Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-11-03

t. British travelling cad.-New York
Tribune.
ENGLISH TRAVEL EXPENSIVE.
WY Rsses ~ Ran Fse P.sss.esss -
RseagAa Are - 1leA.
The eminent EnGiish railway suthoe-
aty. Ar. Willian II Acwoeth, points out
many causes tsr the differences between
railways In this country and tho United
Seeeess The higher rate Of charges On
E1ehsh roads are thus explained:
Tho yHy large capital outlay OF Eng
hsh railways is Of course one main rea-
con Of the high standard Of rates and
tsres in England. Exactly how high
that standard b 10 have no means II
moving. for our railway statistics.
made up in form that was laid down
BY IN oct Of parliament about 80 years
hack, carefully suppress the information
that 1t Is most necessary for us to have.
Ton miles and passenger miles are not
here recorded. We know that each ton
of goods carried pays the railways On the
average about 90 cents. II We guess that
the average distance is about 2S miles, We
arrive at an average rate of 2. 40 centsper
ton mile, which is not very far from
three times the average rate in the
United States. So in the case Of passen-
gers we may guess that the average fare
Is about 1.75 per mile, which though
lower than the American average, is
higher than in any European country.
Such result seems very far from salts
factory. High cost Of construction might
have justified high range of rates and
fares at the outset, but year by year the
per mile of line open increases in den
sity, and yet the goods rates hardly come
down at all-in the last year or two their
tendency has been all the other way
while the passenger fares only come
down very slowly.
And yet the explanation is not far to
seek. Our services have always been ex-
pensive to work. They are becoming
more expensive year by year. In Amer
lea trainloads are mainly limited by the
capacity Of the engines-ours by the
weight Of goods or number Of passenger
that have had time to accumulate in the
very short interval between one train
and smother. Let me illustrate: II q
man Is sailing from New York to En-.
rope, be win choose his fsvorite line o.
his favoFite boat, regardless of the time
| Of day or day Of the week ut which j,
| starts. On the other hand, If the Man
haitian elevated were to try to run it,
trains only once in 10 minutes in tn,
Slack hours Of the day the street car,
would rob it Of the bulk of its passen
gefs.
Now, in England our business is al
between places which in America woul;
be regarded as close together. We cal
Manchester 1.-The north of England" We
Manchester is only A. hours from Lon
don. Consequently there must be train
between the two points at all hours o
the day, to suit the convenience Of pas
sengers wanting to go at any time. Con
sequently, too. each train runs with yer,
much less than . trainload of psssen
gers. Then these trains must be run q
high speeds, for though . few minute
more or less are of little importance in
journey Of hundreds of miles. quarte
Of an hour out of four hours is ver
considerable percentage. High speed
mean few stops, and few stops mean I'd
ditional trains to serve the second clas
stations. Then high speeds and frequen
expresses for passengers mean hig
speeds and short trains for good-tha
Il, half loaded-engines, for an engin
loaded TO its full capacity moves Q
Glowly-occupies the line, that is, for 9
long . period-that it is impossible :
find room for il.
But it would not be true to say tha
the goods are worked at high speed sim
ply for the convenience of the railwa
management. On the contrary, the d.
mand for speed in the case Of mefchaz
disc traffic is fully abreast of that in th
case Of passengers. Broadly. it may
sid that the English goods service j
based on the supposition that, betweel
important towns at least, whatever
handed to the railway company at tn
forwarding station over night viii be d.
livered to the consignee the first thin
next morning. Now, q service such q
this, in the nature of things, can neve
be q cheap one.-Engineering Magaxins
Plays Fer Young Girls.
Many wise mothers think that th
theater should be reserved for adult lif,
They regard it rs q stimulant and to
unnecessary for the growing mind.
may be compared to those drugs who
relieve headache by affecting the heart.
Still the mother who would make {