The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-01-28
LARGE AREAS TO SETTLE
SEABOARD AIR LINE IS DOING
MUCH FOR THE STATE.
ENCOURAGES IMMIGRATION TO THE SOUTH
Lending Aid to New Enterprises Along its Line
and Building up the Waste PIaces--Says
Reduction Of Rates win Stop or
Cripple This Work.


In the hearing of the rate question
yesterday before the Railroad Commits
sion Vice President L. st. John, of tho
Seaboard Air Line system, read the fol
lowing answer to the rule commanding
him to show cause why the passengel
rates over his road should not be reduced
1t is a most able and carefully pre-
pared argument, and aside from its bear
ing upon the rate question, is of much
value and interest to the people of NORTH
Carolina. For this reason it is here
printed:
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen:-As
vice-president of the Seaboard Air Lin
and the representative of President Hof.
man and other owners of railroads com
prising that system, and operated withir
your State, | desire to enter u modes
and most respectful protest against ST
duction, at this time, of passenger rates
by your honorable board.
| can but think such action woult
seriously affect, not only the interest,
which have the honor to represent, blu
the interests also of many if not all
railroads traverSing the State of Nortl
Carolina; and in submitting my protest
may | not present for your careful ant
kindly consideration few statements
easily demonstrated to be facts.
The passenger business of railroad
is in a very large sense-What ever it.
earnings may be-the most importan
business it is called upon to transact, il
that it deals with the travelling public
requiring at the hands of every offcia
and employee such careful and exactins
observance of rules, promulgated for the
movement of all trains, as shall enforce
to the greatest extent possible every
precaution adopted for the safety, com
fort, and convenience of its every pa
tron. Negligence, however slight, is re-
scented, and oftentimes results in dam
ages which the railroad company mus
pay, and cases can, | think, be cited
where awards in contested suits have u
least seemed excessive.
The perhaps popular idea that it cost
less to carry passengers in certain State
North Carolina included-than it did
some years ago, is a fallacy. The cos
has increased. Passenger coaches hav
been improved and cost more than the
did in former years; wages have by nc
means perceptibly decreased, but ON til
other hand, the educated or skilled labor
required to manipulate the various dc
vices used upon passenger trains, exact
and naturally so, higher rate of com
pensation. The laws of Congress, an
of most States, demand the application
of safety appliances to all equipment
freight and passenger, costing thousand
upon thousands of dollars. Commissioner
of railroads sometimes order, we think
when the real requirements might b
delayed little without injury to peopl
or railroad, improved station accomm0
dations. The demand for added and i'm
proved train service, with an increase
number of stops, and faster time, is con
stantly pressed upon all managers of rail
ways. This necessitates heavier engines
heavier rails, constant expenditures TO
ballast and other improvements upo
the roadway, the reduction of grades, tn
filling of trestles, the elimination of dan
gerous curves; steel bridges in place o
wooden ones, and heavier and stronge
coaches, in order that the greatest spec
consistent with safety and comfort, ma
be secured. and the desired end accom-
plished. Are not these improvements
pressed upon us so strenuously and cost
ing such an enormous outlay OF money
of the very greatest Importance, and IS
not true that the securing of them add
to the insurance against accident, and !
so, is it not true that railroads in tn
South, requiring SO much to bring theT
mp to anything like the standard of rail
roads in other sections, should be care
fully dealt with, until very much high
er excellence in their physical conditio
is obtained, and should not the peopl
contribute thereto by paying rasonabl
rates for transportation, in order thu
this desired result may be accomplished
On nearly every railroad the passenge
train mileage. e.-miles run by pas
senger trains, has been increased to NEE
a public demand for rapid transit, wit
little promise or hope, of increased bust
ness. To meet this demand for increase
speed, necessitates shorter trains an
fewer stops, which in turn, frequently
necessitates added trains for local trav
el, which in the very nature of condition
does not and cannot be expected to pay
until such time as the population shall
have very materially increased.
North Carolina is a magnificent State
and unquestionably has a great future
but, as yet, while embracing within he
territory almost everything which tend
in other States to make a people rich
it remains largely undeyeloped, and, ma
I not truthfully say, unexplOred.
Admitted TO the Union in 1885, sh
had at that time a population of abou
1893, 600. To-day, over a century later
we find her population averaging onl
thirty three and one half 1879 person
to each of the 50705 square miles en-
braced within her limits, and sOmethin
over thirty per cent Of ibis is colOred
Iowa, admitted to the Union in 1916
more than half century later. exceed:
her in population by some hundred o,
thousands, and largely so in railway
mileage. June Both, 1896 according t
the report of the Interstate Commerce
Commission, the total mileage of the rail
roads in the United States was 1872
776.63: and of North Carolina it was
3,494.S; or 1.91- per cent of Iowa the
railway mileage at this time was 8,521.5;