The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1910-06-23
GREAT SUCCESS OF SYSTEM.
Ticket Collectors Earn Salaries OIL
the Southern Railway.

lections, has made success Of the
system installed in 1908, and it is
predicted that the present number
of seventy-fve collectors will be
doubled in the near future to cover
the entire system.
It has been the idea of Col. Hunt,
in introducing this system and build
ing it up, to educate the conductors
and the public alike to the fact that
the ticket collector is by no means
a spy and a check upon the honesty
of the conductor, but in reality a
help tS the man in charge of train.
One of the chief duties of the col
lector is to balk efforts on the part
of the passengers to cheat the rail-
road, a work that the conductor has
no time to perform effectively.
What Hunt Has Done.
In the Jacksonville Metropolis,
the fol!owing'story of the ticket col
lector work of COL Hunt is told:
In the near future there will be
a ticket collector on every train of
the Southern railroad.
While this announcement does not
come direct from the head officials
of the system, it is based on good
authority.
A little more than a month ago
the number of ticket collectors was
increased to seventy-five.
Eventually it will be increased to
$50 or more-at least, enough to
cover the entire system.
1t is not stated when this increase
will be made, but it is stated that in
all probability it will not be long.
Even should the increase be made
gradually, by adding ten or fifteen
collectors every few months, it
would not take long to run the num-
ber up to enough to cover the entire
system.
There is an impression that big
auditing company of New York has
a contract to take up tickets on the
Southern railroad, guaranteeing the
road an increase of 10 per cent. net
revenue on the average and taking
the balance over that as compensa-
ton. This impression is erroneous.
The system of ticket collection
now in vogue on. the Southern was
organized by the company, made a
separate and distinct department
from the start, and has been main
tained as such ever since. AS such it
will continue to be maintained. The
head of this department is R. w.
Hunt, and his headquarters are in
Atlanta, Offices in the Austell build
ing.
The system was put in operation
on May /, 1908, beginning with
thirty collectors. 1t was a success
from the first. The revenues Of the
Southern on passenger business in
creased astonishingly. This increase
has kept up steadily ever since, it
is said. The department is proba-
bly, now a fixture. The system is be-
ing adopted all over the country,
even some of the big trans-continent-
al lines putting it on
Ticket collectors have increased
the revenue of the Southern railroad
chiefly by correcting irregularities
and picking up loose ends. This is
emphasized by the officials.
When the system was inaugurated
most people construed it as a re-
Election on the conductors. The con-
ductors sal it in that light, too. Now
this idea is changing. People are be-
ginning to realize that it was not the
ductors saw it in that light, too. Now
Southern, but the passengers. All
sorts of schemes have been devised
to evade payment of railroad fare.
Many were nipped in the bud by alert
conductors, but most were missed.
1t is pointed out by the officials
that before the ticket collection sys-
tenn went into effect conductor had
three different duties to perform.
That is, the handling of his train, the
taking up of tickets and the audit
ing Of collections. If it come to a
choice between looking out for the
safe and prompt transportation of his
train, or laying" for dishonest pas
senger, he looked out for his train,
which was what the company ex-
pected him to do.
AS a natural consequence, say the
officials, the company missed much
revenue they should have got, sim
ply because with so many things to
look after, the conductors could not
make clean sweep. But the ticket
collectors with only that one thing