The Portland daily press., 1867-11-22

PORIT4A AND.
Friday Morning, November %, 1867.
The "Rules of the Road.o


The s'RuIes Of the Road.o
A. recent meeting of the bondhol1ers of
the Atlantic and Great Western railway, beld
in London, the Honorable Mr.. Cave, chair
man of the bondholders' committee, reported
some peculiarities of railway management
which he had learned during his late visit to
America Among the rest he mentioned the
system OF allowing passengers to pay their
fares 10 conductors of trains. Many con-
ductors, he says, retire after four or five wears
of service at moderate salary, with COM
Portable fortunes There was a conductor ON
the Atlantic and Great Western road, named
highly regarded by the company that he was
promoted and one Merryman was assigned to
his train. When the new man appeared,
Benson said to him quietly, Il have been con-
ductor on this train for long time, and now
that you have been appointed you must COM
ply with the rules of the road" Merryman
replied, Certainly, shall be most happy;
what are they ?" "Before you hand over
your receipts you must stop $3.50 month.
Ii you dou't do it, I shall be overhauled. In
fact, if you don't consent, 1 shall be com
PEELED in selfdetence to make it too hot for
you." Merrvman, like judcious husband,
cOunselled with his wife, who advised him if
he could not keep the place honestly, to re-
slgn which he did, and so the truth came out.
OF course Benson was removed and Merry
man was triumphanty reinstated, but we do
not repeat this pleasant piece of scandal mere
ly for the sake of the obvions moral. We
propose to inquire rather who pays the $3.50
month stopped in this summary fashion
by dishonest Bensons? Who pays the differ
ence ON contracts for coal and wood, awarded
Dy railway officials to the highest bidders?
Who pays for land and buildings, which cost
two or three times as much as they are worth?
Good judges, as we learn from the New York
Stakeholder, estimate the stealings" on the
Erie railroad at per cent. of the annual in
come of the road. Who pays that heavy tax9
Certainly not the shareholders, ior they, poor
people, have in most cases lost their original
investment and are in no case to make fur
ther payments to anybody. Certainly not
the managers of the roads, for their salaries
are regularly deducted from the earnings. 1t
is upon the public, the passengers and ship
pers, that the burden falls. 1t is tax, and
heavy one, upon the industry of the country.
The Hon. Josiah Quincy, who appears to
be making gallant fight, almost singlelIand-
ell, against the railway monopolies in Massa-
chusetts, has shown by English estimates
that twenty-seven passengers at So each
would pay the whole cost of running a
train from Boston to Albany, two hundred
miles, and that all things considered passen-
gers could proftably be transported for 81
each and freight for so cents ton between
those two points. Compare these rates with
the actual charges, and the amount Of taxa
tion TO which the industry of the country is
subjected under the present system of railway
management stands disclosed. 4n.a
There is no need to talk of stealines. The
system, if administere with the most scru ru-
lous honesty, places the corporations and the
public in direct antagonism, and gives the
corporations the ADVANTAGE of an absolute
monopoly ofthe roads. 1t is the interest of
the public to have frequent trains and low
fares. 1t is the interest of the companies to
have few trains and high fares, and the COM
panies, having everything in their own hands,
arrange their time tables and tariffs according
y. Thisstate of things cannot last. We have
seen turnp..ss-,--..a. their ntolerable nuisance
OF tol-gates, supplanted by hIsnWays D..s..
by the community and free to all passengers
Toll.bridges were once necessary evil bu.
there are few remaining and no new ones
are built. A similar revolution is coming in
railway transportation. Bills are already be-
fore Congress for the congtruction of railroads
by the United States, to be traversed at reg
ular rate of speed and open to free conpeti-
ton for all persons or companies who may
desire to put passenger, freight or mail trains
thereon, subject to such regulations and liza
BILE to such tolls as Congress may establish.
Mr. Quincy is urging the Massachusetts, Legis-
lature to exercise its privilege of purchasing
the road bed of the Boston and Albany rail-
road, and then to invite the same competi-
non which exists upon the Erie canal. 1t
is estimated from data obtained in 1852,
that the Erie canal, compared with
railroads as then and now man
aged, saved by cheaper transportation at
least twelve millions a year to the people.
The grand advantage of water transportation
by the Lakes and by the Canal lies
in the fact that it is open to the
public Cor free competition. The ca
pacity of the railroad for Transports
ton of freight has never been fully tested,
and under the present system it never will
be. little freight at high rates pays the
company just as well as more at lower rates,
and with less trouble. So the Boston and
Albany railroad continues to charge nearly
81 ton for freight which might be carried
for less than 81, and Boston merchants wait
in vain for goods which accumulate at Albany
and await there the convenience of the rail-
road company. 1t is necessary to comply
Il Al, (s-.-I A. 4