THE OMATtA SUNDAY BEE: MARCTI 15, im.
Messenger Boy a Vanishing Type in Evolution of Modern Business
ITH tha ruling of Pornat
AT 1 fet"! too Meyer arirt ro-a-Vf
I oengrr boys being employed to
carry special delivery letters,
and th almost uniform eM14
labor lavs of the rrTritl statea.
tamoas training achool for great buainera
men tha messenger aervW. a, democracy
wblrn is at orw courageous, pumacious,
uo'err-fed and Irreieieitt. trot In marty
ways the making of boy. Rubstltuls mail
carriers, f ull-rrown nn. will now carry
tb special deliver- hrtnj of th lads
of tender )-nut; youths of St f.r over
bav taken lb place of tb Uttls boya,
" f them little mors than children,
who formerly carried the tM-rrm for tr.
Ww1"1 fnkn and th Postal, and Irx-J-dentatly
delivered a:i sorts of things fo
the general public.
About the telegraph office the older -ana-pf-s
are not given I be eacoura?rment
to play with th krj which the operators
formerly rv t tb smart little fellows.
The percentage of mewsenrrr boys whs
become telegraph operators Is con Lao tlx
decreasing 'n Omsha. and ths supposition
Is that other cities show the same condi
tion. Th young man of It, 1 or even 39
who rides a aeon," as th nftmpr
call their bicycl-a. Is less apt to have ths
sympathy of a rood-nstured superintendent
than th lltu fellow of 10 or U years, and
many of ths elder boya ara not oven al
lowed to com Into th telegraph office,
but receive th messages for delivery on
th outside of a wlrt earn. Tears ui th
litti fellows who served tb great trie
graph companies slept la th chairs, and it
was no unusual right for th superintendent
to find his chair well ocropled by a kid
messenger. Th older boys ret businoss
treatment and make almost as much as
b men at th key a The pay of a tele
graph operator lias little or no attraction
for a youth of 1 who Is making (mm T.
to K5 per month as a messenger. He looks
epon Ms -profV as th equal of the
man at the key.
Tb little fellows used to ret commis
son or work for n per month. Then
better days came In th wsy of pay. Boya
were scarce and the telea-raph companies
Beaded them like a nerlected garden needs
boea. It seemed that tb birthrate of glrij
' was th hih't. and tb guaranty was
; fixed at i.i. Going up to U per month
th averag messenrer boy was then a lad
of U to . The boy who stood a bead
Shove the crowd was called a "big Jigger"
and almost run out of the business. The
little kMs thought he ought t be the
p rival aecreLarx at a cr.r-"""" at
O. II.
paying teller at one of th backs by th
time be reached H or IK and It was a boy
of courage who Joined tb ranks after he
was Is year of age, unless bis stature was
small. But tl wage bav gone up agala
within tb last few years aad the mes
senger boys la the telegraph offices of
Omaha ar guaranteed 139 per month, with
good commish" and overtime allow
ance. Th average age baa advanced In
proportion and at tb prose at Um will b
closer to 17 than ever before.
But with the advancing age r f th mes
sengers tb genera public and superin
tendents of telegraph companies bav noted
but few t has era in ths habits of the mes
sengers of Omaha. They rtlll shamble
along with th peculiar foot-dragging
buffie of their kind, which tells of their
three months to tb service. They still
Duarrrl over who goes out next and who
sfues to the piaees where tip ar surest,
and they stiil lounge languidly back to
head juarter. where manager ar won
dertrtg whether the boy ha gone boms for
the night; accrpud another position, gon
la starck of a stolen bicycle or over to
Council Bluffs to w kxtroe the first ma
chin In th New Tork to Paris automobile
rax a.
Anyone cf th ni--tT-oja things which
attract a youth svar take a messenger off
watch on th return trip. He is usually
faithful going out aad gets rid of tb mes
sage first. Tb Independence of th mes
senger boy Is caused by th t'H per month.
