Evening star., 1896-07-17
Seaboard and Southern Gut Freight
and Passenger Tariff.
TONNAGE SYSTEM ON THE B. AND 0.
e-Cutting Hearing Before the In
terstate Commerce Commission.
GIVING OF SECRET RATES

The freight rate war. which. as stated in
The Star last evening, broke out Wednes-
day between the Southern and Seaboard
Air Line has extended to the passenger
traffic. and today a new tariff for passen-
ger rates between Washington and points
south, SO far as the Seaboard is concerned,
went into effect. The Seaboard will also
this evening begin the running of steam
er line between Baltimore and Richmond
This action Of the Seaboard will enable
passengers to reach Atlanta and other
southern and southwestern cities touched
by the two lines at from So to SO less than
has heretofore been the case, and for the
present the Seaboard stands TO secure
monopoly of the passenger business, al
though for persons to take advantage of
the reduced rate they will have to go to
Baltimore to start on their journey.
Application has, however. already been
made by the roads centering in Atlanta 20
Commissioner Haines of the Southern Rail-
way Association to meet the cut, and, un-
der the rules of the association, the per-
mission cannot be denied.
The SOlthern Alert.
So far. the Southern is keeping very quiet
in reference to the matter, that is, so far
as outside appearances go; but it is very
evident that the recent moves Of the Sea-
board have been fully anticipated by the
general officers of the former road, and the
proper preparations made to meet ami
counteract them, if possible
The fight Is attracting much attention
In railway circles, and there are not "a few
persons who predict that the war will as
sumo similar proportions to that reached
IN struggle some years ago between the
various roads connecting Chicago and St
Louis, when the fare was reduced from SO
Tor the round trip to 10 cents, with black
necktie thrown in.
The outcome of the battle is awaited
with interest, although it is felt that the
Seaboard. with its thousand miles Of track
age. is hardly in condition to secure
triumph over the Southern, with its mile
age Of nearly 5000 miles and connections
Of probably three times as much more.
Sale of the Reading.
The difficulties which, as stated in The
Star some time ago. intervened to prevent
the sale Of the Reading railroad, injunction
proceedings having been entered in a
Philadelphia court, have been removed--the
petition for an injunction having been dis
missed, and the sale of the property will
take place September -; next, in PhiIadel-
phia. 1t is generally understood that the
purchasers Will be j. I1erpont Morgan Il
Co, but no bid will be received unless the
bidder is able to deposit with the trustees
SZD,Ep in money or a certified check there
Tor, or sfo,GD par value of the bonds of
with all the unpaid coupons attached
On the acceptance of any bid the pur-
eraser must forthwith deposit with the
trustee Sb"LUr in money or certified checks,
or 81 ooutD par value of the bonds of tbs.
company, secured by the general mortgage:
but any cash or bonds which may have
been previously deposited by the successful
bidder as a pledge that he would make
good his bid will be received on account of
the amount SO required of him on the ac-
ceptance of his bid, but if the court shall
not confirm the sale for which such deposit
shall have been made, such deposit Will be
returned to the bidder.
Upon confirmation of any sale by the
court, the purchaser must make further
payment or payments In cash. on account
CT his bid as from time to time the court
may direct.
The Tonnage System.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com
rany has. it is understood. just adopted the
tonnage system in running its freight
trains. The tonnage system means the
making up of freight trains by the number
Of tons Of freight in the trains, instead of
by the number Of cars. The scheme while
not entirely new, is in use on but few rail-
roads in the United States. Heretofore it
has been the custom to rate the strength of
each freight engine by the number of cars
loaded or empty it could haul. When the
maximum number of cars were attached to
an engine the engineer would flash his
after it will be the rule to call every car
containing any freight whether one or 30
900 pounds car load. In this way a train
might be made up of twenty-five loaded
cars, the number allowed to certain en-
gine. while the total number of tons of
freight might not exceed 200 tons.
To correct this the tonnage system was
devised. Now engine on the Baltimore
and Ohio. and all other roads using the
system. is required to haul certain num-
Der OF tons. without regard to the number
of cars, thus making each engine haul a
full load of freight.
1t is stated that the roads heretofore
using the system, on two of them alone has
resulted in a saving of thousands of dollars
by reducing the number Of trains. saving
in fuel and the salaries of extra trainmen.
Way Trains mt Night.
The average load for an 1S-inch engine
under the tonnage system is GOO tons.
1t is further stated that the Baltimore
and Ohio is about to make another innova-
ton in the operating department by run
ming its local or way freight trains at
night instead of during the da:r time The
local freight trains stop at nearly every
station on the road, and when they are
run in the day time they are greatly in
terfered with by through trairs, which
makes 1t more difficult for the way trains
10 get over the road and longer time re-
suits in extra pay for trainmen, etc. Dur
ing the night there are fewer trains run
ming and the local freights car get over
the road much quicker
Hearing on Rate Cutting.
The Norfolk and Western~ the Chesa-
peake and Ohio Southwestern, the Illinois
Central, Wisconsin Central. the Louisville,
Evansville and st. Louis and a number of
other railway companies have been sum-
moned to appear by their representative
before the interstate commission on Sep
tember next to answer charges of rate
cutting. President NJ. Z. ingalls, of the
Chesapeake and Ohio and Big Four roads.
VINO have been taking a prominent part in
bringing the rate cutters to the bar of the
commission, is quoted saying that the
interstate law provides extreme punish
ment for railroads which discriminate an
other name for rate cutting, and that it is
not the proper thing to have lines operated
by the United States courts. as several of
those referred to are, violate the law.
On this point the Railway Age says:
The giving of secret and unequal rates
is punishable offenSe, and it will remain
for the law-observing roads to secure the
conviction of those who commit it. 1t will
be new spectacle to see railways acting
as prosecutors of other roads for violations