Omaha daily bee., 1911-04-12
WHEN PASS WAS The THING
Rscollections Of the Joy Riding Era of
Years Gone By.
SIGN OF THE ELECT BANIsHED
Everybody with n Pull worked IL
Cheaper 20 Ride Than 20 stay
NJ HON worth
millions.


inbuman Hepburn law. taking a strangle
hold on the railroads. compelled them 10
forego their pleasing practise Of handing
out passes 20 all corners, and Instead TO
accent real money for the privilege OF
hauling the citizens Of this fair land
In those five years more free-born Ameri-
cans have stayed at home than In any
other ten years since railroads we're In
vented.
staying at home aggravates, rather than
STILES wanderlust, yet time mercifully mel
lows all sorrows. After five years. 1t -
possible TO contemplate the passing Of the
pass with outward composure. though not
without inward emotion. Let US, then,
take from the bureau drawer the little pass
that was cut off in It's prime. rendered null
and void and bark back 20 the blessed
time that Autographed formula recalls
What delightful memories mingle with
the odor Of lavender flowers In which that
PASS is emblamed. What visions OF JOY
rides from coast 10 coast, and from lakes
to gulf It conjures up And It was all so
simple and inexpensive
To be seen at the ticket window in the
good old days buying railroad transpor-
tation was equivalent to making public con-
fession that you controlled no vote but your
own that you had no social aspirations
no political ambitions, and no commercial
standing. for everybody who was anybody
travelled on passes and they wanted every
body else TO know It.
The sign Of the Elect.
To posses a pass was equal to place In
the four hundred The only distinction
between the common herd Of the emlnently
respectable and the elect was that the lat
ter carried a wallet full OF ANNALS instead
tr4V,
higher up the ladder. Pullman passes were
added to the ANNALS. Those who really
knew the ropes also carried a dining car
frank and cracked a joke with the porter
I'm lieu OF tip.
In the good old days before 1906, certain
railroad out Of New York City ran
Grafters' limited. II was a special train TO
the state capital to accommodate pass
holders. II is said that tickets were so
rare on that train that when the conductor
CHANGED TO discover a passenger with that
form of transportation his hand trembled
so that he punched holes in his thumb
instead Of the pasteboard Then he would
hurry on to tell the flagman. the head
brakeman and the baggageman that.
THAT hed-hesded, speokle-faced cuss In
the third seat on the thumb-hand side in
the smoker ia ridin' on q ticket Say, If
company ought to be able to stand raise
for us felers."
Then the trainmen TO whom these sensa-
tonal disclosures were made would parade
back and forth through the smoking car to
cape sidelong at the speckled-faced phe-
nomenon, while Peanuts" fell over his own
feet in his haste to reach that gentleman s
side.
without a moments delay, Peanuts"
proceeded TO find diamond ring right I'M
der the ticket holders feet. half interest
In which, he declared with unparalleled
fairness, belonged to the latter, In the
excess OF his desire to play fair Peanuts
wound up with offer to renounce his
own claim to the find for the small sum
of ST. II the ticket holder did not fan to
that there was the short change racket to
2 close a transaction I'm figs or literature;
or, as a last resort, there was the shell
game
Oh, II was great distinction TO travel
on ticket In the old days!
A committee of the Iowa legislature, In
an exhaustive report on passes submitted
in 1852. declared that the legislative pass
was regarded as a heritage" An inter
ference in the enjoyment of this heritage
was regarded as unwarranted presumption
ON the patr OF the railroads and was re-
scented as such.
when Marked an. c."
The Chicago & Alton found this out
when in 1901 II had the effrontery to send
members OF the Illinois legislature passes
stamped: Not good in compartment cars
Not good on the Alton Limited" MOT
Good locally between Chicago and Joliet
Naturally. these CALLING restrictions
reused Indignation I'm the breasts OF tho
statesmen. They Immediately started an
investigation Of all wrecks on the Alton for
the preceding six months, but thought
better OF Il when passes commensurate
with the dignity of statesmen were sub
stltuted for the offensive pasteboards.
Every once in a while an upstart railroad
had to be taught its place. One such rail
road in Ohio had the impudenee, not tC
say the indiscreuon to refuse a pass e
the chief OF police OF one OF the larger
cities in the state, Immediately thereafter
trains passing through that city were FIRE
auently stopped and their crews were ar
rested for violating the ordinances agains
whlstling bell ringing, exceeding the speed
limit blocking crossings and similar crimes
These stoppages caused so much della!
and confusion that the service was demon
allied. Observing this, the chief Of polio
remarked that he rather guessed there'
be something doing in the way OF passe
before long" And he was right.
One Of the softest snaps congress eve
struck came about through the indiscredoi
OF the Pennsylvia railroad In encroaohin
on a public park when It built its old sta
ton IN Washington. Every year an In
Quiry was started as 20 the right OF IN
railroad to occupy part Of the govern
ment's land This continued until tn
Pennsylvania came down with a lbera
bunch OF passes for all hands Then a
adjournment was taken until more trans
portation was needed.
some Who WOuIdR't Ride Free.
There were a few eccentric individual
who did not appreciate the privilege q
belng able TO bestow free rides In othe
peoples cars A Chicago alderman II
signed IN disgust IN 1909. because he wa
pestered to death by constituents in cues
OF railroad passes He said there weF
never fewer than fifteen daily applicant
for passes at his office, while the numbs