They are earning; a definite aag instead
of being cut for themselves as Independent
comtix-ivlal aJvesturera He takes a dis
interested vkw of the situation and la not
much worried as to whst happens to elm.
as b bas a minimum income and ths corn
par y usually needs boya.
About th offk- the Omaha meaaunger
boy is much th sum aa In other cities.
II Is a crratur of habit or rather, acts
with all the messenger boys In whstever
they decided to do In a seaaa Sometimes
the fal ta to wear uniforms and every kid
oa tb fire kicks for a new uniform. Th
rompsny usually compUea A coup of
months !. by aad th uniform (ad Is
forgotten. Almot erery kwl oa tu fore
j thea wears something different from th
yTliher teiVoss On will bav a yellow
'Vswealer and another a red on, or th
' stripes will run in different direct Wins.
So-.nei.me the novel-reading fad will strike
the forty-five messenger xys la the West
era I i'o offic at one. Each boy boy
a copy of a -ecnter oa th order of Oti
Eyed IKk. th Cannonier," or "Widow la
Name Only." Then without library tick
ets or the endorsement of taxpayers th
tv-ys pass 1 yeilobarks around aad per
fect a circulating library system which
give each boy ths perusal of forty-fiv
aovels for th prios of oo.
feVcne of th Innocent fads bar passed
away with ths small boy. and the oidar
one take to crap or cards bow aad then.
Th y are throws out of th pool rooms
and billiard balls, but .usually arrange t
kav a pnvat club roora la th basement
of tb uffice, whor ao Infrequently shoes,
rasa, future aralngs and sir car ticksta
ar placed recklessly oa tb turw of tb
iAh,i felMr ffic. etrsst cat twkta ar
tb BMdiaa of achaaga batwwsa aimia
g boy during tb kxtg Uiterraie batwwew
jay-day the day frb whick snaascskgexa
rerkoa rbse. Tb oomgaay farsuahea
tickets for saasy Uip. but th kids know
t.e I- , a-Nru - -. i M i.
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rosTorncE special tn.ivnRT bo ts who are to be sctflanted bt extra carriers.
nothing of the anti-pas law and Its prr.al
tea and froqtietitly lirnore th co-dactors
or put up a talk. This gives them the
tickets on which they will try to buy
sa-idwiches or makins.
But th Omaha m7im bov Is a gnai
ritiaeo. Sars perhaps his inability to make
up his mind to s-o hem aa often as be
should, be Is as rood or even better than
th averare bor who works, and he wfll
help a policeman catch a bad actor or keep
faith with a grafter or law breaker, de
pending on which secure his promise first,
lie is slmost always true to whichever
side he is playing with and 1 no double
dealer In any sense of the word.
In Omaha there are over 1S meswirper
bore. They are of all nationalities, but the
Isrjrert number are Americana. Then
com the Irish, and below that th Jews,
Germane. Canadiens, and cow and then a
Grer-k. Bat the Italian and Greek boy of
Omaha hare lost their place among the
messenrer boys of Omaha and moved op
ward Into superior financial stratum. In
which they black slxxa and sell Dews
psnera iiafj Bernstf in. irabaliaa cXOcar, Las
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K BOT9 IX FRONT OK HEADQTARTERS.
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Finding- New
Rival for Taloa Paclae Meter.
MOTOR car propelled by th
k I Strang gas-electric ytam. com
I blning the primary and second
ary power principles, was re
cently given a trial trip oa the
Baltimore 4k Ohio railroad be
tween Philadelphia and Wilmington. The
car la entirely of steel and seats seventy
five passenger.
'Tb etrang system oonslsta of a gas
ngio with a direct connected generator,
electric transmission and control, direct
electrical connection between th genera
tor and truck motors and a storage bat
tery. The operation of tb car Is virtually
tb same as aa tnterurbaa trolley cam.
bat. unlike the trolley car. It produces its
own current and Is Independent of trolley
wir and powerhouse. In fact. It carries
a complete powerhouse with It.
