Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1873-03-28

mlssloners, whose burdens are sufficiently
onerous, assume the responsibility for the
condition Of the public roads in their To-
calitfes. Each district might be provided
with a cart, pair of oxen, and necessary
tools. The work in each district would
/ go'on independently and simultaneously,
our people be stipulated, perhaps, to some
rivalry, so that mud-hole might, ever and
anon, be, poled; a bridge mended water
turned away from our roads by private en-
terprise, where we now fold our arms and
rely upon the Commissioners as our Her
cules. ~ 2..:t = FIFTH D1sTR1cr.
,. [CoMMUN1cATED.l
The -B. d p. r. r. Rates of Charge.
That competition is the life of trade" is
doubtless true saying, but it is equally
true that accommodation begets trade
This latter fact public carriers too often
forget, and frequently, from narrow and
contracted vision, are almost entirely blind
to. It is true their primary object is to
make money for themselves, but they ex-
pect to make it out of the public, and this
they ought to know can only be done by
making it the pleasure as well as the in
terest of the public to patronize them
Any common carrier who acts upon any
other principle than the above is utterly
unfit for his business, and it must, sooner
or later, result disastrously to his business
Steamboats, and cars may run to suit the
notions of those who own them, and GER
tain portion of the public may be COMPEL
ed, In an emergency, to use them, but I'M
less they are run at times and on terms to
suit the convenience Of and accommodate
the great mass of the public, so as to meet
the greatest good to the greatest number,
they will never have trade enough to be
worth competing for. One man may lead
horse to water, but ten men cannot make
him drink. So necessity may compel peo-
pie sometimes to use public conveyances
where the accommodations are poor, the
hours inconvenient and the rates exhorbi-
tant; but they will never seek these con-
veyances from inclination, pleasure or bu-
siness if possible to do otherwise, and it is
of such elements that trade and the travel
ling public are composed. .a.
Perhaps we are good looking but we
'scan't keep hotel" but we can tell when
one is properly. kept as well as any other
man. Nor are we competent to manage a
railroad or run steamboat, In fact do
anything outside of our own business, and
to that we mean to stick. But we can tell
when railroads and steamboats, are so run
as to accommodate the great mass of the
public. These, thoughts are suggested by
the present condition of all that portion of
our community who are dependent, for
freight and travel, on the Baltimore and
Potomac Railroad h...f .s..r
AS to the timetable of the B. & p. r. r.
we have nothing further to say now, trust
ing that time will cure some of the evils
to which the travelling publica now sub
jected in this respect. But as to the fare
on this road we do complain, and we have
a right to complain. It is simply exhorb-
liant, and calculated to drive away travel
instead of inviting it. The fare from Cox's
Station to Baltimore is $685. and in pro-
portion from all the other stations. This
is simply outrageous. 1t thus costs $5.7O
fare to and from Baltimore on the cars, and
to which must be added fifty cents for ON
nibus fare to and from the temporary de-
pot and the city and we have the nice lit
tie sum of $6.70, in order to get to and
from Baltimore by the B. 6 P. r. R.; whilst
for 4,1v o4oa b
ington city, for five cents ride on street
car from the wharf to the depot, and then,
for the further sum of 81 be landed, by the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in the heart
of the city of Baltimore Thus, by one
route, it will cost 1886, and by the other
$205. Nor is this all. The present rate
offare on the B. & P. R. R. is illegal and
in violation of their charter. Sometime
since our County Commissioners officially
complained about these rates, supposing.
that discrimination had been made against
our people, but Gov. Bowie, the President,
in his reply, which was read at late
meeting of the Commissioners, disclaims
any discrimination, but says that the fare
on the whole of the main stem below Bowie
is uniform and foe cents per mile, whilst
their charter and its supplements limits
their maximum rate to four cents per mile.
How they can have the effrontery thus to
violate their charter is, as Lord Dundreary
says zone of those things fellow can never
find out" Thus much for their passenger
fare.
We are not familiar with their freight
charges, but we have heard number of
complaints on the subject. We know of
one instance where a gentleman of the
neighborhood had spring wagon, for
which he paid $3.50 in Baltimore, brought
down on the cars, and the freight amount
ed tos$14-nearly ten per cent. of the cost
whilst the wagon could not have weigh
ed 500 lbs. All of these things we say,
will have the effect of driving trade and
travel from the road, instead of creating
and inviting it; and are foolish and suici-
dial on the part of its managers.
Our people have deep interest in the
welfare and prosperity of this road. They
have dealt with it most literally, having
given it, throughout its entire leugth, the
right of way, with here and there an insig-
nifcant exception, principally where mi
nors were concerned and could not con-
sent. Our Commissioners reflected but
the sentiments of the community when they
devoted to this Company the whole Inter
nal Improvement Fund donated by the
State. In short, our people have done all
they could to advance this road, and they
now wish to use it-patronize it, TO- make
it a paying institution, that it may pay