The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-11-11

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er.ca 70 he am ouI ay SAVING
q Oh. thacs all ctght MIKE. THIS S
Mr iuslg.S. csvt yoGe ckr and come
along.
eBur Nh VAS not moved in the leas
BY tAls aapeal. AID nN9lnpey replied
Mr.. Ingalls, IS r. ptvil 8 BIZ do (
care who Ae Is. l Wouldn't leave th.s
Job for the payrlastev himself. .tnd
that's al there IS about II Iez can
walk 10 the gravel PIT.
The implied dignity afsd rank which
the payrnaste- heid N the mind Of Mis-
the section boss, fnds a responsive
chord N nos employees OF his GLASS
To them he ~paSrnastee Is my far the
biggest man on the road.
~ large corporation like the Pennsyl-
vania or the New York Central has as
many pay cars as the road has separate
divisions. For Instance. a pay car on
the division between Washington and
PHILADELPHIA will leave The latter place
in the morning. ana on Its run to this
4-,- -;tI .,J-, Il, ~,-%y ex,aoi @FNANAt
or branch that is TO be met with. The
same applies to the New York division,
the Philadelphia division of the main
line. or the Northera Central road, all
of which are under one management.
These cars travel only in the day
time except when running 'deadhead'
to reach some point where payment IS
to begin, and only enough checks or
money is carried for the days work,
fresh supplies being received by express.
The crews consist of the paymaster,
clerk and porter. with a conductor and
brakeman. Every man in the car or on
the engine is armed with the latest i'm
proved revolvers, and while paying off
the paymaster Aas always within easy
reach one or two of these barkers of IS
caliber. These precautions are gener-
ally taken west OF Pittsburg. as several
of the roads out there pay off in cash,
but the more ignorant h~ighwaymen do
not know the difference between paving
off in cash or checks, and as a conse-
quence we do not know how to expect
q visit from them.
1T used to be the rule to pay off in
checks all Owe the country, but it be
came a general rule for the laborers
a,1 tho li,,ac ~ III p-- Jhu-p tbai,. r,nIe
and start for the nearest town TO get the
cnecks cashed, as they did not believe
they had been paid off until they held
the real cash in their hands. This be-
came very troublesome, especially in
cases where the work was to be hurried
when money is handled the real pay
master is seen at his best. Ali mistakes
are at his Expense as ii very seldom
happens that an error occurs with an
honest man. Everybody is told to count
his money before he leaves the car, but
the majority tuck it away in their
blouses and hurry away without looking
it over. There is no monotony in the
p~aymaster's life. He is naturally
obliged to keep his wits about him and
to be constantly on his guard. 1t is
said of a celebrated gambler Of national
reputation hat he once declared, "A
sporting life is sometimes checkered,
but never dull and the remark applies
perfectly to rhe man who handles the
pay roll on the railroads.
THE interior of pay cars are SO ar
ranged that the men pass through with.
out confusion, receiving their money
and signing the pay rolls rapidly. In
paying laborers and section men only
tba hnSCi cipn a tl1ra iS 4 lion and ntJar.
solemnly touch the pen and the clerk
signs the names. This is done, not en-
tirely because the men cannot write,
but because the effect of signing their
names is to. most OF them a laborious
and time-consuming task, only to be ac.
complished after much talking and hu-
morous, clumsy motions. Some of the
original sayings of these men at such
times, coming as they do from happy,
cheerful hearts, generally start every
one to laughing and would look well in
print.
Where cash is paid out it is impossl-
bic for a paymaster to balance his cash
daily, and mis- accounts are always open
for three or four weeks before he can
square things, and yet 1 have never lost
anything OF any account When on one
of my first trips paid out a switch
mans salary to a section hand of the
same name, and it took me over a month
to get things squared, but it cost me SIS
after all. as the section hand quit the
road. / couldn't blame him, as it was
fully one-half of his usual wages. and
he doubtless spent 1t In a carousal.
when a half million dollars is handled
it is almost impossible to avoid mistakes,
especially when it is paid out in such
small, sums. If a man is pad more than is
due him, he frequently conceals 1t: If his
cash is short he rarely fails to let the pay
master know it. Once in a great while a
man comes back with his overpayment,
but such cases are like angels visits.
And yet, on an average. the shortages do
not amour. to more than So q month, and
there hav. been months in which the cash
on my car balanced to a penny.
Every run l take over the road makes
me keep wide awake on account OF the
large number OF name that are identic-
ally the same. For instance, there are
seventeen John Smiths on my division,
twelve Michael O'BrIens. and SIN I'm Sui
livans. not to mention duplicates of half
a hundred other names.
However, 1t is our business to know the
men we are dealing with, and we try to
remember them. We have new experiences
and new troubles every trip. One would
suppose that in the course Of time we had