Tb generator and engla bav a capacity
sufTiilent for normal requirements, tha
generator furnishing all th current neces
sary; but when starting or whan ascending
grad th current naoaary would de
mand an acgin aad generator af much
larger capacity wer It not for tb storage
battery. The storar battery take care
of what 1 called tha "peak" of th load,
or that which la la exoeas of normal r
quiraroecta. Tba storar battery is charged
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GEORGH U PHELDOX.
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frequently Inquired Into the reasons why
boys ro Into raessrnrer service and what
they do with their money. He Is authority
for the staten-rf-nt that about five mewen-r-r
boys in Omaha have neither faaber
ncr mother, but is inclined to believe that
ls than 1 per cert of the boys are
tri'V- In only one or two instances has
he found to boy" family In actual need
of the necessities of life. Many of the
boya either support or contribute largely
to the support of their mothers. Over a
score of the messenger boys In Oroahs are
the entire support of widowed mothers.
Almost all of the boys turn over the larrcst
pert of their wages to their fathers and
mothers, and th probation officer has
tecorded instances where fathers w ho were
earning CW per month, appropriated every
cert of the measengar's eaminga
Som of th boys have objects in view
and work for them Independently of their
contributions to th support of bom. Al
most every boy owns a good bicycle. The
bicycle, or "waron," as they call It. Is
stol,-n on the averag of once or twice a
year. Some times the boy recover the
a LutLs wiihrwit cost wife, La -"'r"-i
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and Useful
while th car I "cfoasting" down grades,
coming to a stop or standing still, th
eng-.ne running until automatically throttled,
when th batteries attain the full capacity.
Elasticity of power application is recog
nised aa a most Important factor In the
rur. ig of a heavy car. Th storage bat
tery in this ease admits of the minimising
of the power plant. Tb car carrlea enough
gasoline to propel It 9TO miles, consuming
about six -tenths of a gallon per mile. Its
normal speed Is about fifty-firs miles an
hour, and a motor car can haul several
other cars. In th event of accident its
stored electricity alone is expected to carry
It fifteen miles
Traafttea Wattr-Fswer.
Nearly a hundred cities In the L'rJted
Statas alon ar today using electricity
supplied by transmitted water power. Tea
years ago Niagara Falls was a scientific
interest only, today It is distributing over
1 .0 bora power to Buffalo. Syracuse.
Rochester, Toronto and othr smaller
placea. Spiers falls, north of Saratoga,
which supplies ths Industrial cities of
Schenectady, Amsterdam. Troy and Al
bany with electrical current was practically
unheard of; no man had so crjee as
dreamed of harnessing th Kern rvr, th
Feather river or any other stream In the
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Nebraska Delegates - at
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TTCTOR ROSEWATER.
Dooglaa
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of a friendly "cop," but usually they are
compelled to give up C or S3 to a pawn
shop, where the stoltn wheel has been sold
by tb thief. Theaters ret a rood bit of
the messenger boys' money, especially the
t-cent theaters and penny arcades. In th
summer tirre the parks and places of
amusement secure some of the velvet. Fie
counters and restaurants secure Dickies,
dimes and street car tickets, some is de-
voted to rambling and a little to charity,
J. J. Msiony, th clerk of th polica
court, is authority for the statement that
messenger boys are as scarce on his books
as th names of newspaper men on the
big book of fate at the penitentiary, where
there are no newspaper writers.
