Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-07
THE RATE WAR IS ON.
Cutting Has Begun on the Har-
vest Excursions.
THE NEW PEASE RIVER BRIDGE,
1t Will Be Built of Iron and Steel-A New
Device for Coach Windows-Union
Pacific Rumors-Other Railroad
News of Interest
Harvest Excursion War.


and the event, always dreaded by the rail-
roads has come TO pass. The Queen and
Crescent made the first break by putting on
one fare round-trip rate 10 Texas. The
Memphis road will apply it fromBirmingh2m
and the rate Will go into effect on all south
ern roads This viii be followed by the
Memphis extending the rate of one fare and
third TO Kansas City. The fight is on and
before the excursions are given the rate
will be one fare for the round trip over all
roads
This rate is the worst that could be made
for the railroads. for people who are COM
ing TO Texas Will come anyhow. and the re-
turn portion of the ticket will be scalped.
It's harvest for the brokers, but ruinous
to the roads. This is the reason il is al
ways so difficult to induce roads to give
harvest excursion rates.
Commenting on the situation at the Mis-
souri, river. the Kansas City Times says:
The ball has been kicked in the South
west, and the commotion will now extend
to Chicago In couple of days the Chi
cago and Alton will announce its position
on the harvester business. Chairman Fin
ley has made the fare-aud-a-thirj
rate the basing rate from West
for the Eastern lines A blind man
can see what the outcome will be. This in
viteS decentralization by the Alton. To pro
tect itself the Chicago-St Louis, the Chi
cago-Nansas City and the st. LOuis-hansas
City rates Will have to be cut, the Chicago
Kansas City rate will be reduced TO SO,
| round-trip and the st. Louis-kansas City
rate will again go to $50. a thirty-day
limit will undoubtedly be made on all rates.
How many ether reductions will be made
west of the Missouri and east of the Nlissis-
sippi rivers is L question for future devel-
| opment.
when the Alton makes its announce
l -, .,r1.. So. 'It.a
| road can not meet the competition any other
| way If the locals are not reduced its
| agent at Detroit and elsewhere will be uu-
| able to sell Alton tickets unless they pay
| the full locals of the initial lines. No one
| for 4 moment thinks the road VIII do this.
| The announcement was made yesterday that
| the road will do its full share Of the harvest
| ing buS!dcsS. From the way III which the
| line has kept its word in the past in mat
| tiers of this kind there seems TO BE- good rcd-
| son to think that it will be found at the
| front this time"
by Associated Pressl
| sCHTCAGo' Ill, Aug. 1.-THE general pas
senger agents of the lines III the Western
| passenger association have. ever since they
| agreed upon rates and arrangements for
| harvest excursions, been expecting some
radical step on the part of the Chicago and
| Alton The Alton issued Il circular this
| evening announcing three harvest eXcur-
| sions, instead of two, the number decided
| upon by the association, and making the
| instead of a fare and one-third.
| Chairman Finley Will receive
| the following letter from General
| Passenger Agent Charlton i'll the morning:
! ''HOu and your association have carefully
| avoided putting the Chicago and Alton on
| footing of equality with its competitors III
! the decision of the question of harvest
4 I'M
| taken steps to place the Chicago and Alton
| on footing of inequality in the territory
| east of the eastern boundary line of your
| association. by aiding the Eastern boycott
| tiers against us, and have thus Individually
| and collectively become parties to this lille
| gal boycott we therefore lind II necessary
| TO take Independent action. Having been
| urged by public bodies and the farmers of
| the West to make harvest excursions in the
| interest OF Western localities, We are I'M
| able to understand why you elected 10 make
one fare and third instead of
one fare. We are equally unable
| to understand why you have accepted only
! two or three dates rendered by the Trans
| Missouri association, and why you have
| excepted some points TO which you have
| been asked to sell these reduced rate tick
| cts. For these excursions we shall make a
| rate of one fare for the round
| trip from all points on our
| lines and shall add TO that the rates
| rendered US by our connections from our
terminals TO all points beyond. In cOnse-
| quence of the boycott and OF your inde-
| pendent and adverse action, which aids it,
| we find it necessary to make excursion
rates of 4 single fare for the round
| "trip between our terminal points.
| This. as YOU have already been advised,
will necessarily b. our policy i'll all cases in
which you take action that knowingly ex-
poses us to loss The Atoms competitors
in all probabilities Will meet and adopt rates
| and conditions announced by that road.