Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-05-21
Pity the Poor Bus Conductor.


A bus conductor groaned the morn
ing of the 77th's parade because bust
ness had been bad that day. On peace
day. he said. he made twenty dollars.
what with time and time and a half
for overtime and bonuses. Oh yes,
the company gave good bonuses. He
had hoped the 77ths parade would net
him nineteen dollars at least, but
nothing doing. The buses had been
routed away from the crowds, and
not find the buses.
DO you collect the bonuses at the
time you collect the fares?" I asked,
''or do they come from the Office"
He got quite naughty about it. He
said the company paid good wages
and the men were all satisfied. He
further said the company had to pay
good wages to get good men. because
there were too many other good jobs
going begging. He knew of two or
three himself, he said, and almost
every man in the bus fleet knew
where he could step into something
nice if he wanted to drop out of omni-
busting.
That's the oldest preliminary to
hard times l ever heard of. One must
conclude the pesismists are either
wrong, or else a lot of mighty good
business men have so misjudged the
situation that they are overpaying
their employees because of fear
thatTother men could not be found to
Uke their places. An Independent
taxi driver admitted that he paid for
his cab in six months, and is now
buying two more cabs on the install
ment plan. He didn't have a fast
meter. either. At least his meter was
not very fast. 1t must be conceded
that New York distances are greater
that we used to think when most Of
US walked to work.
Big Boom in Advertising.
The newspapers never carried so
| much advertising. Some of them
have very little space for news. One
| is putting a couple Of extra decks on
, its presses so that it can print bigger
papers and get in more advertising
| and make more money. That is a
sign of hard times ahead-not. One
Of the larger periodicals carried
100000 worth of advertising in one
issue recently, and has been making
a habit of carrying about that much
The advertisers in the periodical are
P"S ING aovot ~ ceute per SubScTiDeF
per week for the privilege of display
| ing their wares in print. All dippy.
no doubt-all those advertisers But
they are demonstrating that crazi-
| ness pays. The indications are that
the whole country is going insane in
| just the same way.
! 1t does look little as though thrift
! is running for the end book, as We
used to say in the bad old days when
| one could see q horse take the air
! without going to Havre de Grace.
! This morning an enormous automo-
! bile hearse passed the house. 1t was
| enameled. beplumed. show window
hearses. with a quantity of double
| opposed cylinders and set of cathe-
| dral chimes instead of gong And
| inside the hearSe was basket-work
! casket. Fact! 1t is hard to believe,
| but with these eyes I saw it. 1t does
| seem as though introducing summer
| styles in caskets even before the
first straw hat is able to stay in the
| Polo Grounds is rushing matters
| But all is for the best, no doubt Or
| else the heirs took gloomy view
| of the deceased's future
| Sucker lists are showing pronounced
bull tendencies. Even lists made UP
of subscribers to liberty loans have
sold well recently, and 1T must be
| confessed that such subscribers are
lunpromtsing material for blue-sky ar
| lists to work on. A waitress in a
deal-em-o n-the-arm restaurant ac-
counted for her worried air by ad-
hitting that she was grieving for her
ma. She broke her arm cranking the
fiv," said she. Amt that tough luck
and the season just starting?'