"We can give the rrofesh a clean bin of
health," aaid the police clerk. 1 dn"t
know of a native Omaha twwentir boy
who bas gon wrong. W had two fellow
from Chicago here a year ago for a few
days; they broke Into a house and we rot
rid of them. The Omaha messenger boy
Is a good citisen or rather he makes one.
but aa a boy he knows more than mm'
eitisena and la better able to know right
tua vieiw"
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Ways of Developing- Electrical Currents
Sierra Nevada range, which now supply
every city on the Pacific coat with cheap
electricity. The great water power i
velopment In th south along th Tuba
and Yadkin fivers were not even spoken
of. Tb transmission of water power has
Increased manufacturing to a very marked
degree. The population of eitiea provided
with cheap current baa Increased as manu
facturing plants flocked to th pise
where economical power was available.
Millions of pounds of coal fcav been saved
and the electrical industry has been stimu
lated to new and greater possibilities.
Writing; by Wire.
Is th telegraph Instrument, with its code
of dots and daahea, doomed? One may
well ask the question after learning about
the latest scientific marvel, by which it la
possible to write a message which is pro
duced simultaneously miles sway In fac
simU writing. This wonderful machine,
reports th gtellar Ray. haa already been
brought to such a state of simplicity and
perfection that It Is in use in several Lon
don offices, and ere long will probably be
used as larger as the telephone is today.
As a mater of fact, the machine consista
of a sender and receiver. Wjth telephone
attached, and M ! connected to the ordin
ary telephone line without ialtrier.ijg in
any way with its service.
- Large to the Republican National Convention
s
t r
EOT
Within th last few years tla Omaha
messenger boys bar been spared turning
many pages in the book of experience. The
two b-r telepraph companies at Wast, do
not cater to the business of the Rel Light
district. There Is but one messenger of
fice now in the center of th proscribed
district. The telegraph eompanled do not
maintain It. It is a private enterprise. To
the credit of the Incorporation ;t mav be
said that the managers send only the old r
beys to the brothels when telegrams sre lo
b taken, ar.l usually have do boys t3 srre
to go to the district with fa: kegs fron
the office in th district, where there is but seals and rtrape are full, and the strc-et
little business except that of the d sorderly newsboy is trying to sell out st bargain
bouses. The managers of telegrarh com- counter price.
par. 1 hi In Omaha say very frankly tta: they One of the best finished types of the
do not desire to ahare In the rrrtjjts of ice
and It is unusual when their boys ar com-
pel led to go to the district, especially at
eight.
How many successful men about Omaha
can look back to th day wbea they wer
mPfnger boy will never be known. Now
and then on admits th fact without a
feeling of shame, of course, but most of
Ikm at imVifrbt alm.it teifrr.r.g La itm'.t
KEWS-BOTS IX THE BEE AIJ.ET, READY TO
The instrument Is csd in a hundred
ways where a telephone might be unde
sirable. For example, message in the
sender's own handwriting can be sent in
stantaneously to someone without any third
party overbearing, as is possibls in the
ras of a telephone. A message csn b
signed, and the signature Is Just as con
vincing as if It were the original, while th
time which would be taken in sending a
messenger Is saved, and yet a record of
the message can b kept. The chanc of
bogus messages is reduced to a minimum.
A remarkable feature of this machine is
that sketches and designs ran also be sent
by wire. As soon as ths sender's pencil is
takes up. ths pen of ths receiver, mile
and miles away, cornea out of th Ink, and.
moving as If by magic, traces exactly what
Is written or drawn at the other end.
Kleetrlelty far Am atria a Railroads,
It was stated In a lecture recently de
livered by Freilverr von Forstel of th
tVpartmeot of Railwaya bef or tb Aus
trian Society of Engineers and Archttacta.
at Vienna, that the constantly Increasing
pfic of coal tenda to render steam trac
tion on railways an unprofitable onder
taking in Austria, and emphasizes the ne
cessity for the Immediate introduction of
electricity for the working cf th Alpine
railwaya The value of coal during the
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AU.rrv W FIELD.
Lancaster.
