Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-04-11
&le fot,fastfr 1ntflligel,ter.
! LANCASTER, APRIL IL, 1855.
President Roberts Views.

Rfo1I0ent k0DertS' views.
President Roberts, of the Pennsylvania
ailroad, gave to the legislative committee
It Harrisburg, the other day, his opinions
apon the pending anti-discr mination bill
md railway legislation generally. What
be- said has been but briefly and badly |
reported, the sleepy correspondents |
" the newspapers not appreciating appar-
Bntly the Importance and interest to the
public generally of the views Of the chief of
the greatest railroad in the country.
Mr.. Roberts, as reported, seems to MAIN
tain that II is wrong to permit railroads to
intersect, and to receive business from each
other and 10 maintain public rate Of
freight which shall be the same to all its
customers.
II taking this position Mr.. Roberts gain
oays the constitution and the common
sense Of the people, both of which impera-
tiyely require that there shall be free
:communication of traffic between rail-
roads, and that their charges shall not be
secret, and shall be the same to all their
customers. This has been the requirement
Of the law time outof mind. The common
law required common carriers to carry for
every one alike and upon equal terms.
1t is evident, therefore, that President
Roberts cannot maintain his positions !;
which derive their strength simply from
the fact that the railroad companies of the
country have steadily and persistently vi
olated the law SO that now, when the rail-
!, roads of Pennsylvania are proposed to be
Aed % It., as Il is expressed in the
aon so, the, axclaim + it CANNOT be
n, katY IN 9gsis outside the state
nth 40 oor competitors, are not subject
II this isso, IT is bad for the Pennsylva
. mia railroads, since the law that binds then
was deliberately written in the constitution
I and cannot be wiped out of it. The legis
lRture has no choice but to enforce it an,
public opinion demands its enforcement
despite the claim of ruin to Pennsylvania
railroads raised by President Roberts.
There is no likelihood, however, of thi
dire result, from the enforcement of tn
constitution. The Pennsylvania railroad
in publishing its charges and agreeing +
maintain them, will do no more than il no,
agrees to do in the pool of which it is mem
Der. The trunk railroads have given to
commissioner the adjustment of the rate
and the amount of freight they may carry
It is ridiculous, in the face Of this, for NJ,
Roberts to claim that secrecy of rates
essential to his roads safety.
The proposed law requires Mr.. Robert
to post the rates that will be charged by hi
company over the reads it controls. 1t ma
or may not, as it pleases, post the rates
points on other roads; it is not obliged
collect the toll on other roads.
Mr.. Roberts thought it very hard tina
his road should be required to submit to
connection with the Baltimore & Obi
railroad within mile or two of Philade
phia, and be permitted to charge no mor
for that short distance than the rate pc
mile for the whole distance from the Othe
end Of his line. Mr.. Roberts found an e,
treme case of hardship, as he thought, an
Of course was glad to exhibit it. Yet
was not as hard case as he made
out to be, since there is nothing to pr
vent him from making good roun
sum on the Baltimore & Ohios CO
in the way of terminal charges at Phil
delphia. But even though he received a
inadequate compensation for this service
it would only show that the wholesom
general rule, requiring railroads to TAX
business from one another at fixed rate
would sometimes work hardship, as I'll
wholesomest rules and laws will often d.
The public mind is fully made up that IL
general welfare demands that railroad
shall freely interchange business with eac
other. Wecould cite to Mr.. Roberts, hart
ships by the million, that result from Ii
dog In tho manager policy which he adv
Gates and pursues. Take the case in tn
city, where. his road meets the Reading an
no intercommunication is allowed. Tai
the branches to the collieries in the Clea
Geld coal region, where the switches al
locked by him on every colliery that seel
connectionhls with the rival road. tn;
these are oYltrages on the community n
sensible man outside a railroad Office wi
pretend to peny
Prosidenl Roberts declares that the mi
tiplicationPf railroads is the cause Of IL
country nr4at business depression an
yet his p4cYaimed policy stimulates raj
road uplfAtion by preventing railroa
connoctionj There is nothing left but
parallel r4iLoad when it refuses to tal
the freightp rival. President Rober
V now doing, himself, just what he col
deinns. HIS Schuylkill Valley railroa
parallels the Reading;and its building woul
have beon wholly unnecessary even to ii
interests Of his road If the constitutio
had been In force, as it is now proposed I
put II.
A. Absard and Impracticable Law.