The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1906-09-26
AN OPEN LETTER ON THE
scALPINe ORDINANCE

A Question of Allegiance Does the
City Council Owe it to the Scalper
or to the Railway Company? Which
Does Most for the Community
To the Honorable Mayor and City
Council of Roswell:
In connection with consideration
given the so-called "Anti-Scalping Or
ell, September 4th, will come UP
again at the next meeting, it seems
proper for us to present a few reas-
ons why we think the Council should
be more liberal in their views of the
application from the railway for pro-
lection against imposition. 1t will not
cost the Council anything to grant
our request and in doing so they will
not only protect the citizens of Ros-
well against imposition but will pro-
tect the stranger within their gates
who in most cases is an innocent par
ty.
Our letter of July 6, to MI. Richard
son., President of the Roswell Com
mercial Club, contains no bluff. It
states that we were afraid we would
be forced by you people to abandon
the sale of low priced tickets to the
Pecos Valley; but, from my personal
acquaintance with a number of your
Councilmen and other prominent cit
liens, l do not believe that the popu-
lar sentiment of you community is
in favor of forcing the railway to do
anything of this sort.
The comparison made in your Coun
Gil meeting between selling a horse
and selling a railroad ticket seems
to us to be entirely irrelevant as
there can be no comparison except
where a similarity of circumstances
exists. Your comparison should there
fore be between the contract under
which the horse is sold and the con
under which the railway ticket
is sold; it is entirely a matter of con-
tract right. If a person, in considera-
this low rate has been less than the
fare one way. agrees to the contract
terms of a railway ticket, the railway
expects that the contract will be ear
ried out; it seems absurd to say that
a railway company offering a reduced
rate to the public may not dictate
terms under which a passenger
may avail himself of hat reduced
rate. A holding a return
trip ticket is not bound to return. II
the person does not wish to return,
the railway company will redeem the
unused portion of the ticket at its
face value; hence, the holder loses
nothing.
Our letter above referred to does
not state that scalping has been abol-
ished everywhere else; it states a
fact; namely, that other towns have
adopted ordinances making it prac-
tically prohibitive for h scalper to
flourish. We can name the towns and
furnish copies of their ordinances if
desired.
uation at Amarillo and it is doubt
less true that there are some tickets
handled by the scalpers at this point.
We are working on the proposition
here as well as at Roswell and we
hope before long to effectually o
troll the situation at this point and
orr efforts are not wholly selfish be
cause we want, if possible, to pro-
tect the passenger who is buying a
worthless ticket. The Amarillo SIT
nation, however, is a poor argument
to justify in-action abroad. A thing
is either right or wrong in and OF
itself. Our ordinance was submitted
IN its own merits and it is on b a
ground alone we ask for its consider
alton. We have notified the public,
through the columns of your news
papers and by the posting of p~lacards
to beware of scalped tickets as such
tickets would not be accepted for r
sportation on any of u trains.