New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-05-17
THINKS BILL WILL PASS
Hiss KelIor Optimjstic-East Side
associations Support 1t.

There is every likelihood that AssembIyman
Weiss bill to regulate the business Of steamship
ticket agents and pa, out of business the ticket
sharpers" of the East Side. will be passed next
week according 10 Miss Frances Kellor. head of the
research department of the Womens Municipal
League She returned from Albany on Tuesday
night and will there again next Monday, she
said yesterday to before the Governor the need
Of such q law
The bill IS the yokefellow of the bill introduced
by Assemblyman Wells passed and signed by
the Governor which viii require the East Side
private banks and ticket agencies to furnish
bond of SO 600 to the state. The second bill,
before the Legislature. provides that no person
shall hold himself out to he or advertise himself
in any way" the agent Of a steamship line I'M
less he has received from tine officials Of the line
authority in writing.
The banking bill will go into effect on September
1, and the second bill. If passed, will also take
effect on the same date.
I'VE have worked very hard to obtain such laws
to protect the foreigners here" said Miss kellor
last night Il feel sure that our efforts will be
successful now. This second bill has been ad-
vanced to a third reading by unanimous consent,
and l expect It will be passed early next week.
While at Albany Senator Grady promised
me he would not oppose it, and I think he has
kept his promise
As an instance of the need of regulating ticket
sellers. Miss Kellor cited the case Of Herman &
Co., who had a banking and shipping agency at
to January Is. 1906 She said the firm was selling
tickets worth on the average $50 by the instalment
plan, the purchaser paying SO down and 81 80
week. Tho purchaser got order for ticket
the agent in Europe and naturally mailed It at
once herman * Co selling about one
thousand tickets Il week. and to send the neces-
sary cash down for tho tickets to the European
agents on which the orders were drawn It would
have been necessary for Herman & Co 70 send
S-VuV or their own money, together with the S10o1
they had collected from the purchasers. Their
capital was not large enough to carry on such
continual expenditure, even though their install
ments were netting them more than Sl000 a week
extra. Several hundred complaints lodged
against the firm, and It went out Of business
This company was succeeded by Louis Brown,
who bought IL out in January. After collecting
large sums, Brown disappeared May %, last
year, according TO Miss KeIlor's Investigators One
Of the smaller perquistes of the business, it
discovered, was the accepting Of money for cable
messages which were seldom sent. The money
grated in this way not much. but 1t caused
suffering to the persons who sometimes paid
weeks wages TO send messages to relatives in the
old country.
Mrs Rosalie Loow Whitney. a director of the
Womens Municipal League. who for several years
prior 10 1893 counsel for the Legal Aid Society,"
said yesterday that during her experience in
handling cases for the poor OF the East Side she
was astonished by the audacity and success Of
the so-called bankers and ticket agents.
THE cases are all very much alike" said Mrs
Whitney, "aDd they all show that regulation Of
these sAarpers has been only too long delayed. 7
remember one incident that came under my notice.
Two Italians. brothers. had been deposItIug money
with private banker one of them did the de-
posting for both and the other brother went
meanwhile. 20 Pennsylvania work in tho
mines Later the banker left town with the money.
The two brothers aftcrward accused each other OF
being IN league with the banker. \ family was
broken up well swindled,"
Mrs. Grace Quackenbos. OF the Peoples Law
Firm. special Assistant United States Attorney.
whose brilliant work in investigating the peouage
system In the South has Attracted much attention,
also expressed herself favoring tho new laws.
Like nearly every else who has been inter-
csted IN philauthropic legal work the East
Side, she had observed the necessity OF some check
the money changers.
ono OF tho many cases that show the ingenuity
of the ticket sellers was that OF Louis j. Roth. who
dd ticket business at No. % Bloomfield street
Hobol,en. Ho built up a trade by runners the
East Side. He was arrested on April ~ By tho
HOboNen police following twenty-five complaints ~
persons. mostly HuDgarians. who said they mad
purchased orders FOR tickets from hllu and that
he had failed 10 make good. According 20 the p0-
lice, he would tell the purchaser TO call at his CT
fee, which the piers, the day the
vessel sailed. They would come, only 20 find the
place locked up, the police say. They say that
Roth counted on certain number oT the PurcAis-
being impatient to take the vessel that they
would pay their passage second time
away. leaving him in possession OF their money.
for those who missed the vessel and waited for
able often 10 square matters with them by
giving them tickets another line making a
part restitution. He held under bonds for tho
grand jury by Recorder Stanton