The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-01-29
RAILROAD GRIEVANCES.
pccrssIoy or qHE KENT BILL.
., 1obn y. Purcell. Secretary Dunlop
aud Others show Where improve
menss Could he Made.

.,,. r4ou.e Committee on Roads and Inter
>.,icatior me, yesterday morning IN the
- ,to southern Historical Society at
.. caritol MI john b. RYAN. Of LOU
,.,n WAS Ia the chair. A delegation from
... ,,i.ao.ter Of Commerce was present TO adj
....e tse massage % the Kent Railroad COM
mission bl.
cl John Is. Purcell. pre'ident Of the
chamber of Commerce, was the first speaker.
ps SD 4 that Richmond was peculiarly
f.-.nn.,e AS 90 los freight rates on the various
..st. There were few complaints in regard
t,Ion..hmOnd and Danville ana the Atlantic
l...t Iiuc but Che city was almost completely
...t.f from the western part OF the State
.r.r che Chesapeake and ONO road by their
...H freight rates. The principal grievances
,.efe to be- found IN the passenger traffic for
te.ark 0f proper connections and Tor the
,.af0f speedy adjustment of claims These
Grievances were OF long standing and almost
.e.nrrences and the cost OF remedying
tI..r being almost greater than The oilGi-
fsI loss business men very often did pot care
..ow up their claims. There Was also
political significance connected Win tue
..arnn. for the legislation or TINS
N.te had been directed 81" sach
a.r as 90 force tho labor clements
mo organization. ln consequence or lA"1
rnr bad been 80 times outside oi tAc beiIo-
cratic party next the Agricultural eienGh'S
bad been driven into OrgauilAuoh. Ott lh-y
Isl remained lL the party obi ono sten% va %
.eulelgcs made bv the Democratic leaders
f these pledges wero not KEPT tleIo NAS
.rtye fear that third d.ssehoi'h m4sAt ARISE
~ f.rh mightinsure very serious consequences.
-rCRfIAtf nlNiN.
-acretarv Dunlop briefly dthned the posi-
sion of the Chamber 10 l"iul4elce lu ING lIhe-
tr Until recently he bad Thought that a
rr.ma facie case of grievances had been mace
On oyerv junction point the most ia
...,t neglect af numerical accommodations
.I5 be noticed 10 was comparatively
email matter f0r railroad companies % regu-
..tsttoIr traffic iu lacent localities. During
.s ,,o.t few weeks the railroad companies
81 n corrected some things for which tine bust
r.ssfren o. this city had been clamorng Tor
Gears The lack of connection at GOrdons-
~ra Basic City and Stauuton was simply IN
-.e|la lie connection with the Norfolk
and Western FOR passengers from the south
ness WAS pretty bad. and they were often
...r.o.-s1 to- come from Burkevllle all the way
FL Petersburg 20 make the connection. In
..f..a uence of the frequent complaints, the
Richmond aud Danviile railroad had re-
Gently put on train 81, 10 make
...,...f,on in Burkevile but the
t0r about once ia ten days. When this was
done tie Norfolk and Western carried the
though passengers on a special train up 20
Richmond. Tie representative OF the cham
hrhd conferred with the officers of the
g.sspeake and Ohio railroad IN the Office OF
He EailrOad Commissioner and they had
s-rssd on their terms The Virginia Midland
bad remedied all the wrongs, but the Shen-
fr1oah Valley railroad had not done
ANYTHING and the Baltimore and Ohio
road had declared that they could not
make any change on account OF the
had condition Of their rOadbed. The evils at
G0rdOnsvlle bad been entirely corrected by
8 lease of the road betweel GordOnsyille and
Orange. but the FIRE ght rates in that direction
were still bad, for the reason that the Chesa-
peake and Ohio claimed that they could not
pr0rate with the Virginia Midland railroad.
The mills ID this city grind wheat for South
America and the wheat of Virginia was
especially adapted for that trade, but
wheat. hay and corn of Virginia We're
denied the privilege which the West
ern products enjoyed. The privilege
of freight in transit rates had been recently
established. On the Norfolk and Western
good deal of injury was caused by the delay
" shipments. and many complaints were
made 10 that effect Mr.. Dunlop mentioned
% number of cases where business men ofthis
city had lodged complaints. lie thought the
IIN remedy WUulu iit a IdlllOhA tVi4llAtiooiDAA
BILL which. IN ms opinion, would dement, the
railroads as much as the merchants.
Mr. Pitcher. of Fauquier. st ted that no
products raised in his paft of the state could
ie sold in Richmond at any advantage, but
they were shipped directly 10 the South.
where better prices could be obtained than
iu Richmond. Ii seemed TO him that the
whole difficulty was caused by fight be-
tween different sections and cities of the
Colonial DnrsplI pmnnQffpnlIV
dated the impression that Richmond was
antagon.zing other sections of the state.
INLAND TRADE.
Mr. S. W. Trayers for the past four years
chairman of the committee on inland trade OF
the Chamber of Commerce. said that the
numerous complaints had satisfied him that
railroad commission was necessary. ltlOoked
most unfortunate that the railroad interests
sh uId forever be al difference with the agri-
cultural and commercial interests of the State.
Tie commission was TO act as arblter 20 settle
these disputes lie did not think that the
b.I would do the railroads any harm; IL
twentv-nine different States Of the Union
such commissions were in existence; they had
worked well in Georgia and elsewhere. lie
could not see why tie Iallr ads should be
ailaid of a railroad commission. Somebody
ought 10 have charge OF this matter for the
sake of settling existing dissensions. The
Kent bin would protect the people as well as
the railroads against themselves. lie
cited incidents whcLe the present
railroad war caused many complaints. The
redress iu the present law was 80 hedged IN
that 70 took too long time % secure rene
dy Something certainly was wrong. for he
could ship goods six hundred miles south but
they could not 60 above seyenty-ive miles
north The complaints in regard to the bad
connections over the Chesapeake and Ohio
railroad looked 70 him as If the trains were
Iun over that road so as to avoid connec-
tons 10 appeared to him as if 1t was the aim
o. be railroads 10 build up the Northern
cities and shut ont Richmond.
Chairman Ryan announced that some more
Interested persons would be heard Saturday
morning. and the committee arose.