The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1907-09-12
Passing Away.
The General Passenger Agent Not
What He Once Was Before There
Were So Many Laws Regulating
the Railroads All Has Been
Changed, His Duties are Different
and He is Altogether Lonely
Now A fearful Retrospect.

and He is Altogether Lonely
Now A fearful Retrospect.
Dallas Crexas) News
The general passenger agent of "a
GREAT railroad system is IA lonely
man just now. In his office he sits,
rubberlng at the door and elOngatino
his neck like an excited mud turtle
until boy noncllaiently approaches
with a wet yellow telegram that in
forms him the Interstate Commerce
Commission refuses to countenance
rates in circular No "a, ,765, ,S7G,
and that he must give two years
notice before operating the excursion
next month. He is lonesome because
the pass seeker is no more.
Formerly he was noted for his
affable manners and the glad grip he
gave hands. He was priced as a
means to an end, and personal ac-
quaintance to him was valued above
rubies, for could he not with a wave
OF his hand or IL scratch of his pen
send a person Whithersoever he would
go? When he reached IL point where
he could slap people on the back,
give them a cigar and send them
dazed into the street without the
pass they asked for, yet with a feel
ing of gladness that they had called,
he was slated for promotion. Rail
roads don't like to offend people,
not even those who demand passes
when they have us much right to de-
mand freight cars for playhouses for
their offspring. And at time, too,
when freight cars are being fought
for by shippers.
To him came all those who were
troubled or oppressed. The trouble
because they were broke, the op-
preston because railroads charged
for passage. To them he would lend
IL sympathetic car, until the ear
would look and feel like a phono-
graph horn in popular five-cent
moving-picture show.
If he couldn't give a pass, owing
to some severe strain of rules in case
he did, his duty was to break the sad
news so gently the seeker would feel
that the road loved him like broth
er and that the directors, aye, even
the stockholders, were weeping be-
cause he couldn't get it.
Many and various were the people
who asked for passes and Orreduced
rates. Many and various were the
from allegation that the seeker had
once saved a train from wreck to the
fact that some years ago he shipped
g from Minneapolis and that it
ut over the company's lines for
! Tree miles. More often there was
no reason at all.
But it has been changed now. The
ink has grown dark on the stubs OF
the once rapidly-thinning passbook.
The bench where the seekers sat
and awaited their turn to soak the
railroad man for transportation is
filled with dust. The suspicious
glare is fading from the chief clerk S
eyes and he is becoming actually
companiOnable. When he sees man
come in he does not associate him
with passes. lie sometimes thinks
he may be intending adding to the
conscience fund.
But the general passenger agent is
lonely. But for the myriad rules
and orders of the Interstate Com
merce Commission of and the Rail
road Commission of his State he
would be driven to the golf links
every afternoon about 12.1O. His
face is losing that look of affability
that once characterized it. The smile
that would't come off is fading under
the loneliness.
For nobody comes for passes. His
skill in the gentle art OF throwing
people off the track is disappearing
His keen wit is rusting disgracefully.
It's awfully tame now.
The people who have to travel have
yielded to the inevitable and buy
tickets from the city office. He never
sees them. The office clerks come
and go, and he is weary OF seeing
their hair parted in the middle. Tie
knots what muscle the railroad bus
mess has left him and yearns for con
fiict with the promoter Of some
| "Ouiu-Ue lndSdLiiit NiOA SioAoAoi y
circulation who seeks to have hin
advertise to the extent of II mileage
books and three annual passes. The
pass clerk attends to the passes
knowing they are authorized. Hs
does it with the same interest {
farmer shows in baling hay.
The general passenger agent yawn'
in the ennui that has come with th'
laws. He turns to the rate tangle
that once the rate men merrily wres
tied with, and drops of anguisf
gather on his brow. Affability? Huh
Glad hand? Pshaw! He's digging
into rates now and trying to ascer
tain whether the rate-making bodle:
are working toward the penitentiar.
or merely toward the asylum: Oh
fudge! If only the old times were
back-the gladstone times when ev
erybody on earth thought he should
ride free, and it was up to tie genera
passenger agent to make good.
The juice has been squeezed out of hi
business. Nothing is left but rates
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