Omaha daily bee., 1894-03-06
COLLAPSE OF THE PASS AGREEMENT

COLLAPSE OF THE PASS AGREEMENT.
Western railroads have since their incep-
ton been sowing the seeds of the free
pass abuses. In the collapse of their recent
pass agreement they are beginning to reap
the whrlwind There was time when rail-
way officials boldly proclaimed that it was
none of the publc's business whether or not
they favored one patron with free transporta-
tion and compelled another to pay for his
accommodations. When state legislatures
commenced to enact laws forbiddng the Is
sue of passes without equivalent returns to
the company they protested against this
unheard OF interference with their freedom
to manage their own roads to their own lk-
ing. They kept right ON issuing free passes
in spite of legislative prohibitions and when
the interstate commerce law was enacted,
including among it's provisions a clause
against passes, they paid as little attention
to that as they had to the previously enacted
state statutes.
Only very recently have the railway Off
clals come to acknowledge that the pass
system has grown beyond control and that
passes may be as injurious to the railroads
as to the public at large. The only purpose
of issuing free passes-that is to say, passes
to which the recipient had no legitimate
claim-is to influence traffic or to corrupt
public officials. Passes given to influence
traffic are merely cloak for underhanded
rate cutting, in which the favored shipper
gets his rebate in the form of free transport
tation for himself and friends. 1t is this
insidious and concealed rate cutting to which
the railways object, particularly since II
deprives them of a large revenue which
would otherwise accrue from passenger
traffic, besides often failing to accomplish the
object for which 1t was instituted, Where
all the roads are distributing passes ndis>
criminately among their patrons the waste
becomes enormous. 1t is difficult to est,
mate the value OF an annual pass. since 1t
may never be used at all or 1t may be used
daily, An estimate, however. that has been
put forward as based on a conservative cal.
cuation shows that shippers who received
passes last year must travel this year to an
extent which would compel them to buy at
least SlOOOOOOO worth of railway tickets.
1t was chiefly the fear of this loss in these
stringent times that induced the managers
culatlon shows that shippers who received
of the western lines to enter into at the be.
ginning of the year the now disrupted pass
agreement.
The undercurrent that has been working
against the stability of the pass agreement is
the everlasting feud between the small roads
and the large roads. The difficulties to be
adjusted arise from the fact that the ad-
yantages resulting from the issue Of passes
are not evenly distributed. Free transporta-
tion over a large road means much more
than free transportation over small road.
shipper gets more in an annual pass from
the former than from the latter, and con
sequently feels himself under greater OBJ
legations. The small road has given all it
can give in that way unless 1t resort TO
multiplying the number of passes by issuing
them not only to the shipper but also to his