sometimes fare badly at the hands of those whose evil doings they have
exposed. This practice of "knocking down," or appropriating money,
begins with the conductor, as he alone receives the money paid for fares.
Those interested in it defend it on various grounds. The President of
the Third Avenue Railway Company, the principal horse-car line in the
city, once said to a reporter for a morning paper:

"We try and get all honest men. We discharge a man immediately if he is
found to be dishonest. You see, conductors are sometimes made more
dishonest by the drivers, who demand so much a day from them. You have
no idea how much a driver can worry a conductor if he wants to. For
instance, he can drive a little past the corner every time when he ought
to stop. He can be looking the other way when the conductor sees a
passenger coming. He can run too fast, or let the car behind beat his,
and so on, annoying the conductor continually. The only way the
conductor can keep friends with him is to divide every night. . . . The
conductors 'knock down' on an average about thirty-five or fifty cents
per day. . . . I don't think the practice can be entirely stopped. We
try all we can. Some will do it, and others think they have the same
right. We can't stop it, but discharge a man mighty quick if he is
detected." The Third Avenue line runs 200 cars, so that the loss of the
company by the "knock-down" system is from $70 to $100 per day, or from
$25,500 to $36,500 per annum.

A conductor gave his explanation of the system as follows:

"Well, I'll tell ye. When a conductor is put on a road he has to wait
his turn before getting a car; it may be a month or six weeks before he
is regularly on. He'll have to know the ropes or he'll be shelved before
he knows it. He'll have to be a thief from the start or leave the road.
His pay is $2 to $2.25 per day. Out of that sum he must pay the driver
from $1 to $2 a day; the starter he has to conciliate in various ways. A
lump of stamps is better than drinks and cigars, though drinks and cigars
have a good deal of influence on the roads; and then the 'spotter' has to
get $5 every week."

"Why do the conductors allow themselves to be imposed on in this way?"

"Why? Because they can't help it. If they don't pay the driver, the
driver will not stop for passengers, and the conductor is short in his
returns; if they don't have a 'deal' with the starter, the starter will
fix him someho