, 1866-12-30
GENERAL BlRNRY,s SPEECH,

The address Of General Birney before the
Morris Convention, on the subject Of the
Cost Of Railway Transportation, contained
come remarkable errors in estimating the
expenses Of running train on ratlroad.
Take this extract for instance:
t.Did you nottee how many peseons were en-
gloyed On tho ustn on which you rode! Take
them all, engineer: nren.an, conductor, braksmen
would amount to probably Sse0 while faei, oii
And Hight for the Fan,e time may he EGekonea n
s spa :'S s
this would give less than - % tho coat Of run
P'DE a ss ps,sssnse' train through from Chicago 10
The idea OF runnin. passenger train from
Chicago to Rock Island, lis miles, for
total expense Of 60, IL perfectly absurd,
and shows that tho General has not Investl-
gated the subject very closely. The mere
cost Of fuel to propel the train wIll aruount
to twenty-five or thirty dollars per trip.
The wages bill fer engineer, fireman, cou-
ductor, workmen, baggage-master, and tle
pro rata waEes of switchmcn, station agents,
watchmcn, track repafrcrs. telegraph opera
tors, mud machine.shop repatrers, will
amount to three or four times the sum Gen
erai Blrpey states. Take The whole year
together, winters snons and springs foods,
as well as summer and autumn fair weather,
the prime cost Of tiip for a train from CHI
cneo to Rock Island or back. can not be less
than $40 to $3.50 and this too exclusive Of
wear OF track and bridges, and the wear OF
the trains other than ordinary repairs. The
first cost OF trims Of u1l kinds, Oh all
the railways OF England, where fuel aud Ia
Dor arc cheap, are shown to be ss5ty-fvc
cents per mile in gold. which would be nesr-
II equal to dollar In our currency. The
English estimate Of cost Ii AS follows:
Maintenance q way ana works, !, Gems; 10:
chsrgcs. II cents ,atc1 and ia1es. cents duty,
loss IT rocd.. ceat legal and parliamentary e1-
sccns.; :eni. IS een.s:''
Mv;~tenancc of say and works on our
slightly bnilt roads Is considerably greater
than in Esglaud on their moro euduringly
:! constructed sailwAys. And locomotive pow
er UueD and operating crpcnse are consider
ably more costly In She West thin In Great
2! Britain.
| We don't believe 1t possible to run rasscu'
ger and freight trims on Illinois railroads.
! the year round, for one do}lnr per milo
| for tho distance travelled. But calling the
! first cost dollar a mile, It can easily bc
| shown that the present tariffs for freight and
t passengers are much too high. Suppose 4
/ train Of three coaches with seventy five pas.
scngcrs ut e6.5p each, runs to Rock Island
! from Chicago, The proceeds will be $4S7.5o.
| To this add cay go for express matter, aud
! $50 mo1e for carry Ing The malls; total, 50
| From this deduct dollar i mile for cost O
| running tie trip. s16s, which leaves *41o.st
us the het profit OF the trip. which Is rltani'
! feet,y too much and could te safnly reduced
by one-thlrd, aud srch reduction would re-
suit In having 125 to 10 passengers to carry,
instead uf 75.
| We deny General Birney's assertion that
the actual cost Of transportiuga passenger Ii
| tic United States Is but oae mil or one tenth
] of cent per mile. 1t is absurd on Its face
II every locomotive ~on every trip had ter
ceaches with ffty passengers In each. 4
would still cost two mills to the compau,
with the use of the trnck aud train thrown
| in far nothing The dead weight of tho pas
sengcrs as third-c,nss freight, would cost 70
each, a mill per mile. But after making ful
allow ance for the Generals errors, 1t
clearly dcmonstrahlc that four cents q MIL
for passengers, and five cents ton pc
mile for produce, are e1tortionato rates o
the public, which loudly call for reduction