The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-31 00:00:00

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

Why does railway property stand so low in the
market ? How comes it to pass that .£300,000,000
of good money invested in good work produce only
upon an average the interest of Consols without
being half as negotiable ? No new questions, these,
certainly. They have been often asked, but they
cannot be asked too often until they are truly
answered. Towards that most desirable exposition
we beg now to contribute one very material fact,
and that is that the fault, wherever it lies, does cer-
tainly not lie with the public. There were two great
parties to these wonderful specimens of national
enterprise—the subscribers who found the money,
and the people who were to provide the returns. No
railway, however thriftily constructed, could ever
have been expected to pay a fair dividend, except
on the supposition that the inhabitants of this
country were to travel five times as much as they
ever did before. The speculation was something
like that of the penny postage. It could only
answer on the presumption that demand would be
indefinitely magnified by the improvement of the
supply, and this demand it devolved on the public
to exhibit. Now, what we say is, that the part of
the public in the transaction has been most liberally
performed. The one thing which has never failed
a railway company is traffic. Whenever directors
have found money's worth, the public has invariably
come forward with money. We do not believe a
single instance could be produced in which a line
fairly suggested by the presumed requirements of
the country has not realised, and far more than
realised, all the returns estimated in respect of the

raffle likely to arise. In that department the cal-
culations have always been sound, and that this
element of success is still as powerful as ever, after
20 years' trial, was plainly to be seen in the remark-
able report of the London and Brighton Company
which we recently published.
The shares of that company stand at 113 or 114,
as high a mark as is reached by the 5 per Cent.
Stock of the Russian Empire, or the 6 per
Cent. Bonds of the Canadian Government.
The dividend declared on the last half-year was
31 per cent., the stock of the line, including
plant, engines, and permanent way, was reported
to be in the best possible order, and credit was
assumed for a " constant improvement going on
daily." Here, then, seems to be a real model line,
or, at any rate, as things go generally, a property
of a perfectly satisfactory. character. We cannot
exactly forget that all railways were once expected
so confidently to pay upwards of 10 per cent. that
legislative provision was made for the disposal of
the inevitable surplus ; but those were " halcyon
days," and ideas since that time have been consi-
derably brought down. So, when we hear that a
line divides 32 per cent. for the half-year, and
maintains its stock at 10 or 15 per cent. prethium,
we naturally ask on what system it has been
managed, and how a state of things so agreeable to
all parties has been brought about. These queries
are very plainly answered in the chairman's speech,
from which statement we learn that the whole
thing has been done by treating the public hand-
somely, and receiving the handsome treatment
which the public gives in return.
The course pursued by the company for the last
ten years has been uniform in principle and uni-
form in result. It has consisted in studying the
accommodation and interests of the public, and re-
lying on this process for producing, its own returns.
In no one instance has the system failed. Whenever
trains were made more convenient, and carriages
more commodious, the outlay was replaced imme-
diately by the increase of custom. The directors
took a resolution once of improving the position of
second and third class passengers. They furnished
the second class carriages with stuffed seats and
backs, making them almost as good as first class ;
the old second class vehicles they passed over to
third class passengers, and consigned the un-
covered carriages to extinction altogether. "Just
the way," some of our managing friends will
observe, "to cut up first class travelling en-
tirely." Well, it did reduce the number of first
class passengers a little, but it increased the
passengers of the other two classes so very
largely that the decrease on the former head
went for nothing. As to reduction of fares, there
seems to be literally no limit whatever to the com-
mercial paradox that the less the companies ask the
more they receive. The London and Brighton
Directors have diminished their prices so incessantly
since 18-18 that the reductions have averaged up•
wards of four distinct abatements in each
year. In some years reductions were made seven
times over. In particular, the charge for season-
tickets had been materially lowered, and the con-
sequence ;s, that whereas the amount received by
the company on this head was £lO,OOO in 1848, it
had risen to £37,000 at the last audit. Taking all
branches of traffic together, the increase during the
period specified was no less than 75 per cent.
As the secret of all this success the Chairman
observed, that it was a false and foolish policy for
a company "to try to get as much out of the public
as they possibly could." The principle is un-
doubtedly sound. A Railway Company, it is true,
tries naturally to get as much as it can, and what-
ever it gets it must get from the public ; but it
should do this as the London and Brighton does—
by fair allurement, instead of griping extortion—
by enticing people to give, and not by forcing them
to pay. Give the public a good bargain, and they
will deal so largely with you that you will be sure
of your profit; try to stint them by " scamped"
work and bad accommodation, and you will infal-
libly lose both your money and credit together.
The experiment about the second-class carriages
illustrates the whole system of railway manage-
ment. On many lines it has been a fundamental
principle with the directors to drive passengers
into first-class carriages, and thus swell the amount
received from first-class fares. With this view
second-class carriages were rendered as uncomfort-
able as possible, and second-class fares raised
almost to the level of the class above them. But
\\Nv-hhaatt camewas of this notable scheme Certainly
.not
ticketsexpeeted. People. either took third-
classfoaretw.ent to other lines, or did not travel
at all. The'
beisdth. at the public can be easily led,
very . free-handed
but can never
with its money, butriyen'y on condition that the
meney's worth is f rth L,• It will not put up
badn ul3staog;
oor coon l z
with hard terms
.h
orMakege s your
low, rail-
wayanyoor carriagessorsice
effective,comfortable,
and
people in good weather
will almost live on the line, as the Americans
do
on their river steamboats. There is no
more strik-
ing feature about the present age than the readiness
of all classes to spend money. It not only shows
means, but it proves something more. It proves
that there is a disposition to- enjoyment and
general confidence in the future. It is the opposite
symptom to that of handing, which shows itself
when a country is socially stagnant or politically
insecure. Get up any spectacle, ceremony, exhi-
bition, or amusement, and one thing is certain—.
that it will not fail for want of patronage. Only
make it really worth seeing or hearing, and the
people who will flock to see and hear it will soon
repay the cost. It is the same with any watering-
place, seaport, or place of recreative resort. When
the season comes, if the offer is truly tempting, the
demand cannot be supplied. The history of the
whole case is simply this—that for one man who
had a sovereign to spend and the will to spend it
GO years since, there are fifty now. Whole classes
have entitled themselves to some of the sweets of
existence, and are disposed to taste them. Now,
nothing could be more advantageous to railways
than the prevalence of a spirit like this, but the
COI •
npanles must deal with it by gratifying their
customers, and not by grinding them,--Timec