The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-12
hat The News and Observer enjoys a

pOTtS IOT lHe CITY Ol ftdlelSu, ana Qe-
clines to share them with any other
morning paper. Here then is your
special privilege. Do you not think
that one about eyens uD the other and
| that the two situations are pretty
much alike, after all?
| You say that the price Of the paper
| cannot be further reduced because the
railroads charge you more freight
than formerly and the paper trust has
iadvanced the price of paper. 1 am
sure the railroad people in this State
sympathize with you most earnestly
| in these manifold Affections. The fact
! is, 1t is a fellow feeling that makes us
so wondrous kind. for these same trust
fellows have been sticking it to US.
too. The steel trust demands more
for rails. the locomotive trust charges
US more for motive power: the car
trust has raised the price of cars Of
says timber Is scarcer and they must
have more money for ties. In addi-
ton to all this the labor trust inti-
mates that the cost of living has adj
yanced. and in this decade VIC are
talking about. 1t has added 20 to 80
per cent. to the cost Of ell labor. Even
our fellow sufferers. the newspapers
tell us that their subscription list has
grown from three thousand and odd
to nine thousand. and they want more
for our advertising. Surely. my
friend. we seem to be in the same
boat, and 1t would appear saner and
more reasonable for the only two in
terests that are sufferers in this era Of
high prices to fraternize and swap
sympathy instead of cuss words.
Within ten years your subscription
has dropped from 81 to $S. and pas
senger rates from 3 1-2 and cents
to IA and "a cents. a flop Of
about 13 per cent. In both cases. Both
are being ground under the iron heel
of the trusts. and both have. on the
other hand. found some increase Of
business. 1t really does seem that my
comparison was apt and that my IL
lustratiOn illustrates There is one
point of difference, however. to
which I call your attention: I believe
that the last report of the President
of The News and Observer Company
points out the fact that the company
owed $4,000 or $4,000 eight years
ago. that it has purchased new equip
ment, and still is today practically out
of debt. should say that this former
debt of your company stands practic-
ally on the same footing as the fund
ed debt of railroads. Now the rail-
roads have not been able to reduce
their debt In ten years. On the con-
trary most Of them have doubled their
funded debt and used the new money
thus borroWed-not earned--fOr bet
terments and improvements. So. on
the whole you should allow that the
two cases are not so dissimilar as
you thought at first. and that the diff
ferences seem to be all in your fa-
vor. gz xfg
You were giving testimony against
existing passenger rates, you rcmem-
Der. and you have said repeatedly in
your editorial column that the
Laughinghouse bill reducing the fare
to 1-2 cents a milo ought to be
passed. You supported this opinion
by showing that gross passenger earn
ings In North Carolina have grown in
ten years from three million to nine
million dollars. Now YOU no doubt
think you are a competent witness In
this cause, else you would hardly
have volunteered to testify. ! say
volunteered because l do not hear
that Vox Populi and Pro Bono Publico
have as yet written you protesting
against the present rates. No public
meetings have been held to demand
lower fares. and SO far as / can sec
the people are pretty we'll satisfied.
Yet you have been busy testifying that
fare should be reduced to . 1-2 cents
q mile. and you were doing your dead
level best to convince the General AS
sembly that it was not only a wise
thing TO do. but that it was also fair
to the railroads themselves.
Having offered your testimony hay
ing become indeed the prosecuting
witness. 1t was eminently proper that
your fitness as Il witness should be
cnquired into, and l know of no one
who has a better right to cross cx-
anime you than one of the defendants
Now that was what l was trying to
do at the hearing the other day. Your
bright young man made me say that
"Mr. Daniels knows as little about
railroads as he knows about newSpa-
pers.' / did not say that. nor any
thing that meant that, but the SEN
teuCe did look very much like that
one; Just change Of one little pro-
noun, and so i guess 1t was a slip Of
the pencil or a miSiick somewhere in
Your big machine with the Dutch
name. l said you knew as little about
railroads as / knew about newspapers.
That's 50, 1 think. and your acauaint-
ance with railroad affairs and your
qualifications for wisely and fairly
determining what passenger rates
should be. may be gaugcd by my ia
miliarity. or lack of it, with the in
tricacies of your business. Now I con-
fess in the outset that / am abso-
lutely and altogether ignorant. l have
J
call "a composing stone was kept to
crack hickory nuts on or for the Office
devil to stump his sore toe against.
Now does all this wealth of ignorance
give me liberty to hop UP on my hind
legs and advise the Wise Men to make
a. law that you shall pay your devil
SIG a week and allow him to write
all the editorials for the Sunday is
sue? (Men there be in this good State
wicked enough TO hint that the Devil
writes most of them. but I am not OF
them). Do / know enough. do you
think, to advise our iaw-makcrS that
;i 1-3 cents an inch is splendid COM
penSation for advertisements in ''Thc
Old Reliable: and that il is fair and
just TO the newspapers to allow them
to collect the barcaiu-counter price of
$3.i9 per year for subscription Why
bless your life. the lower the cost 10
the public the more the uunlic can
buy. and SO the paper viii be gamer
instead of loser. Now, Brother
Daniels. all this is the vericst rot. and
II doesn't smell any worse when ] say
it about you and your business than
when you say il about me aud my