St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-10
WILL IT CAUSE LOSS !?
The Demand Of the Public for Cheaper
Interurban Fares.
RAILWAY MANAGERS SAY YES
But the Board Of Trade Takes an En-
tirely Different View Of the
Matter.

mile OF even a lower rate or rare Tor
travel between Minneapolis and st.
Paul, and between the two cities and
suburban points claimed the attention
of the board of trade yesterday MORN
ing. Capt. q. &. Merriman, of the
special committee recently appointed
by the board to investigate the matter,
made report, which was of conSidera-
BILE length. and embraced all the cores
pondence that has passed between the
I committee, which included committee
from the st. Paul chamber of commerce
and the railroads. He first read
the letters that had been sent
to the various general managers
asking that the rates be reduced, and
giving reasons why theytshOuld be. The
letter from Roswell Miller, of the Chi
cagO, Milwaukee Il st. Paul road, was
not exactly favorable to giving any re-
ductiOn, he claiming that the rates were
already too low, being only trihe
higher than Eastern rates, where travel
was very much heavier. Mr.. Miller
also stated that since the railroad COM
mission had come into power it had di-
Verted SO much business from the road
that no reduction in rates of any kind
could be made without a great loss.
Travel was not heavy enough between
cent rate.
General Manager Marvel, of the
Manitoba road, wrote that i'll his
opinion the time had not yet come when
rates could be made as low between
Minneapolis and st. Paul as they could
between cities in the East, for the rea-
son that there was not the same amount
of passenger business. While he did
not think reduction to 2-eent rate
would help the Twin Cities, he sug-
gested that those who wanted lower
rate buy the communication tickets. But
on the whole, taking into consideration
| everything, he did not think the pres
ent rate-50 cents, or 215 cents per mile
at all unjust.
General Manager Truesdell, of the ST.
| Louis road, wrote that the. revenue now
derived from the saleOf tickets between
| Minneapolis and st. Paul barely paid
| expenses. and were it not for the freight
| rates the trains could not run. He did
not, therefore, see how any reduction
could be made without great loss to
| the road. The aim of the road was, he
| said. to build up the country beyond
| Minneapolis.
After reading all the correspondence.
| Capt. Merriman presented the. report of
the committee. This report stated that
matter fully, was of the opinion that
| interurban rates should be reduced,
Notwithstanding what the general man
ayers. of the various roads had said. A
| short discussion followed and the report
| was accepted and placed on file. Judge
Atwater, who is really the father of the
movement, said he was satisfied with
the report as far as it. went, but the
! trouble was it did not go far enough.
! He had it from good authority. he said,
I that the railroad commission considered
the rates between the two cities and in
| terurban rates too high, and that if
1 the matter was referred to it, it would
! fully investigate the subject. There
I fore he wanted a recommendation added
4 to the report that the commissioners look
! into it. He also wanted the committee
| continued. so that further reports might
he made. Capt. Merriman said he did
| not like the idea of having the special
committee do any more in regard to the
matter. The board committee on rail-
| roads. said he, is the proper committee
! to take charge of this matter. Mai.
| Bassett did not want the question of
! rates referred to the railroad commits
4 sion until the courts had decided
! whether, or not that body could compel
the railroads to do anything. The order
! of the commission establishing switch
! ing changes had been appealed from by
| the roads, said he, and was now in the
courts. Therefore he thought it would
| be good plan to wait and see the out
come of that before anything was done.
! Accordingly the matter was left open.
| A similar report to the one presented by
| Capt. Merriman to the board of trade
| was presented to the chamber of COM
| merce in st. Paul yesterday morning.