Show v In the Good Old Days of Free Passes Several Washington officials who chanced to meet the other evening were lamenting the present scarcity of railroad I passes which deplorable state of affairs was brought about by the passage of the interstate commerce bill several years ago Before that time passes were plenty and nearly every man holding an important office with any patronage attached thereto coulu display a pocketbook well lined with the festive trip and annuals Many of these fortunate passholders were generous gener-ous in loaning them to their friends and numerous amusing as well as sorrowful incidents k in-cidents there were that often befell tho borrowers as two or three of the gentlemen gentle-men above mentioned were well aware judging from the personal experiences they related One of these gentlemen who holds a bigl1 Position in government service in that city told the following adventure which befell liim while riding on another mans pass He says A number of years ago I was about to leave the western partof Pennsylvania on a trip to Washington when I met a friend one Mr E who was then a member of the legislature of that state On learning ol iny proposed trip he kindly offered to chalk my hat as we called it those days or in other words ho tendered 010 the use of his annual pass over the Northern Central railroad Having been assured by my friend that I could easily assume the role of a member of the Pennsylvania legislature legisla-ture protempore at any rate I accepted the offer and went on my way rejoicing I had been in the car only a few minutes when my attention was called to the apparent ap-parent nervousness of a seedylooking individual r in-dividual who sat near the front of the car As the conductor approached the seedy passengers uneasiness increased But when the ticket taker finally reached him the former drew himself together assumed is bold a front as his appearance would permit and handed the conductor an an anal pass The ticket puncher scanned the pass brought his lantern square around sots so-ts light glared full In the face of the pass jearer and asked You are Mr are ou Are you a member of the Pennsylvania egislature I The man who looked more tike a hungry tramp than like a statesman replied that he was Mr A searching rofessionally doubtful expression came nto the conductore face which seemed toBY to-BY tI know you are lying but I canter cant-er well prove it just now so Ill have to st you ride At any rate he returned the ass and resumed his work of punching and taking up tickets You can perhaps imagine that the in ierval between this conversation every word of which I overheard and the time Mie brass buttoned railroad official reached me was not the most pleasant period in my life But I was determined not to back jut for I had sufficient confidence in myself my-self to think that if that fellow in the front of the car could work through on a pass not his own I certainly had an equal chance for doing the same Therefore I handed out my friends pass with all the assurance I could muster and as the conductor con-ductor took it and read the name he exclaimed ex-claimed I am < very glad to meet you Mr E for you cad help me out of a difficulty 4 f 1 u J it i r S Up ahead of you a few seats is a fellow I j who claims to be Mr = a member of the legislature He offered me the latters i pass but I have spotted him as a dead beat You however can toll me whether or not I lam correct in so thinking This was getting interesting for me In order to gain time I aSKed ro which gentleman I tleman do you refer The conductor turned around to point outto me the alleged impostor andafter ookin In all directions exclaimed Why thescoundrel has sneaked out lama firm believer in special providence provi-dence > and I consider this escape of mine from what might have boen a most embar rassing7 > redicameatas a marked corroboration corrobo-ration of my belief Jjmight add that this was the first and last timei ever traveled ona pass uottoade out in my own name Washington Post |