Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-15
Split Funds Evenly.

! them $3.50
| Split Funds Evenly.
You must do a big business
| guess 900 tourists pass through
/ here every day" suggested the re
! porter.
More than that, l hope was the
| reply. IF we only had that many at
% cents a head. there would only be
! $3.50 to divide among Is men. We
| have IS guides and none of us gets "a
| penny salary from the Government.
! We split the money we get from the
tourists evenly. the captain of the
| guides getting 80 cents "a day extra
for keeping track of the numbers en-
! tering. We only make what we get.
"All we ask is Il square deal. If
YOU print anything, I hope you will
give our side of it. too. l am not at
all ashamed of this business. | look
upon it as a profession. We are all
appointed by the sergeant alarms on
recommendation from members of
Congress. Appointments are being
made more frequently than they used
to- but all in all our guides are eX-
perienced men who make this a real
business.
Party Held Up.
At that minute the interview was
| interrupted by a CONJUNCTION outside
! the door. The guide and reporter
| stepped out to see what the riot was
! about. They found a sight seeing
attendant arguing himself to the
| verge of apopleXy with another guide.
who stood squarely across the door,
while 16 misunderstanding tourists
! cooled their heels outside. After an
other man had been called, had sign
ed a paper and a whispered convex
sation had been held, the tourists
were permitted to enter.
Inquiry disclosed that the bus at
, tendant had failed to give the guides
their fee for Il party some days be-
| fore, and had been barred from the
Capitol" His tourists had been per
mitted to enter with him only when
he and another attendant had duly
signed promises to reimburse the
| guides for each tourist.
But see here" exclaimed the re-
| porter What authority have you
! for barring that man"
| Suppose | employed chauffeur to
drive me around Washington and to
show me through the Capitol. It's
as much his Capitol as it is yours.
! What would YOU do?'
well. if we recognized him, we
| would throw him out. Rather, we
would call the Capitol police, and they
would throw him out" came the frank
reply.
But you would have no right I'M
der any law to do that.
Would Resort to Bluff.
NO I'll admit we haven't. But
we would bluff him out, all right
We have to protect our jobs, you
know. We have families, and hold
respectable positions in Washington
society We have a right to earn
our living" the guide admitted with
equal franknesS.
IF your guide insisted. and knew
his real status. | am frank to say we
could not do anything to him
Asked what he would think of
being placed on ii salary and the aC-
| ceptance of tips prohibited. the guide
confessed that he would prefer to
have conditions remain as they are
He pointed out that salaried guides
would he political appointees." who
would he more anxious to serve the
desires of the member appointing
! them rather than striving 10 serve
the sight seeing public.
| On this point. however. the guide
i differed with the views of the heads
of some Washington sight seeing bus
! companies. Although these officials
offered no objections to the present
| arrangement. they believed the eff
| flciency of the guide service at the
Capitol would be increased tremen-
dously if a smaller number of guides
were appointed after careful eXami
nations as to their knowledge of the
building, placed on salary and put
under the protection Of civil service.
Urges Fewer Guides.
There are too many guides at the
Capitol now who do not know much
about the building" said one bus
company official That is the only
complaint l would make now. We
don't mind the lucent fee. We
simply tack it on to the passenger
fare. For instance, if he pays $3.50
for the public buildings tour, is
cents of that fare is there to take
care of the Capitol guide. The pas
sengers know nothing at all about it
Changes are altogether too fire.
quent in the guide force. New men
come in and they are of little use to
the tourists. Furthermore, there are
too many guides on duty now. If the
Government appointed say 10 men.
and paid them $50 week. the tour
lists would get much better service.
They would be taken around by men
who would know all of the details
about the building, and furthermore.
the guides would be assured OF their
Jobs by being under the civil
service
The experience of the reporter at
the Capitol substantiated this asSer
ton. A few signs directing him
which way to go to reach the various
points of interest would have served
him far better, and al much less eX-
pense. than the guide for whose serv-
ices he paid. NJ least. the signs
would not have yelled unnecessary
orders at him To hurry up hurry uU