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__ THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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Let's Get the Black Market's Hand

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Out of the Traveler's Pocket!

The underground sale of sleeping car space is a national scandal. The railroads cannot escape responsibility. The C&O Lines offer a solution that will kill the racket— if other roads will join.

Have you tried to make a sleeper reservation lately?

If you travel very much, you must have run into a situation that is being reported by angry passengers all over America. No space for sale at the ticket windows. But plenty of empty berths and rooms—when the train pulls out. Often you can’t buy a ticket through legitimate channels. But you can get one any time, by going to the “right” person and greasing him with the “right” price. Here are just a few of the typical cases that have been reported to the C&O: i

Mr. X. in New York, needing to go to San Francisco, asked what was the earliest moment at which reservations could be made. He was told 8:00 A.M. of a certain date. At 8:00 AM. on that date he was in front of the ticket window—the first in line. When the window opened he was told the train was sold out. He managed to get accommodations to Chicago by paying a black market price. In Chicago after 5 hours of desperate effort he got space on the ‘“‘Chief”’—by paying $20 extra to a gouger. On board the “Chief” there was plenty of unoccupied space. The conductor explained that it was due to ‘last minute cancellations.” Sebi

Mrs. K., a service wife, planned a little trip for her husband’s furlough. Unable to get space, she tried the black market. Space was offered at double the normal price. She couldn’t afford it. A travel agent offered her space if she would stop at a very expensive hotel—which, again, she couldn't afford. The K's didn’t get their trip.

Mr. A., going recently from Pittsburgh to Chicago, boarded the train after being turned away from the ticket ivindow. On the train he offered $5 for an upper, $10 for a lower. He got a lower. In six days on this trip Mr. A. had to pay out $55 in ‘‘fixes.”

Miss Q. had an experience in a New York station. She was told cancelled tickets for her destination would go on sale at"10:00 o'clock. She waited in line before the

" ticket window for more than half an hour. When a

ticket was brought back, a man behind her held up some money. The ticket seller said there was no space for sale. The line dispersed, but Miss Q. waited and saw the man with the bribe come back and instantly get his ticket.

These are not mere wartime experiences. People by the thousands are having them today. And whether or not many railroad or Pullman employees are directly involved in the scandal, neither the railroads nor the Pullman Company can escape responsibility. For slipshod policing, and inability to see the need for reforms, leave the door wide open to racketeers.

What Becomes of All the Space?

Sleeping car tickets can be bought up weeks in advance—in “blogks’—by hotels, travel agencies, or by anyone who has the money to pay for them. There is nothing to prevent this space leaking into the black market except the honesty of the man who buys it. The space is bought and paid for in advance, but, if it is not re-sold, it can be turned in for a refund up to the minute of train departure. Therefore, anyone who wants to run a black market in sleeping car space can do so without any financial risk. And, far too often, trains pull out with empty space while hundreds can’t get accommodations.

Reform Agitated Since 1943

For more than three years the C&O has been trying to get other railroads and the Pullman Company to agree to action that would kill the ticket racket. A proposal of a 25%, forfeiture on tickets not cancelled in a reasonable time was voted

down because “passengers would be offended.” Lame duck excuses were offered for the status quo, and the black market grew and flourished while the railroads lost revenue.

Simple Remedy Would Help Greatly

The C&O proposes that all “block” sales of sleeping car space be stopped at once. All space should be reserved or sold in the name of the individual who intends to use it. Tickets should be non-transferable. Hotels, travel agencies and business houses could follow their present system, except that the-space would have to be reserved or sold in the name of the individual passenger.

The Airlines do it this way, and they have never had a black niarket. And any objection that such a plan would be “offensive to passengers’ is ridiculous in comparison with the offense of the present system of bribing your way on to trains!

What You Can Do

If you no longer want to tolerate the greedy hand of the black market in your pocket—or be content with a refusal of space when you know that many berths are empty—write to your newspaper. If enough Americans will ask the support of the press, the ticket racket—like the “Chinese Wall” that blocked through service at Chicago and St. Louis—can be broken.

Chesapeake and Ohio Lines

CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO RAILWAY

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Terminal Tower, Cleveland 1, Ohio

NICKEL PLATE ROAD .

PERE MARQUETTE RAILWAY