The Coconino weekly sun., 1895-02-21
RATES FOR cLEReYMeN.

rules regarding the issue Ot 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 M. Depew, President of the New York Central, corrects certain erroneous i'm 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
 Go, Grand Central Depot.
 NEW YORK, January 10, 1895 Rep. NeDt0n ,. Conklin and 1T IT. iSteb6ins
 ?. 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 a 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 The press dispatch announcing that the New York Central had withdrawn the ministerial half-rate tickets because some of the ministers had abused the privilege, loaning their permits to un- authorized persons, and sometimes even selling them" was wholly unauthor- ized. 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.
 I deeply, 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 it's 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 I 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. M. 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 ob- 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 minister to produce the ministerial order which every clergyman carried, was met by a flat 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 ticket which some one who could not be vouched for as "a 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 criminations 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 rHil- 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 em- 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 I have given, how difficult a problem his is
 Yours very truly,
 t6igned) CHAUScEY M. DEPEw,
 President.
 Albany Argus.--Jan. S2, 1895.