The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1905-02-17
R.lILR0an rs 4N \. RlITES.

WIZ ~ liic ectiOHt ~ i9fiLelil. s.
P.lTLROaDS IND RITES.
I Following is the full and actiye
seSt Of Mr.. LanhaHl's 2 cent fare
bill:
Mouse Bill No. III, By Mr. Tan.
|hau. Of Taylor.
4 bill regulating rates for carry
ling passengers on the railroads in
this state.
BE it enacted By the Legislature Of
West Virginia.
No person. company or cornora-
|fion oncrating a railroad in this
state with more than one hundred
miles of track doing business in this
state. shall charge more than two
cents per mile for CARRYING passen-
gers unless the distance be less than
five miles and in that distance a
charge Of ten cents may be made.
Agents of railroad persons. com
many or companies, violating any Of
tile provisions Of this law. shall, for
each offense. be fined not less than
twenty-five dollars.
All acts or parts Of acts not con.
sistent with this act are hereby re-
pealed.
Railroad rates have been excep-
tionally high in West Virginia as
much as four cents have been charg-
ed on railroads of "a prescribed
lineth. but that did not prevent the
people from patronizing them. Ten
Years ago the people were less able
to pay that rate than they are now,
|fhe state having prospered signally
and advanced in wealth at remark
able rate. and it does seem that
|4here should have been a clamor
then for lower rates. But such
|clamor reduced to- law would doubt-
less have prevented much o fthe.
railroad construction that has taken
place since and the contingent de-
|yrlopment of the sections through
which they pass.
That the railroads have been
|lefgely responsible. possibly more so
than. any other one agency in max
M ? busy industry of the West Yir-
ginia. is not to be denied, and that
feet entities them to Just considera-
| tion and even to a high decree Of
encouragement. But they alone are
mot to be considered. Industries
have been established as the result
of their existence and operation and
these are largely dependent on the
railroads. In some instances they
are really at the mercy. of the rail
rcals. as shown by the fact that the
leourts- have been resorted toto over
come determinations practiced by
| The railroads. by which some indus,
| tries are built up at the expense sof
Others. These industries are up
builders OF the state Just as the rat,;
roads are and their interests Outlines
need more careful and adequate pro-
lection than railroads do. Especial
| ", is this forcible, when it is recall
ed shat the tendency of the times
lis toward railroad ownership Of as
many fields of industry as they can
acquire in conjunction with their
operation. This tendency is in eff
feet a manipulation of the natural
wealth of the state and. as the result
a monopoly Of our natural resources
1T destroys individual effort and in
dependent enterprise, thus hazard.
ling individual opportunity. Rail
lof the wealth of the state, is acquir.
Jed and accrued by them, leaving only
what may come into the hands Of the
people by labor performed from
(which the railroads largely derive
all the vast benefits.
The Lanham bill, of coarse, ha.
only to do with passenger rates. II
1.-The form of mileage books with Ger.
tain stipulations and impositions
the railroads have long since prac'
Iticallv assented to the two-cent rate
and thus given evidence that the,
can afford to operate for that price
The growth of the population ant
1.-THE immense increase of passenger
traffic arising from that growth in.
spire the belief that there would
rcallybe les risk to run by the rail
roads now than ten years ago. wlei
the, general rate was three centss-t
mile. .ssifs they made money 1t tha'
|rates when the poppls zion, vas spars.