"GO WEST YOUNG MAN AND GROW UP WITH THE COUNTRY"
In justice to the many thousands of P----n porters, as well as many
conductors, who were in the habit of retaining the company's money, let
it be said that they are not the hungry thieves and dishonest rogues the
general public might think them to be, dishonest as their conduct may
seem to be. They were victims of a vicious system built up and winked at
by the company itself.
Before the day of the Inter-State Commerce Commission and anti-pass and
two-cent-per-mile legislation, and when passengers paid cash fares, it
was a matter of tradition with the conductors to knockdown, and nothing
was said, although the conductors, as now, were fairly well paid and the
company fully expected to lose some of the cash fares.
In the case of the porters, however, the circumstances are far more
mitigating. At the time I was with the company there were, in round
numbers, eight thousand porters in the service on tourist and standard
sleepers who were receiving from a minimum of twenty-five dollars to not
to exceed forty dollars per month, depending on length and desirability
of service. Out of this he must furnish, for the first ten years, his
own uniforms and cap, consisting of summer and winter suits at twenty
and twenty-two dollars respectively. After ten years of continuous
service these things are furnished by the company. Then there is the
board, lodging and laundry expense. Trainmen are allowed from fifty to
sixty per cent off of the regular bill of fare, and at this price most
any kind of a meal in an a-la-carte diner comes to forty and fifty
cents. Besides, the waiters expect tips from the crew as well as from
the passengers and make it more uncomfortable for them if they do not
receive it than they usually do for the passenger.
I kept an accurate itemized account of my living expenses, including six
dollars per month for a room in Chicago, and economize as I would,
making one uniform and cap last a whole year, I could not get the
monthly expense below forty dollars--fifteen dollars more than my
salary, and surely the company must have known it and condoned any
reasonable amount of "knock down" on the side to make up the deficiency
in salary. The porter's "knock down" usually coming through the
sympathy, good will and unwritten law of "knocking down"--that the
conductor divide equally with the porter. All of which, however, is now
fast becoming a thing of the past, owing to recent legislation,
investigations and strict regulation of common carriers by Congress and
the various laws of the states of the Union, with the added result that
conductors' wages have increased accordingly. Few conductors today are
foolish enough to jeopardize their positions by indulging in the old
practice, and it leaves the porters in a sorry plight indeed.
All in all, the system, while deceptive and dishonest on its face, was
for a time a tolerated evil, apparently sanctioned by the company and
became a veritable disease among the colored employees who, without
exception, received and kept the company's money without a single qualm
of conscience. It was a part of their duty to make the job pay something
more than a part of their living expenses.
Ignorant as many of the porters were, most of them knew that from the
enormous profits made that the company could and should have paid them
better wages, and I am sure that if they received living wages for their
services it would have a great moralizing effect on that feature of the
service, and greatly add to the comfort of the traveling public.
However, the greedy and inhuman attitude of this monoply toward its
colored employees has just the opposite effect, and is demoralizing
indeed. Thousands of black porters continue to give their services in
return for starvation wages and are compelled to graft the company and
the people for a living.
Shortly before my cessation of activities in connection with the P----n
company it had a capitalization of ninety-five million dollars, paying
eight per cent dividend annually, and about two years after I was
compelled to quit, it paid its stockholders a thirty-five million dollar
surplus which had accumulated in five years. Just recently a "melon was
cut" of about a like amount and over eight thousand colored porters
helped to accumulate it, at from twenty-five to forty dollars per month.
A wonder it is that their condition does not breed such actual
dishonesty and deception that society would be forced to take notice of
it, and the traveling public should be thankful for the attentive
services given under these near-slave conditions. As for myself, the
reader has seen how I made it "pay" and I have no apologies or regrets
to offer. When that final reckoning comes, I am sure the angel clerk
will pass all porters against whom nothing more serious appears than
what I have heretofore related.
While I was considered very fortunate by my fellow employees, the whole
thing filled me with disgust. I suffered from a nervous worry and fear
of losing my position all the time, and really felt relieved when the
end came and I was free to pursue a more commendable occupation.
In going out of the Superintendent's office on my farewell leave, the
several opportunities I had seen during my experience with the P----n
company loomed up and marched in dress parade before me; the conditions
of the Snake River valley and the constructiveness of the people who had
turned the alkali desert into valuable farms worth from fifty to five
hundred dollars an acre, thrilled me so that I had no misgivings for the
future. But Destiny had other fields in view for me and did not send me
to that land of Eden of which I had become so fond, in quest of fortune.
Such a variety of scenes was surely an incentive to serious thought.
What was termed inquisitiveness at home brought me a world of
information abroad. This inquisitiveness, combined with the observation
afforded by such runs as those to Portland and around the circle and,
perhaps, coming back by Washington D.C., gave practical knowledge. Often
western sheepmen, who were ready talkers, returning on my car from
taking a shipment to Chicago, gave me some idea of farming and
sheepraising. I remember thinking that Iowa would be a fine place to own
a farm, but quickly gave up any further thought of owning one there
myself. A farmer from Tama, that state, gave me the information. He was
a beautiful decoration for a P----n berth and a neatly made bed with
three sheets, and I do not know what possessed him to ever take a
sleeper, for he slept little that night--I am sure. The next morning
about five o'clock, while gathering and shining shoes, I could not find
his, and being curious, I peeped into his berth. What I saw made me
laugh, indeed. There he lay, all bundled into his bed in his big fur
overcoat and shoes on, just as he came into the car the evening before.
He was awake and looked so uncomfortable that I suggested that he get up
if he wasn't sleepy. "What say?" he answered, leaning over and sticking
his head out of the berth as though afraid someone would grab him.
As this class of farmers like to talk, and usually in loud tones, I led
him into the smoking room as soon as he jumped out of his berth, to keep
him from annoying other passengers. Here he washed his face, still
keeping his coat on.
"Remove your coat," I suggested, "and you will be more comfortable."
"You bet," he said taking his coat off and sitting on it. Lighting his
pipe, he began talking and I immediately inquired of him how much land
he owned.
He answered that he owned a section. "Gee! but that is a lot of land," I
exclaimed, getting interested, "and what is it worth an acre?"
"The last quarter I bought I paid eighty dollars an acre" he returned.
That is over thirteen thousand and I could plainly see that my little
two thousand dollar bank account wouldn't go very far in Iowa when it
came to buying land. That was nine years ago and the same land today
will sell around one hundred and fifty dollars an acre, and the "end is
not yet."
I concluded on one thing, and that was, if one whose capital was under
eight or ten thousand dollars, desired to own a good farm in the great
central west he must go where the land was new or raw and undeveloped.
He must begin with the beginning and develop with the development of the
country. By the proper and accepted methods of conservation of the
natural resources and close application to his work, his chances for
success are good.
When I finally reached this conclusion I began searching for a suitable
location in which to try my fortune in the harrowing of the soil.