Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-02-21
PUBLIC OPINION.

RAILROAD PASSENGER FARES.
From the Cleveland Leader.
Partly on account of this moral
perverSity so often manifested and SO Sc
verely commented upon by eminent rail
road authorities, such as Charles Francis
/ Adams, We are led to question the strict
accuracy of the reports of expenses made
by some OF the companies by which fig
ures are furnished We cannot under
stand how the prevailing rates of passen-
I ger fares left so meager margin last year,
/ in view of the fact that they seemed to be
profitable and satisfactory twenty years
! ago, at time when freight charges were
greatly higher than they are now or have
been for long period, 1t is to be feared
that the aStute managers of some OF the
queer lot of companies figuring in the Sen
I ate committee report have Saddled upon
| the passenger traffic of their roads much
more than its share of the charges for i'm
! prOyements, repairs, Office expenses, tele-
graph service, and the like: even if they
have not loaded it with interest on the
bonded debt or the cost of enriching pal
ace car companies and other outside or
ganizatiOns in which railway magnateS
are sometimes too much interested for the
good of the stockholders of the companies
they are supposed to serve.
1t would be amusing, if it were not dis
! graceful, that committee of the Ohio
! Senate appointed to investigate railway
| passenger charges in the interests of the
great mass of the citizens of the State,
should hastily pass over in its report, the
certain increase of traffic which the adOp-
I Nf hl NtS n
/ about. and then dilate upon the fears of
railroad employees that reduction in the
rate of local fares would cut down their
wages and throw some of them out of
work. This scheme of using the natural
uneasinesS of railway employees to intiu-
ence the action of laW-making bodies is
/ being ShameleSSly worked by the priv
! ileged corporations. and it is mean enough
! for any of them. The street railway COM
! panieS N the city are using it just as the
/ steam railways are in the State, and are
/ hiding behind the men who work for them
/ just as Jay Gould has time and again be-
| sought Congress to think of the widows
and orphans among the stockholders of
| the Union Pacific whenever any disposi-
/ tiOn was shown at Washington to compel
! that impudent corporate deadbeat to pay
a portion of its debts to the government.
| There would be about as much sense in
! opposing the Dow law on the ground that
! the tax it imposes would necesSitate re-
ductiOn in the wages of brewery employees
and bar-tenderS. a State Legislature
ought not to allow its action concerning
a matter of great public Importance to be
influenced by the possible meanneSS of
few corporations.
We have faith that in the end the water
sc
the roads would suffer, as it ought. Com
petition would necessitate good service,
and good service would require fair wa
geS, even if the reduction of fares to the
twO-centS basis really diminished the rev.
enues of the companies enough to make
any material difference. 1t is very doubt
full whether it would have any such effect.
Lower rates would stimulate travel. No
reasonable man doubts that. and it costs
no more to haul full train than half
empty one. Moreover, a legal limit of two
cents a mile would tend to secure Stabil-
ity of rates and put stop to rulnOuS rate
wars. and to the lavish use of passes for
securing freight traffic or influencing leg
iSlatiYe bodies.
The two cents mile bill is just, and it
ought to become law, but we have al
most lost hope of this Legislature. The
lobby seems to be too strong for the press
and the public. A fortnight more will
probably tell the story, one way or another,
and we trust that the friends of the reform
will not relax their efforts as long as any
chance of success remains. If the rail
roads must win, let their victory be made
as difficult and the position of their tools
at Columbus as uncomfortable as posi-
bic.