St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-23
Kenyon, of the Burlington,
Speaks Very Pointedly to
Railroad officials.
BE Pertinently Sizes Up the
Difficulties Of st. Paul
Chicago Lines.
A Plan Which Would End All
Strife and Whoop Up
Exchequers.
Cheap Rates in the End, He
Says, Would Be Disastrous
to the Public.

There is as yet no sign of readjust-
ment Of local rates, and passenger traffic
between St. Paul and Chicago is run
ming very heavy. 1t looks as if the in
habitants of st. Paul and those of Chi
cago were determined to take advantage
of the cheap rates. All the roads charg-
ing a IS first class rate have, the
past four nights, filed their regular
trains with passengers, but while the
reduced tariff is good for the travelling
public, it is playing havoc with the eX-
chequer of those lines which do a big
local traffic-the Omaha. the Milwaukee
and the A bert Lea route. The Bur
lington and the Kansas City largely de-
pend upon their Through business"
and, as a consequence, they will not
suffer so much from the reduced
tariff as the other roads mentioned.
Rumors were again atlOat yesterday that
the Omaha road was going to shorten
the time taken for the journey between
St. Paul and Chicago to twelve hours.
Supposing that such step was de-
cided upon, it is difficult to conceive
how it will effect or remedy the present
rate war. The Milwaukee, with its
mail train, is at present doing the jour
ney in twelve hours. and the Burling
ton has demonstrated that in can cover
the distance between the two cities
in eleven hours. The only line to be
left in therear would be the Wisconsin,
it being handicapped by the extreme
length of its road. Some other remedy
must be adopted to bring the
various roads to time, OF lead
them to seek satisfactory set
tIement of the present troubles.
With a view of ascertaining how
or by what means the passenger war
could be adjusted, GLOBE reporter
yesterday called upon Passenger Agent
Kenyon, of the Burlington. Mr.. Ken
y0n greeted the reporter in his usual
courteous style, and the following ques-
ton was at once thrown at him:
"What, in your opinion, is the solu-
ton of the present passenger war in the
Northwest"
Mr.. Kenyon was not slow in making
reply. He said:
''1he solution of the trouble is a SIM
pie one. and it is matter of surprise
that the remedy was not applied long
since to correct the evils that have eX-
listed in passenger affairs for the last
three or four years, particularly in this
section of the country. As you are
probably we'll aware. there is not Suffi-
cient traffic between the Northwest
and eastern points when divided up
among the six lines to give any
two of them more than a fair
of oJ
new and expensive equipment, the
maintenance of way to enable fast time
to be made and the demands of travellers
who desire that they shall receive as
good service in the West as is offered in
other sections of the country. For many
years the Milwaukee and Northwestern
were the only lines penetrating this re-
gior, and of course during that time.
while the travel was not so heavy as it
is now, it was sufficiently large to re-
munerate them. These roads appar-
emily do not realize that there are
younger lines in the field solicit
ing the patronage of the public
and eager to offer the same, if not su-
peror train facilities. and that they are
entitled to fair share of the traffic. We
will never have peace until a division
of the business is agreed upon, not
pool, mind you, for that is prohibited by
law, but an agreement by which each
line is assigned a certain percentage of
the business, and when this is done
everything will be serene"
"Have you made any proposition
looking toward division of the bust
DeSS?"
"Oh, yes. We have on some occasions
of late offered a plan for consideration
by the other lines, but the course was
so novel i'll these timeS-the preServa-
ton of revenue-that we were accused
or Joking, and we have not been able to
convince them that we were in sober
earnest Perhaps when they count the
cost of this cruel war; which was not
of our seeking, wiser council will pre-
vail, and they will be brought to see the
error of their ways"
'In what manner will the public be
benefited by maintenance OF rates?
They enjoy and take advantage of these
periodical wars that you gentlemen
wage upon one another"
"Of course they do; but there is no
money in So rate for 400 miles travel,
and the roads will have to retrench
The regular rates are not too high for
the service performed. If lower rate
must prevail the accommodations will
from time to time deteriOrate. 1t is not
reasonable to suppose that the com
panies will carry on losing business.
There will be fewer trains and every
precautiOn taken to reduce the
cost of the service TO a minimum.
If dollar silks we're put on the market
at twenty-five cents, how long do you
think it would be before little cotton
was worked IN and after while the silk
entirely disappear?'
'Will a dollar fare to Chicago be
reached soon?"
II cannot say. We have done no
heavy fighting as yet. We have only
met the enemy's charge. The fact that
it takes ten days to raise interstate
rates will deter the fighters from resort
ing to this last eXpedient."
''HOW is your business, Mr.. Kenyon,
on the low rates?"
Every good. 1t has stimulated travel,
but the reaction will set III soon, and l
am afraid the early summer business
will be greatly injured"
Il suppose no line would admit that
ii was licked, and call meCting?"
"a general will never sacrifice his
men, and will surrender when there is
no longer hope of victory. We will at
tend any meeting, or, if the other lines
are too modest, would ourselves call a
meeting if there was a possibility of
agreement at this time. and we are not
licked by any means; but we love peace
better than war;"