3 WHO HANDLE WESTERN TTNIOX MESSAGES.
humble beginning In Omaha
W. C.Trown. now vice presld-nt of th
New Tork Ceneral Ra!road co-npaiiy. was
at on time an Omaha messenger boy and
his opportunr.y came when a railroad su
perintendent engaged him to pile wood in
ths good old days when the enpins used
't for fuel. Vr. Brown was a plain t "le
ers ph messenger, and never knew what it
was to stsrt to work at nirht as the mes
senger boys of Omaha da now. Just as th
sre lights start to sputter out bravely
against ths evening darkness, when every
street car seem outward bound and the
Omaha messenger boy Is a young man who
is now the Vocal editor of a Nebraska dally
paper. When in Omaha he wa known as
"Forty." because be was the new boy on
the force and th last number was "W
when th badge was issued for bis cap.
Forty cam to Omaha In l?"1! or I1? front
a newspaper offtc in Herman. Neb., where
I.s had been the devil in the office until
wir.i.t ca-n aa, nLtA IL e.ilar Limed ait
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START.
last two financial periods for th stats
railwsys haa risen 64 per cent. In thea
circumstances It becomes essential to sub
stitute electric traction for tb steam loco
motive; generating the requisite current by
means of hydraulic power, which can b
had witb advantag In those very locali
ties which, owing to the steen gradients ca
th railway. Involve a large amount of
power for traction purposes. It Is never
theless doubtful whether th railway au
thorities of those countries supplied with
abundance of hydraulic energy and. forced
ta contend against the high price of coal
would hav taken such a lively Interest
In electrification questions If In electro
metallurgical science the progress made
had not been so rapid, and. the practical
success achieved had been leas perfect than
it la The authorities ar greatly per
turbed when they wer confronted with the
danger that all the water power available
would be absorbed by manufacturers and
speculators before the needs of tb r II
wsys. which were largely worked by tb
slate, had been satisfied. In order to pro
vide against this danger, various measures
were st once taken In all those countries
In which the water power could be em
ployed for traction purposes on th rsil
wsys, so as to secure st least a portion of
th hydraulic ei.ergy for railway use.
NCRRI8 BROWN,
buffslo.
:1,
the cyclone relics and then closed down.
TTrough all the seven years sine th boy
came to Omaha he has been known as
"Forty" and when be was vilti-i Omaha
recently be stepped Into a downtown ele-
rstor. The young man at th steering
wheel looked around at tb opulent looking
editor and said. "Hello. Forty. I have not
see you for a long time. Fad me. if I
don't beltev you're onto th ropes batter
than we used to 1"
And "Forty" will probably carry th.a
came for years to oust as b never camel
any other dirtlnctiv title in th messenger
service. H took tip th burden of support
ing himself wher be arrived la Omaha,
pennyles. and Influenced a bicycle re
pairer to rent him a "wagon. Then he
went into the profeah and in a frw davs
ail enabled to do as th other messengers
did and open th office door by pushing
against It with his bark, slid up to th
counter over th polished floor and stop
when he hit It with a thud. H took par-
eels, tcle-rrams, bonbons, spools of thread.
flowers, letters and drinks to place whlrtt
led his footsteps to where the light
Ft res rued out of th frbnt doors In th Red
Light district ; be found men drinking at
downtown bars and made datea with them
for other men or sometimes for other
women. He was out to runde wher the
air was pure, and In the dark comers of
South Omsha, where it was not. He car
ried a few cents worth of merchandise to
fashioner'. residences and several hundred
dollars a ortb of revenue stamps to the dis
tfllcry. One dsy he carried a package of
type from the foundry to an uptown print
lng off.ee and stood and grinned at tvi
type cases and printing presses when h
arrived at hia destlnstkm. That proved hia
undoing and before be knew what be was
saying he offered to "throw tha type In"
or "lay the font."
Forty cut out th messenger buslnesa.
which waa bum back In 151 and rood for
something like UU per month without a
piac to "copper bottom." H got a Job
In tha printing offic at H per week and a
bunk, which he pulled out every right
from beneath a table where th ptint"
was stored.
