The times., 1899-09-03
CHEAP TRAINS FOR woRKMEN
What Has Been Accomplished i'm
Eonfion.
(From the London News.) )

(From the London News.)
Some sixteen years ago little bargain
was entered into between the nation and
the railway companies. The nation. through
Parliament, agreed to forego from the COM
panes portion of the passenger duty pay
able by them. 1t did this subject to a GER
J tain condition. This condition was that the
railway companies should run reasonable
number of cheap workmens trains up to
s O'Clock in the morning. The little bargain
was confirmed and completed in what is
called the cheap trains act 1883. Now one
part of the bargain appears to have been
scrupulously kept for the companies have
religiously refrained from paying the pas
senger duty, from which the little contract
exempted them. Indeed the observance of
this side of the contract could not have
been more precise. This says good deal
for the railway companies. 1t really does.
But the other side of the little bargain
seems TO have been more honored in the
breach than in the observance. Why this
should have been so is not quite clear. un-
less, indeed, the companies were anxious
to avoid any suspicious appearance OF unc-
tuous rectitude. Perhaps that was it. There
is certainly something to be said for this
view.
For example, the Housing of the Work
ingNClass Commission sat in 1SS4-S5. This
was year or two after the little bargain
workmen's trains were not being run UP
to O'Clock, some of the railway witnesses
said such a service would be most incon-
venient, and would interfere with the
better class traffic. In fact, they po-
litely, or at least airily, declined to run
'two-penny" trains up TO so late an hour.
They did not, however, propose to restart
paying the passenger duty. Such pro-
ceeding would have been so unbusiness-
afr,lx how %
grave suspicion of unetuous rectitude So
it was left to the ommission-including
II. r. H., the Prince of Wales, and that
ex-railway authority the present Premier
Ito tell the companies that they really
must keep to their little bargain by run
ming the cheap workmen's trains up to
o'clock in the morning. That declaration
was made fourteen years ago. But 1t is
only now, after the courageous and pub
lic-spirited action of the London Reform
Union, that provisions of the Cheap
Trains act promise to be strictly carried
out in regard to the S o'clock limit.
No one would, of course, pretend that
cheap and efficient transit provides COM
plete remedy for the terrible evils revealed
in the Daily News under the title of NO
Room to Live" Those evils belong to
problem Of far-reaching complications.
They will, therefore, not be met by any
sit is vital and important factor in the
solution of this ugly problem. Given
cheap and convenient service of trains, |
there is no reason why the Billingsgate |
fishporter should not live out in the fresh !
air on the borders of Epping Forest, in
stead of stewing and herding in some suf- !
locating tenement of st. George s-in-the |
East So, too the warehouseman who la |
bors for his daily bread under the smoky I
canopy of the city, could quite as well live |
in little cottage with a garden out be- /
yond BALKAN as crowd with his wife and |
family into a couple of barrack-rooms in |
the purlieus Of ST. Luke's. The cheapness
or dearness, the efficiency or inefficiency, |
of the workmen's train service will chiefly |
determine which he does. And so on with /
an endless variety of other examples.
at present, speaking of London as a
whole, the workmen's train service is still I
inadequate, inconvenient, and far too cost
ly. The London workman has to pay on
an average, about so per cent more to get
to and from his work than workman has
In the capital cities of the Continent In |
individual cases the difference is much
greater. Thus, for every 5s. Cd. a Brussels
workman spends to travel to and from his
daily duties, the London toiler has TO pay
las. or nearly three times as much
Then as to the inadequacy and incon-
venience of the workmen's train service
whenever there Is complaint OF made
quate service made against a particular
company, the usual reply is that there
is no real demand on this railway for
the extension of workmen's train ac-
This raises an important
question of policy. The interest of the /
public is to prevent overerowding, by
spreading the population. The interest of /
the railway company, as profit making
concern, is to run paying traffic Far
sighted railway management would say
equally that it is their interest to create a
big future traffic. But enlightened rail-
way management proposes, and clamorous
seeking their haIf-yearly
dispose. Enlightened railway
may say "the builder follows
the engine. Let US run cheap workmen's
trains, and a good service of them,
through this virgin district and in a few
years townships VIII spring up along the
wayside and then we shall reap the re-
ward of our foresight" Then comes the
meeting of shareholders bent
on dividends, and fractions thereof unable
or unwilling to await the result OF the ex-
pertinent.