting trolley president from another
city; r..s. M.
would ask for our president to go to the
instrument. A few minutes afterward
call would come for me.
Then the secretary was called up, and
20 on until the dinner was nearly spoiled,
because every time any one started story
or q speech one Of U.s. would be called away;
we had each been caught two or three
times during the evening. :,
Another crowd Of avengers bothered
US In different way and one that was more
expensive They went after US for little
connected with the running Of cars, but
entirely other things.
For instance. one Of our power stations
stood just outside Of the city limits, and had
used soft coal ever since 1t was built. We
map put 1t just within the city, and one of
these kickers got on to II.
well, he Just about lived in the offices
OF the Health Board after that until they
got 80 sick and tired Of It that they actually
begged us to burn hard coal 20 that they
me and told me that II our cars didn't run
more to please him he would look for some
thing else to tackle Us on.
Another man who worried us did 1t with
a thing that was 40 absurdly trivial that it
Is amazing t9 learn what he managed t., to
Of open cars that We had bought from an
other company. The backs Of the seats bad
on them the stencilled warning: Wait
until the car stops
Nobody in the company noticed that, the
word until was spelled with two IFS or,
worth bothering about But this man
thought otherwise.
He began by writing letter to a news,
paper. 1t was funny, and the president and
! laughed over it.. Then another letter was
printed In another newspaper. In the
every paper in town had received and
printed letter from him.
-The headlines that the editors put on
them showed that the papers were amused
by what they thought the crankiness Of a
crank, but 1t was deeper than that; Darn
me If he hadn't figured the whole thing out
as q way to annoy us.
Those letters being, as I said, funny,
captured the public sense Of humor, and
as this particular man was pretty popular
he managed to keep the thing goin q whom
ever he met crowd that he knew In a car,
until at last the passengers in that particular
section Of the town got to calling our presi-
dent Mr.. Until, and politician who was
addressing q property owners association
down there denounced him as Q man who
couldn't even write the English language.
-The climax was reached when his boy
came home from school one day and told
his mother that the other pupils had begun
to ask him to spell until
-That settled 1t. Those cars were hauled
into sheds and the stencils were replaced
with new lettering. ~ COST suS aDOut u
thousand dollars.
sThen this man, too, wrote to our directors,
sent them all the clippings, and told them
the whole history OF what he called his
little reform movement He wound up by
oongratulating the president and me on
having at last learned English, and prom
ised to keep an eye on US and find something
else In case the car service was not improved
"Of course, there's a big lot Of persons
who are after a railroad company all the
time for damages-always threatening suit
and 30 on. But these folk that I'm telling
about don't want anything. They are
purely unselfsh, 30 to speak. They want
nothing except little revenge, and for that
reason they not only succeed nine times
out Of ten, but they do 1t in such a way
that we can't fight back.
"O,s' new president headed one man of
only lar ely. He wrote a long four-pege
letter describing the shortcomings OF the
system.
1T wasn't abusive but. on the contrary.
poisonously polite; but it was written in
such a way that every word would make
even a hardened trolley official vince.
was 30 mad when read il that l wanted
to tear 1t up and hurl 1t out Of the window
But our president dictated an answer in
which he acknowledged lot OF faults and
promised frankly to do better.
sThe next mail brought the man down
from the tree, and now he Ia a pretty good
friend Of the system, and has really helped
us in more ways than one to improve the
service. But 1t wasn't a nice letter to read.
all the aame