From that day on "Forty" stuck type
and stuck to his posisb. compositor, fore
man and then manager of a good-s:sd
printing shop, lis considered that be was
balf an orphan, though both his father
and mother were living, and got marrt -d
two yeara ago. accepting a place on a No
brarka daily, of which' he ia now local d
Itor. His story has never been remsrkab'e.
but serves to Illustrate tb fact that th
messenger service, which bring young
boys into contact with busineas men as
they go shuffling along among the throng
ing, picturesque Incoherent characters In a
city lik Omaha, usually bav opportunity
knock early and they get into th harrves
and "grow up" In eoro business. Instead
of succeeding by wsy of the school room.
Among all the remarkable stories told of
Omsha meengers a recent stunt shows sn
Interesting film la tbe moving picture show
of a messenger's life.
Probsbly the messenger boy was known ss
Twenty." and be was not that age by al
most five years. There Is a womai la
Omaha who owns a big disorderly bouse in
th Red Light district and h has left
her bUFband. Her boy, a lad of IX w- a
brought to Omaha and tha mother showed
her maternal care by securing tier on
son a r'.sce ss a messenger br-y to work
in ths district that she might have bun
under ber protecting care. But one day
the boy's fsther arrived In Omaha and de
msnded th boy. He was surrendered by
the mother and taken to Kansas City,
wher b was entered In achool and ke;t
at a boarding house w th hia father, fit
months went by and the mother wan' el
ber boy with ber, even if ahe had to g vs
up the life she was leading. To feur
possession of the boy ail she had to do was
to ring ths messenger lex. for she cahej
a messenger boy from ths oifi e ar.d to d
him shs had a trip for him to Kanaas City.
He left that night for Miasourt, and bunted
tip the former messenger boy ia Kansas
City.
"What you playin.' " aaid Twenty."
when he fuund the boy for atom he wit a
looking. "Back for Omaha wld me; this
la a gutty sort cf a town and we g'.t m
business here."
Bjth boys msd for the depot, "Twenty"
producing two tickets to Omaha. Tbe bo a
arrived the next morning. Asked b w
much tha woensn paid bim for ths kidnsi
irg of her son and br.rg-.rg him back to
Omsha. "Twenty" aaid "six plunk. The
boy's father at first notified tb poUc,
snd thei decided to allow the bey to rs
rr.ain in On at a.
Lut th little messenger boy ta not to
live ail lis life st once in the fjtjre, nor
is he going to live it umil he Is pr. tarej
In the school room, f . r gMng out Into the
si'ilii the e-gual in bcok education at lean,
of theme with whom be will associate In
th future, and I.e will eccuie hut trar.lg
from th teacher In healthy school rooms,
us! tad of at the gatherings cf tha alsioru
of the stie-t in the cellar restsurar.U; h.s
physical training w.ll be In base ball,
basket ball and the r rnnaaium Instead of
putrpmg a "b'ke" or running over the ooti
bie stoiir s. di-uging fritoluus ajtomollies
snd clang. ng uti-tt cars; his baths mi.r
be taken in the jlur..e of th gymms.umt
Instesi of in the lanes. When ti e ligU of
caar. breaks in the dmn loan CiS rt-t.
the r.e &e: t r !?' t-f Omaha will be re
nr.re tie tflorta cf a father and another
te j i '.1 hrn out fr-m It tweeo biabaeta In
:. e I of i't:,rrij iioi .e witn an tr.-reasura!-..
'.u i" It tiew cf l.'e in bs
ti,ag 1. tit ;a t-fa.'l ole.-uen ar d
th u n-iaar.df cf peol'ie Just going to
work.
And the rar.r rs shown that the l-t-tle
boy is not needed to mak th great
city mot e and tr.tt groan folk can per
petually renew tleir strenuosity and do all
th sink there is to b don a; d anak
money enough to mak room fat Lha sus
sscger boy la tb school ron
tv.