Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-06-26
r. R. PASS MAN
LONESOME NOW.

The general passenger agent OF
great railroad system is a lonely man
Just now In his office he sits, rubber
ing at the door and elongating his neck
like an excited mud turtle until boy
nonchalantly approaches with wet
yellow telegram that informs hlm the
interstate commerce commission re-
fuses to countenance rates in circular
No. "A, ,S76, 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 affa-
ble manners and the glad grip he gave
hands He was priced as means to
an end and personal acquaintance with
him was valued above rubies, for could
he not with wave of his hand or a
scratch of his pen send person whith-
ersoever he would go? When he reach
ed point where he could slap people
on the back, give them cigar and send
them dazed into the street without the
pass they ask for, yet with feeling OF
gladnes they had called, he was slated
for promotion. Railroads don't like TO
offend people, not even those who de-
mand passes when they have as much
right to demand freight cars for play
houses for their offspring. And at a
time, too, when freight cars are being
fought for by shippers. Many are
troubled or oppressed. The trouble be-
cause they are broke, the oppression
because railroads charge for passage.
To them he would lend sympathetic
ear, until the ear would look and feel
J like phonograph horn in a popular
five-cent moving-pictures 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 a brother and that
the directors aye, even the stOckhold-
ers, were weeping because he couldn't
get it.
i Many and various were the people
who asked for passes and for reduced
rates. Many and various were the rea-
sons they gave for it ranging from allie
CATION that the seeker had once saved
train from wreck to the fact that
some years ago he shipped pig from
Minneapolis and that it went over the
company's lines for three 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 await
: ed their turn to soak the railroad man
for transportation is filled with dust
The suspicious glare is fading from the
chief clerks eyes and he is becoming
actually companionable. When ht
: sees a man come in he does not asso
ciate him with passes. He sometime:
thinks he may be intending adding t.
the conscience fund.
But the general passenger agent l.
; lonely. But for the myriad rules ant
orders of the interstate commerce com
> mission and the railroad commission
y of his State he would be driven to tn
golf links every afternoon about 1910
> His face is losing that look of affabilit.
. that once characterized it. The smil
g that wouldn't come off is fading unde
II the loneliness.
Il For nobody comes for passes. Hi
: skill in the gentle art of throwing pee
u pie off the track is disappearing. Hi
IL keen wit is rusting disgracefully. 1t
awfully lame now.
The people who have to travel haN
yielded to the inevitable and buy ticl
cts from the city Office. He never SET
them. The office clerks come and g
and he is weary of seeing their ha
parted in the middle. He knows VIII;
ge muscle the railroad business has lie
a him and yearns for conflict with II
X promoter of some would-be magazil
RS with visionary circulation who seel
ks to have him advertise to the extent
as seventeen mileage books and three a
lrt nual passes The pass clerk attends
an the passes, knowing they are autht
at lied. He does it with the same intere
I'd farmer shows in baling hay.
le- The general passenger agent yaw
III in the ennui that has come with I
ed new laws. He turns TO the rate tang
lat that once the rate men merrily wreStl
Ter with The drops of anguish gather
his brow. Afiability? Hub! Gil
lad hand? Pshaw. He's digging into ra
no now and trying to ascertain whetf
his the rate-making bodies are working
I'M ward the penitentiary or merely tows
ice the asylum. Oh, fudge. If only
ay. old times were back-the gladsO
on times when everybody on earth thoue
mp he should ride free, and that it was
mt to the general passenger agent to ''mi
uss good.n The juice has been squeei
ess out of his business Nothing is left
the rates.-Dallas News.
boy
hat Bucklen's Arnica Salve WINS.