Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-08-07
RAILROAD TICKETS.
The Enormous Number of These
SIir,s and What Recomes of Them.


Slips and What Becomes of Them.
ss--sss4 - 80
To the traveller who appears at
railroad ticket office about minute |
before train time and hurriediy de-
mands ticket to one of the GOO or 700
stations along the road there seems to
be no Special reason why the agent
should not have the particular little
slip of pasteboard he wants ready and
waiting for him, with the price at the
tip of his tongue. Few people realize
how complicated is the system by
which these valuable tokens. are pro
vided nor how almost endless is their
number. 80 rs'-s=--~----
Take, for instance, what is probably
the. shortest though one of the busiest
railway systems in the country-the
| New York, New Haven and Hartford.
| 1t is estimated that 100000 tickets
are supplied each month to the various
agents along its lines-54 100000 tick
cts a year, in other words. All these
millions Of tickets include $500 dis
tinct varieties, exclusive of the simple
| card tickets" used for local travel be.
| tween different stations of the road.
| The number of these latter is of course
| almost incalculable, for tickets from
| every station to every other station on
the road with which it is likely to have
any considerable amount of traffic are
printed in large numbers, and it would
take a mathematician well versed in
the law Of combinations to determine
the total quantity issued.
Foreign tickets''-that is, tickets en-
titling the holder to travel over other
lines than those of the company that
issues them-present an interesting
problem for the general ticket agent.
He must see that his representatives
at all stations are supplied with the
familiar strips of paper that ent1tle
the purchaser to travel to one or an
= other Of the important strategic trans
, portation points in the United States
e | For those persons whose peculal
tastes may lead them to some little
:, known or unfrequented corner OF the
:. country blank coupons are attached tt
a certain number Of these tickets which
the agent who sells them fills out IL
writing.
y AS soon as a foreign ticket is sol(
70 the company that issues it sends eacl
10 of the various companies concerned L
n the transaction it's share of the Tar
" paid without waiting to see Whethe
4 / any use is made of the transp0rtato
- or not In other words, all this kind
business between different lines is col
20 Quoted Oh what is called in commercli
a0 language the basis of sales. NATURAL
err the bookkeeping involved is sOmethln
l. enormous at the seasons of the yea
a when travel is at its height.
Many people wonder what become
of all the old tickets collected by CO.
ductors after they have been punche
"O by a multitude of officials. These lit
81 pieces of paper are all turned over
Sc The general auditor and after he
g through with them are bundled in
er great sacks, shipped off to mills al
hit ground into pulp to be made into pap
NO again. Once they have passed throut
~, the hands Of the auditor they have
= 5ther value, and the money they DrI
as raw material is of less importan
aihi than the necessity of disposing OF the
'So in some safe way.