The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1893-08-26
ENGLISH TRAVEL EXPENSIVE.


ENGLISH TRAVEL EXPENSIVE
Why Rates by Rail for Passengers and
r. /. y Freight Are SO High.
The eminent English railway au-i
thority, Mr.: William NJ. Acworth,s
points out many causes for the diff
ference between railways in his.
country and the United Safes, in the
Engineering Magazine. The higher
rate of charges on English roads are
thus explained: es
The very large capital outlay of
English railways is of course one
main reason of the high standard of
rates and fares in England. Exactly
how high that standard is we have
no means of knowing, for our railway.
statistics, made up in a form that.
was laid down by act of parliament
about thirty years back, carefully
suppress the information that it is
most necessary for us to have. i !
Ton-miles and passenger-miles are,
not here recorded. We know that
each ton Of goods carried pays the
railways on the average about sixty
cents. If we guess that the averages
distance is about twenty-five miles,
we arrive at an average rate of 2.40>
cents per ton-mile. which is not very
far from three times the average rate
in the United States. So that in case.
Of passengers we may guess that the
average fare is about l.75 cents per-
mile, which, though lower than the
American average, is higher than in
any European country. Such re-;
suit is far from satisfactory. High
cost of construction might have justi-s
fed high range of rates and fares at
the outset, but year by year the traffic
per mile of line open increases in
density, and yet the goods rates hard
ly come down at all-in the last year
or two their tendency has been all
the. other way - while the pas
senger fares only come down very
slowly.
And yet the explanation is not far
to seek. Our services have alw ays.
been expensive to work; they are be-.
coming more expensive year by ear.
In America train-loads are mainly.
limited by the capacity Of the engines:
ours by the weight Of goods or:
number of passengers that have had
time to accumulate in the very short
| interval between one train and an,
other Let me illustrate: If man
is sailing from New York to Europe
| he will choose his favorite line or his,
! favorite boat, regardless of the time
of day Or day of the week at which it
T starts. On the other hand, if the!
Manhattan eleyated were to- try is is
run its trains only once in ten min
ffssa1tes in the slack hours Of the day
the street cars would rob it Of the
bulk Of its passengers.
Now, in England our business is
all between places which in America
would be regarded as close together.
We call Manchester "the north of
England" yet Manchester is only
four and one-half hours from London.
/ Consequently there must be trains
between the two points at all hours
of the day, to suit the convenience
! of passengers wanting to go at any
time. Consequently, too, each train
runs with very much less than a
train load of passengers. Then these
trains must be run at high rate Of
speed, for though a few minutes more
or less are of little importance in a
! journey of hundred miles, qua arter
of an hour out of four hours is a very
considerable percentage. High speed
means few stops, and few stops mean
additional trains to serve the SECOND
class stations Then high speed and
frequent expresses for passengers
mean high speed and. short trains for
| good-that Is half-loaded engines;
for an engine loaded to it's full ca.
pacity moves so slowly-oceupies
the line, that is, for 80 long period
that it is impossible to find room
for it.
But it would not. be true to say
that the goods are worked alta high
speed simply for the convenience of
the railway management: On the
contrary, the demand for speed in the
case of merchandise traffic is fully
abreast of that in the case of pass
engers. Broadly, it may be said
that the English goods-service is
based on the supposition that, be-
tween important towns at least,
Whatever is handed to the railway.
company at the forwarding station
over night will. be delivered to the
consignee the first thing next morn
ing. Now, a service such as this. in
the nature of things can never be a
! cheap one. H. -.
Climate and Plants.
The botanical department. of the
university of Pennsylvania is max
ing special study Of the effect Of