St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-02-14
Travellers Between the Twin
Cities Must Put UP or
Walk.
Thiekly Settled Sections Rem
der Substantial Support
With Commuters.
Messrs. MARVEL and Whitney
Deny They Are Bloated
BondholdepS.
Whizzing through the mountains,
BuZZing DER the vale,
Bless me. this is pleasant, :.
Riding on the rail,


The bill providing for the reduction
in fare between the two cities is unani-
N ously indorseq.by the public. who re-
gard the two leading interurban rail-
ways in the light of soulless corpora
tons, fattening. Off the UNJUST rates
which travellers are forced to pay, or
else walk between the Twin Cities.
The companies side of the case has not
been presented, however, and with
view of sounding the pulse of the cor
porations on this much-mooted topic,
GLOBE reporter broached the subject to
two of the Manitoba company's leading
officials yesterday.
81 have no doubt that the gentlemen
who are SO pronounced in the lndorse-
ment of the bill understand perfectly
we'll what they are talking about" said
General Manager Marvel. as a quiet
smile Illuminated his features. IF any
of these censors think that the compa-
MES are growing rich by reason of the
interurban travel, and that running
railroad is sure stepping stone to
wealth. let them try it. The rates on
the Pennsylvania railroad between
Philadelphia and New York are greater
for any class of rates than between st.
Paul and Minneapolis. The travel be-
tween the two former cities is contiu-
uous and uniform, and yet the Pennsyl-
vania keeps its rates up. Our road
runs through new and Sparsely settled
country, and owing to excessively cold
winters it costs a vast amount OF money
to run a train. If we should make a
little money OH travel between the two
cities, we need it to compensate for
losses incurred OH the cost of operating
the rest of the road, The bill was seem
ingly drawn up under the mlsappre-
hension that the travel between the
two cities was suburban. Such sup
position is a mistake. The traffic is not
uniform, and is strictly commercial; be-
cause a man buys a ticket from here to
Minneapolis to-day it does not follow
that
HE Will BE A PATRON
of the road, which is the distinctive
characteristic of suburban travel.
The New York Central road runs on a
cent and half mile basis. Central
New York, along the liue of this COM
pany, is very thickly settled, and the
line is dotted with populous cities'from
Buffalo to Albany. The cases are not
parallel. Because it can afford to oper-
ate on such a basis of rates it does not
follow that the roads i'll this new North
western country can adopt like Sched-
ule, The proposed reduction, if en-
forced, would be totally inadequate for
the maintenance Of the service, and
those who make the most objection to
! the present rates will. generally speak
! ing, be found to travel the least.
don't think that a reduction in fare
| would have tendency to increase
I fraf4io and noi,ci5arlpor tho uapio
amount of travel between the Twin
Cities, see no reason why it should"
The legislators should devote their
time to the regulation of other evils
also, and not stop with the railroads."
said General Passenger Agent Whitney.
Don't you think it would be a good
| thing to introduce bill by the pro-
| visions of which the Ryan and West ho-
| tells could not charge more than dol
| lar day for accommodations? 1t
would certainly have tendency to in-
| crease the trade at both of these houses,
| but it would undo lbtedly hamper the
service. A guest could not expect to
| be as we'll housed and fed as under the
former scale OF prices, Seriously.
| though, | do not see how the rate can
be lowered until either Minneapolis or
| st. Paul consents to be regarded as a
| suburb of the other. When this result
| is brought about the
RATES CAN BE REDUCED.
| for the reason that the residents of
| one town will do business in the other,
| and when at their houses will largely
! forsalze commercial enterprises, and de-
/ vote their leisure time to domestic pur-
| suits. The suburb will then be resi-
dental town in every sense of the word.
| All of its business men will go to and
fro six days in every week and the traffic
| will be uniform. cannot call to mind
two men who live in one town and do
| business in the other. There is no good
| reason why they should. Consequently
it is impossible for the company
to know how many cars to put on a
| given train, for we have no means of
knowing how many patrons we viii be
| expected to accommodate. Generally
/ speaking, the travel varies with the time
! of day. The II 80 train in the morning
| is apt to be a light one, and towards
| evening the cars are more crowded.
''This traffic is business travel in its
| broadcast sense. =: 1t varies with the
| prosperity of the country. Our receipts
| Tor the ensuing year will not be as
| large as last year if the receipts so far
prove basis on which to make cal
| culationS. If times are prosperous
| CfdNGIlllS HIGH ttllN DuStIcSS- uftH ITUIH
| other parts OF the country came to the
Northwest, and Of course travel be-
tween the Twin Cities: but if money is
| tight and business at comparative
| standstill, foreign business men are
| chary of coming to the Northwest, and
we suffer accordingly. We cannot we'll
put on fewer trains, no matter what the
| outlook may be- for such course would
neeessitate a change in the time-card.
! If train goes to Minneapolis we must
get it back again. 1t may have gone
! over with few passengers and. come
back almost deserted, but then it may.
be reasonable to expect that if the next
trip is made at
PROPITIOUS TIME OF DAY
a goodly yield Of passengers may be
expected.
''The Illinois Central railroad has
been cited as line which carries its
passengers at a low rate. As matter
of fact however, that line charges more
than the short lines, unless the tickets
are bought in bulk. | lived at Hyde
Park. on the line of that road, for eight
years, and had an opportunity to make
| close observation of the class of pasSen-
gers carried. They are commuters, and
the same faces appear in its suburban
trains day after day The company
has steady traffic on which it may
rely at all times. Nevertheless, the
officials of that company say that they
never made cent off their suburban
traffic until within the past year. The
Manitoba company has never made
cent off its interurban traffic, and. to
the best of my knowledge, the Milwau
keetroad is i'll the same boat.
1--WE could not pool our earnings, and
have tickets on one line honored by the
other, because it is against the law for
railroad companies to pool. If such a
thing could be done it would, IN my
i ho q crnnd thinn fnr the rail=