Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-28
RAILROAD MEASURES.
FOR REDUCTION OF FREIGHT AND
PASSENGER RATES.
BATTLE AT JEFFERSON CITY.
RAILWAY OFFICIALS APPEAR BE-
FORE THE COMMITTEE.
Twelve Ticket Counterfeiters Indict-
ed-RaIIrOads VIII Probably Haul
Corn Free for the Poor of
ChicaRo-Other Rail-
way News.
BATTLE AT JEFFERSON CITY.

Jefferson City. No, Jan. 27.-(SPeciaD
A large number of prominent railroad men
appeared before the house committee on
internal improvements 10 night to protest
against the reduction OF railroad rates.
passenger and freight. There are now Two
bills before the house, both introduced by
Speaker Farris. The one provides Tor :
cent passenger rate on main lines ana 3
cents on branch lines. The other makes
Is per cent cut on freight rates. The rail-
road men present were p. 5. Eustis, gen.
eral passenger agent OF the Burlington;
Henry 1. Townsend, general passenger
agent of the Missouri Pacific; G. e. Charl-
ton, general passenger agent of the Chica-
go d Alton; w. II. Phelps and ]. II. Car
roll, of the law departments of the Mis-
souri, Pacific and Burlington. Speaker Far
ris in a short talk urging the passage of
both bills stated that he was glad to see
the railroad representatives present in an
open, fair manner. OF the two bills he
stated that he preferred to see the reduc-
tion of fright rates measure passed. j. G.
Stowe, of Kansas City, appeared in the IN
terest of the Travellers Protective Asso-
citation, urging the cent passenger rates.
He argued on the line that prices had gone
down during the past thirty years on an
articles of trade and that railroad rates
had remained the same.
Howard Elliott, general manager of the
Burlington lines in Missouri, was the first
of the railroad men TO address the COM
mittee. He explained the passenger, tram
doubled in the past fifteen years and that
the railroads, generally, in the state were
giving much finer service for the same
money than they formerly did. He said
many roads were running passenger trains
al an absolute loss.
''On the Burlington road alone" he said,
there would be a reduction of nearly $780,
600 in earnings. and in the state at large
S1.500. .O00 In 1892, there were 5000 employees
. ,Tr.Z,
great shrinkage in the number of em-
ployes in those industries that depend upon
railroads and many men are now out of
work. On the Burlington system, as Il
whole, there were employed, January /,
1898, 1886, and on January l, 1897 2i,372, a
decrease OF 1923 men" The fact was point
ed out that under the United States law. in
regard TO air brakes and couplers the rail-
roads of the country would spend S63, ,000-
900 within a comparatively short period;
also that the Missouri commissioners re-
ports showed that the railroads of tho
state earned only per cent on their bonds
and nothing on their stock
= s. Eust!s, general passenger agent Of
the Burlington road, next spoke. After ex-
planning how the passenger business OF a
railIcad depends upon the density and
through which Il runs, he showed wee that TT the
passenger earnings of Missouri lines were
very small per mile as compared with what
railroads earned in Illinois. Ohio and the
Eastern states; but that, notwithstanding
the small business, the rates of fare in AIis-
sOuI1 are, IN IdCl, Us low as IN IneSe Oluer
states. where the business is so much
larger.
After explaining how the average rate
per mile in Missouri to-day C22 per cent?
was arrived at, he proceeded to demon
Ftrate that a 2-cent fiat rate would reduce
the average to 1% cents, II not lower, a loss
of q per cent. One argument used was that
1t now costs Missouri railroads .T26 cents
per mile more to carry passengers than
they get, the revenue in Missouri being
2.245 cents. and the cost 2.97l cents per mile.
Fred Williams, Missouri Pacific loco
motive engineer, of Sedalia. also spoke
against the bills. His argument was one of
the best made. The committee after an
hours executive session, decided TO report
favorably both the 2 cent fare, as well as
the measure reducing freight rates.