The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-09
Railroad News
TICKET SCAIPERS
DID Big FAIR TRADE
Great Northern Alone Takes Up
One Hundred Pieces of
Transportation

Local scalpers did big business in
state fair tickets, and the amount of it
is only now becoming apparent. Near
~ l00 return coupons, aggregating
value of practically $1,000 were taken
up by conductors of the Great North
ern. Twenty of the tickets were re-
turn passages to Minot, N D., and
about as many more were to Devils
Lake and Grand Forks.
The collectors made the holders of
the scalped tickets pay full fare, and
the amount realized from those who
had the money was considerable.
The railroads Mill be chary of ex-
tending low rates to the state fair an
other year." said a passenger official
yesterday, unless some better pro-
lection is thrown around the use of
the tickets. The rates are so low that
the roads do not make any great
amount on account Of the fair. and as
the supreme court lately held that the
state fair is state institution it seems
only right that the railroads should be
protected by the state laws touching
on ticket scalping where the roads
have granted concessions to favor an
institution of the state
Reports from the collectors of tick
cts will be compiled by several of the
roads and transmitted to the officers of
the state fair, with a suggestion that
some plan be devised to prevent the
return portions of the tickets being
sold.
In some cases the scalpers make
good the amount collected from the
| passengers to whom they have sold
Tickets fnI 60.
most part the money paid for passage
is dead loss to the passengers 1t is a
practice of the scalpers to say to the
man who has had the bad luck to have
his scalped ticket lifted, We'll, bring
me back the ticket and 1 will give you
| your money
LAS the conductor has the ticket the
man is unable to prove that he ever
bought a ticket of the scalper, and the
| matter drops. If the scalper did not
pursue this plan he would be skinned
! TO the bone every day in the year by
schemers who would adopt that meth
| Cd of getting little piece of hard
money. Thus the ticket broker has
some sort of claim to fairness when
he requires the alleged buyer of a
scalped ticket to- produce the ticket or
| a receipt for it before he would turn
| over the money paid out by the pas
I Senger.
LIE INSTRUCTIONS issued to the con-
! ductors this year were explicit, and
! that perhaps one in ten of the scalped
i tickets was taken up shows that the
railroads did the best they could to
| suppress the practice of scalping
| The conductors were instructed to
/ take the ticket from the hand of the
passenger when it was presented and
then to request the passenger to du-
plicate the signature on therticket. For
| this purpose card was ready to be
| handed to the passenger and if his at
| tempt at signature was any good at
| all the conductor passed it. Then he
would ask what train the passenger
| took toward the Twin Cities and what
day he left on his trip to the fair. This
| was usually sticker to those who had
| bought tickets from scalpers and the
| next development ordinarily was con-
| fession.'
| The great amount of ticket scaIping
| Will be brought to the attention of the
| management of the fair within the
next few days.