Evening star., 1896-09-26


the south. Continuing. the speaker said:
This one trip alone will give our COM
pahy clear fully $4,000, and 1t has only
him in the south for about a month il
would be almost gold mine for u.s."
Does the presidential candidate or his
party managers pay for the special train?"
inquired the reporter.
Yes, indeed replied the passenger
agent, with smile. I'VE would be too glad
to carry a presidential party free for vari-
Gus reasons; but circumstances will not
permit such a move, as the political man
ayers refuse to take chances on anything
that Is likely to rebound to their dsadvan-
tage."
And the cost? 1t must be a pretty pen
ny?" questioned the reporter.
The cost Of a special train under the
present circumstances is d small matter to
any railroad company" replied the agent
We generally figure on the ratio of TWEEN
ty passengers to the at SO much per
mile Say the special travels hundred
miles day. AT three cents mile this
would amount to $50, but in the case Of
Mr.. Bryan's present trip. where one or
more cars are used, the price is sure to
get up in the hundreds daily. But. as 1
have said before, this money is really the
smallest part of the transaction.
Getting Up a Crowd.
Now. anaiyze the last trip. Say Mr..
Bryan starts for Indianapolis from Chi
cago We know three or four days ahead
what time he will be in the former city.
Large posters Immediately struck eff
advertising the fact that Mr.. Bryan Will
speak in indianapolis on a certain day, and
that our road viii carry passengers from
any station to and from any city at the
rate of one fare for the round trip.
Say the regular fare is s.. We put the
price at $50, and you can hardly realize
how this bait Is taken. When you can CON
vince person that he is getting a bar
gain he is bound TO buy, no matter what
the price may be. The posters are sent
out to every agent OF the road. and i'm
mediately upon their being displayed tick
cts are placed on sale, generally beng good
for two days. Then the rush begins. our
regular trans feel the onslaught the day
before the speaker Is advertised 10 Speak
and ON the day named ii Would he inn
possibility to handle the crowds W. lhout
spec trains
The one drawback to a large city like
different management enters that city. II
is case where one would like to eat the
| watermelon alone, although the repasU
would be big
"A better illustration. to show whore our
road especially was benefited, is 10 take
the town Of Goldsboro. y. c. Here is d
town that depends upon the Southern rail-
road for its accommodate. exclusively.
The town is a smaii one, but there was a
crowd of fully 1850 people present TO hear
Bryan, and our road carried fully 2,.ms OF
them. For JD miles in every direction our
road ran specials and the cars We're packed
to the doors. This was case where We
devoured the watermelon ourselves.
Passengers Are Good Natured.
"a very noticeable feature of these eX-
| cursions is that the passengers don't kick
| on the accommodation afforded. Every
| thing is taken in good humor. When the
de mand for cars is great, as matter OF
| course. everything that will hold person
| is pressed into service. and as result We
| have frequently had to depend upon freight
| cars to help Us out. OF course We give
these cars a thorough CLEANING and nX then
up with benches, and, TO tell the truth,
| teiieve a genuine political crowd would
| sooner ride in these cars than in q regular
| passenger coach. They know they can Dc
as they please on these cars as long a:
| they don't wreck the train, and as a result
We have no trouble in crowding them with
| passengers.
| The la Dies who desire to take these trip.
| generally keep in the hrSt-ciaSS coaches
| and we exert ourselves to give them pro
| lection; but in the hastily constructed
| coaches 1t is matter of go as you please
| 1t very frequently happens that person:
| will get excited over a political debate
| especially is this true in the SOUTH and "a
| a result fsticuffs are frequently resorte.
| to. But they rarely amount to anything
| serious and by the time the train ha
reached Its destination, on the return trip
everybody is sound asleep, tired out owe
| the long trip and days excitement.
| when you asked me whether the Bryan
| trip paid for it made me smile. If al
| our bills were met promptly as dues O
| this sort are we would have very iittl
| trouble meeting running expenses of al
| kinds; but, as i have before remarked. thes
| &c cd things do not come our way often.
Danger of Railroad Friendship.
"There is not a railroad in the countr
that would not be pleased if an opportunity
materiaiized whereby it could grant
| favor to any Of the political parties. Ever
| reader of the newspapers knows how rail-
roads are legislated against, and for thi
| reason the corporations would like to b
in the good graces of all the parties. bu
| for this same reason the political organi
cations fight shy of us.
For Instance, say We were to carry MI
Bryan and his party through the sout
| free of charge and the fact become known
You can easily imagine the howl of de
| rision that would go up from the OF
| position press. Being friendly with COZ
| pora tions during political Campaign
not to be thought of. OF course We nigh
be able to keep the fact secret that sue
| and such a candidate travelin
| through the country at our expense, bu
| imagine what such secret would b
worth to the opposition party. and 10 tn
| hard-Worklng clerk through whose hand
! the transportation accounts would have
| pass. For this reason we cannot be &c
| quick with our bills, a delay migt
| occasion embarrassing talk and conSequer
| paragraphs in the newspapers. This situs
ton takes in both parties. The republ
cans have the reputation of being friendl
with the railroads. but our bills for tran.
portation go into that party's hands an
are paid as swiftly as though it was a
organization with anarchist tendencies.
Now, to go back to generalities, plae
your finger on that railroad map of til
United States and then make guess @
the figures that Will represent the profit
of the railroads of the country as a r.
| suit of the political battle of this yea
Taking in the nominating conventions
the early summer. l would like to buy til
profits for two million, and 1 am contider
I would triple my money in the transaction
The Little Road to Canton.
} ''Mr. Mckinley stays at home during ii
present campaign, but what a great bus
ness that little branch road leading up
Canton gets. The Southern has miles an
miles Of track, tapping almost every tow
Of any consequence throughout the soutl
and our profits resulting from the polite;
campaign have been large, but I'd like