Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-02-21
RATES FOR cLEReYMEn.

hAlES FOR ClERGYMEN.
| A number of the eastern railroads hav.
| ing on January 1, 1895, changed their
rules regarding the issue of reduced
rates to clergymen, and unauthorized
| statements as to the reasons for making
| the change having been published, con-
! siderable correspondence between the
| clergy and the railroads has resulted
The recent letter from Hon. Chauncey
| NJ. Depew, President of the New York
Central, corrects certain erroneous inn
pressions and states that company's po-
sition in the matter very clearly. The
letter is as follows:
New York Central and Hudson River Railroad
Co., Grand Central Depot
NEW YORK. January 10, 1885,
Rer. Ne,cton }. Conklin and H. H. Ste56ins,
d. d., Committee:
GENTLEMEN.-I am in receipt of your
letter of January 18th, enclosing the
! resolutions of the Presbyterian Minis
ters' Association of Rochester.
The resolutions are based upon
misapprehension of the facts. The
press dispatch announcing that the
New York Central had withdrawn the
ministerial half-rate tickets because
some of the ministers had abused the
privilege, loaning their permits to I'M
authorized persons, and sometimes even
selling them,' was wholly unauthor-
lied. No such information or notice
was given to the press or to anyone else
by any officer of this company. There
was also an interview reported with me
on this subject, making similar, if not
more serious charges, but no such in
terview ever took place.
Ideeply regret the publicity which
was given to this matter and the dis
cusSion which has grown out of it be-
fore we had really arrived at what was
the best policy for this company and
its associates in the Trunk Line Asso-
| citation to pursue. It had been devel-
oped that very great abuses existed in
the issuance and use of the so-called
ministerial ticket. It was not, however,
the fault of the ministers. So far as l
can ascertain. no clergyman of any
church has been guilty of any impro-
priety in the use of this privilege. Like
| most departures from regular rules,
this one led after awhile to serious de-
moralization of passenger rates. The
| privilege of the ministerial order be-
came extended to all persons who had
ever been ordained as clergymen,
whether they still had any charge or
performed any ministerial services or
not. Many who had gone into business
| claimed and received the order. Then
| it was extended to missionaries and
officers of the Salvation Army, of the
Y. NJ. C. A, and of other religious or
| semi-religious organizations. This ena-
bled railway officials who desired to do
| SO to issue the half-rate ticket to almost
| anybody.
am sorry to say that some railways
| do not treat their agreements with each
other with the same sense OF honorable
| obligation which the officers would OBJ
serve in their individual transactions.
| We were amazed to discover that in or
| der to increase their business without
apparently cutting the rates few of
| the roads placed the ministerial tickets
| in scalpers' offices for sale. In this way
| they came into the hands of the general
| public. It frequently occurred that
the conductor, when calling upon some
| passenger whom he did not think was
| a minister to produce the ministerial
| order which every clergyman carried,
was met by fat refusal, simply be-
cause the passenger was not minis
| ter had no order and had received or
| purchased the ticket in some one OF
| the ways which / have described. Or,
| the conductor would find that under
| the guise of missionary or an officer
! of one of these organizations he had re-
ceived the order and ticket or else had
| bought a ticket which some one who
| could not be vouched for as clergy
| man with a charge had secured, and
| then placed in scalper's Office for sale.
OF course the essential principle at the
| bottom of the relations between the
| railways and the public is that every
| body shall be treated alike; that the
| railway fare shall be like the postage
| of the government, the same to every
| one who boards the train and becomes
| a passenger between the same points.
The wisdom of the prohibition of dis
| ordinations in favor of one person as
| against another, or of one shipper as
| against another. or of one locality as
| against another, is now universally ad-
mitted, and is incorporated in the rail
| way laws.
The ministerial ticket was issued at
| a reduced rate, not as an act of charity,
| as some have alleged, but because it
was believed that the clergy and the
| church performed an essential service
| which was felt throughout the vast en-
! ployment of these corporations
Personally, would be very glad If
| the privilege could be continued under
restrictions which would confine it
| within legitimate bounds You will see,
| however, from the explanations which
| 1 have given, how difficult a probleu
/ this is.
Yours very truly,
| fSigned) CHAUNcET NJ. DEPEw,
| President