Show = = STUEETCAIt CONDUCTORS Trials and Trilralitions No Their Kicking Down Under the Present System work more streetcar I dont want any sighed one of the oldtime COllin COll-in mine 0 Market street cable line tors of the ductorb face is familiarto all the whose tl recentlY < of that line patronS Writs the matter now Joe 1 asked to whom the remark was reporter a jw t1dr < > R5cd I veT slang impression VeIl l to use a which means that my ser < If b 1 the g t got required on the line 1 are no longer iees 1ce though for its got so not sorry Im starveto but niggardly 1 nothing theres < and awful long I hours work nlC tll rag05 death 0 110W how does it differ from the former queried the inquisitorial reporter days Before the infernal In lots of ways bell ches invented I made a good It came 011 after and eyen fat thing of it j small man well for 1 11 l 1 It pretty the hue 1 thee with a large family but I tell you on company got so that it dont depend has adopted mish nnicii alone and tile piih jias e dresseS ish wlicli 1 generallY punch Sserfn assistant succeeds in making i UJd ucccc s to ill pettiCOltS rOjiCflI f for the conductors In tlll sil1ioI it beats the punch all to uv 011111011 The name of the infernal con tunder is spotter and the company lcn n ttq a day for its services 1 nyS you understand what I mean The I coziipaY hires a certain number of these snofteMo 01111111 travel on the line and take note potter of the number of passengers that and off the number of fares col < vt 011 feded and the number of times the punch iMied i which they Ieport to the dice Most of these spotters are young ijeS who are employed a few days on one hue and then put on another i itil the conductors have had time to forget their face for we are always on the lookout look-out They generally have a hook to read and sit where they can see on all sides keeping on a cardin their pocket a record I of the trip Pome of the boys are so keen they can ahnot smell a spotter before the POP it But as all men are human and streetcar conductors more so they all count or later come to grief and go down into the valley of suspicion from whnh no ordinal V conductor has triumphantly tri-umphantly returned These spotters include in-clude old and young men girls widows and cripples and theres no use of trying to knock down fares and get away with them than there is to try to attempt to ben be-n I bank cashier and keep from eloping to Canada Its the meanest business on Gods footstool today It dont make any difference whether a man is i honest or not he is almost sure to get fired before be-fore he has been long on the line If some cranky old cuss happens to hail your car from a block away and you ihutsce him ten to one he will take the number and report you which means in plain English that you can hunt for a now job Then again if some fat old fool ol a woman persists in getting off the car before it stops and as is generally the cage sits down on the basalt blocks with the force of a piledriver nearly dislocating dis-locating her spinal column and loosening the filling in her back teeth you must expect trouble and if she rises in her divarity and wrath and waves a wild and ukment adieu to you with her parasol ayou glide down the grade you may as flcll begin to arrange your earthly affairs for a sudden change of base for it is in tiieair This persistent practice of the dear public in getting off of moving cars and cither turning backward somersaults or roller coasting over the slippery paving stones on their stomachs has lost more situations for streetcar conductors and drivers than anything I know of because they t are blamed for it One of the most exasperating ex that the conductor has to L pmences grapple grap-ple with almost every day is getting fares L at of absentminded people and those t Tvlio wilfully lie in order to get out of pay E Why I have seen welldressed vjmon who would take adavntage of the 1 that a car was crowded and declare 3hc most spiteful manner that they kj pungled their nickel when I knew L t they were lying But what can ann a-nn do0 And they know that they have thirty t on him and so does he The r > CJ11 i that they get a free ride for it Wiul 1 not do to try and put them off Mi nt lumded people who think they have uil their fares are just as trouble surn rilirs irs a IwPtsceI ted encouraging busi lls to a new beginner the way things itv managed on some lines A man I HUM ro < i jo work as a greenhorn of cciirp aiid hf > jjj lucky if he averages 0 bits a day for a couple of months For a Miijile man this is bad enough but I know inoi e than one poor fellow with a family who is starving alone trying to kwp Foul and body together on the pay I until ho can Jet on as a regular at 2oO Pr day of sixteen hours And the miinv are ten to one that he will not lflll the place three months when he gets I it Some fine t Ia 1 to me day begets his walking pappr 1 and there is no appeal from the JUin1Pllt J If his family is on the verge of starvation it makes no difference he iiiH go Add to this the fact that nearly I every line in the city keeps a black list of the namos ot the cilscliargod I omploves ind tint when a man gets the bounce his mine I is furnished to the other companies I il3 eai reathjv i that 1 faadiiv see a man must V1ICI1 discharged l apply for work under I asI1Jnld minnie or rustle for some pr kind of mplorment Tlmeii lr again when lie is so fortunate as to mt tit th get ca on as an extra he must report 41 t in ear511015 the at the unholy hour of morning hell out cars and u11e Ilil11 11OSI1jjIjty 11umiL I l basing Ins hopes on the 1 It that ftS rill some one of the Want to layoff for If lnts to JC 1 day he e It that hour I an extra man he must report IJunt 1 get t fycry morm S even if he a d Itt I days Whputoh ays i work once in a week gtts 2j Works a day on this layout he For this he must tCIllioUrs work six Ion I-on lui i isfept > and dmmg that time must be lOg a cond f1U 5Vhe rules llot allow Tho COiijUtOr to Sit down while t M m lWn I f ld on duty tl fret1 270 d 1 t > a day working 11111 lililliber of cr hours 01 Cr 911 iilf 0s J 1 its a lllce business 1 but Pov tl IIlJg liliig a nan to do a I most am md if he orkiI 0 n is honest he will irefer thoUIYtIn a street car to stealing al I atterciass ani ImaiieI if I dont think theY the-Y es get Riiig the best all ela th S ec t cur business catches Qf tors 0 lUen know two concluc WlIt under verc 01Vi0 quite wealthy but the who11 lie tidal sWt OfOundatiomis 7the wave swept coast and hns i from under stocks on this of belt Ivl ere Bi one poor fellowa relic of a ir SW10 used to be captain lilt aRt long l Steamship He did 1 011 the line for the ffl Ulat flowing 1 1 ltion followed knoiCI I Ipn out of his high I l0W OIH hun U1 rand Rent him I grade I till 1 hUHille ower Its a fact that oj utchos them aihdoct ll nlldoctgrh Ientat 1VCS iflercimamita from and unfortunate rep essioIlF rOdl1ldeClY one of the I pro Good 00 day Im going to hunt aft I a-ft job in a lumberyard or paint myself up Lfl1 hire out us It i sign in front of a cigar store Im on the black list and that means that I cant get any work on any street car line in this citySan Francisco Fran-cisco Post |