Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-01-13
and it was of this that we were talking

dGu IL w c3S VI tn1S tl1S NC wei . S6lAlitS
aud 1 was careful to say British In
dia." If Mr.. Davis had taken the trou
bic to read on few pages further in
the Encyclopedias Britannica he would
have found the explicit statement page
744) that the population of British In
dia, as defined above, "is 243 persons
per square mile" / am quite content
to abide by the Encyclopedias as the
authority and to accept the figures 24s
instead of 240 as / made them. L do
not imagine that Mr.. Davis made will
full misstatement but believe that he
was simply careless; which seems to be
proved by the fact that he refers to his
figures as being for the year 1893. where
as if he had read the article in the En-
cyclopedia with any care he would have
found that the figures were those of the
census OF 1912. Seeing, therefore, that
his figures are twenty-six years old
(Which is a good deal in the discussion
of railway question:, and seeing that
he starts out with an error as the basis
of his calculation of 80 per eent-being
the difference between 240 and 160 it
does not seem TO be worth while to
worry much over what he has to say
about India.
1t is also worth remarking that Mr..
Davis when he figures on American
railway statistics has somehow got the
idea that the number of miles of rail-
way in the United States is 10000. 1
do not know how far back into history
he went for these figures, but i'm agine
that they are more recent than the In
dia census of 1871. AS, however, the
latest figures show that last year the
mileage of railways in the United States
was 1872, 600 and it is now about 1S4, 900
it is evident that there is likely to be
some inaccuracy in any figures which
Mr.. Davis has made as applying to
the present day.
What have said may suffice to give
| the people of Kansas some understand
| ing of how dangerous it is to accept
any causal figures, which anybody who
chooses to rush into print may see tit
to use. Arguments based on those
Figures are not worth seriously answer
ing. The real question at issue is, as l
have said, the cost of passenger service
and passenger rates in Kansas. Mr..
Davis finally gets around to this SUBJ
ject. He says that the passenger rates
in Kansas are very much above the cost
of service. He says also that he can find
no figures showing "any foreign first
class rates higher than the American
rates" nor in any foreign country Gan
average rate as high as the rate in
America" / do not know where Mr.
Davis has looked for his figures. / will
refer him very gladly to twenty differ
emit authorities on the subject if it will
interest him. But passing all the othel
authorities by, many of them men who
deserve to be honored, 1 will quote
from only one source, which 1 believe
Mr.. Davis will accept, or, if he does not
I believe the people of Kansas will &C
cept. I refer to the State Railroad
Commissions of Illinois and Iowa. Or
Jan. 18th, 1897, Mr.. w. w. Field, TIT
president of the State Agricultural So
ciety of Iowa, addressed to the Board
of Railroad Commissioners of that state
an inquiry, saying he "would like to
know what the average rate of fare now
is in Iowa, what it costs the railroads
to carry a passenger mile, and how
we are to ascertain what would be fail
to both sides and what the opinion Of
the Commissioners is concerning the
question. The Iowa Commission repli
ed in lengthy communication, ovel
the signature of Mr.. Ainsworth, the
secretary of the Commission, and o.
that document Mr.. Davis or anybody
else can get a copy at any time h
wishes. The State grange of Illinoi!
had recently made similar application
to the Railroad Commissioners of thai
state, asking if it would be justifiabl'
the Illinois Commission replied at con
siderable length and gave their conclu
sion that "a reduction of passenger rate.
would be unwise, unwarranted and I'm
just. The Commission said that Will,
some of the "great trunk lines" "migh
De able to stand a reduction" and othel
roads could not, and "such action would
simply increase the heavy burdens IN
der which they are staggering now.
The Illinois Commission, therefore, alb
solutely declined to recommend tn
state legislature to make any reduction
in passenger rates.
The Iowa Commission in its letter t,
Mr.. Field quotes the above at length
and then proceeds:
"The most complete statistics bear
: ing on the cost of carrying one passen