The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-07
THE CLUB OF THE CHAUFFEURS
THEY'RE GATHERING AGAIN
FROM ALL OVER TIE WORLD

A Deserted Place IN sumner ExCept Tor
the sad Faced ManaEer-NOt q Uni0n.
Though Low Salaries and Llvcries Are
Mot In FaVOr-A House Planned.
The Professional Chauffeur Club, at Its
Broadway, IL in an unwonted state OF ex-
element these days waiting for the return
Of its members. All summer the long,
narrow room has been banked by a double
row OF empty chairs in which for the last
few Seasons the members have sat and
snapped experiences az to the newest
methods Of getting the better OF q hen o n
country road.
The reason for this emptiness Is found
In the club post office. The boxes OF various
members are filed with picture postcards
from all the others. They read In the
6orid, graceful style OF their kind: Il am
at the top OF Mount Washington. wish you
were.' This Is the Rigi. Fine noun
tain maps tomb. Great old spot.
sArc de Triomphe, beats Wash's all hollow
Each chauffeur supposes himself the only
one out of town. whereas the entire force
has been scattered for the summer from
Maine to California and over Europe.
The Professional Chauffeurs' Club has q
membership Of about four hundred. 1t has
the most melancholy looking young man In
town for manager. who nswers to the
nickname of Happy and who smiled just
once while THE Sun reporter was extracting
tnformation-when the time OF leavetaking
came.
Viewed as a purely decorative interior
the Chauffeurs' Club follows the same lines
that custom has decreed for the automo-
billing costume-beauty is constantly sac
rifced ia utility. The one attempt to get
the better Of this obsession Is found in the
row Of posters from French publications
which help cover the walls. One OF these,
depicting a saucy fox who has escaped the
hounds and huntsmen by jumping into a
motor car and speeding along behind the
unconscious driver, is highly amusing: ex-
hibifing it even Happy's face gets almost
human.
"A long table covered with road literature
Ellis one end of the room. a piano cuts of
one corner; there is a wooden case holding
a stationary engine and a huge bulletin
board where delinquent payers are reminded
OF the fact as soon as they open the door.
, Some Of tho chauffeurs, Happy says,
can play a mandolin as well as they can the
automobile, and in consequence a mandolin
club is to be formed this coming season.
Furthermore, so successful has the club
been, now in the third year OF existence,
that il has been determined to save money
and build or buy a clubhouse. He vouch-
safes the gloomy information that the dues
are 81 a month.
To become a member one must be a
practical mechanician and have social
standing as a chauffeur.
@You see" said Happy, "a man can't
get into this club on his rims"
Most Of the 400 members are married
men. thereby indicating that married men
make better chauffeurs. Applications are
constantly made by owners OF cars for
competent married men, the club furnishing
names and references but taking no fees.
The clubs emblem Is a blue and white
button with Professional Chauffeurs' Club
OF America about the rim, a shield and a
worried looking face OF a man in goggles
posed against it, to be worn in the lapel
Of the coat, and in addition a tiny blue
pennant.
When a member OF the club sees this
pennan flying over a wreck by the side
OF the road he doesn't go by with the usual
superior Get a horse expression; instead,
according to the unwritten law. he must
II possible stop and offer assistance.
The opinion OF the management Of the
club seems TO be that coachmen do not
make satisfactory chauffeurs; the majority
Of former trades and professions repre-
gented in the club are those which have
been more or less allied with mechanical
purposes.
The members OF the chauffeurs' schools
come in for n good natured tolerance.
These members when it comes to the ak
Animation have not been found to be as
satisfactory as the men who have COM
menced by taking the cars out and learning
by IMPRACTICAL methods.
While the club refuses TO admit that there
In any idea OF forming a union and that its
purpose il purely social and educational
In tendency. the average salary OF the
members is 925 a week and to accept less
would hurt the members standing.
Various attempts have been made to
force the chauffeur into a livery which will
match the poodle dog OF the employers
have been cOldly treated and at the club
they seem to think that after the eight
years Of gratuitous teaching that has been
furnished the public on these minor poin Is
Of etiquette Il would be a rash person
Who would reopen the subject for debate.
One chauffeur, an Americanized Teuton
who had his preliminary training here
and was supposed to rave imbibed Thea
opinions OF his confreres. has fallen from
grace. He has accepted a place as n OF
the Kaiser's chaufeurs and so far has not
been able to convince his employer OF his
archaic point OF view. Still It Is asserted
that the prestige Of the place counter
once more visits the club he will % re-
ceived as II nothing had happened.
. Among other advantages OF the club
10 the use Of the official garages established
BY 10 in all the principal cities In the country,
where special privileges are granted and