The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-05-27
PASSENGER DEPARTMENT PRE-
PAREs FOR OBSERVANCE OF
NEW COMMISSION LAW
All Passes Issued on the Lines in This
State Will Be Recalled by the
Company June

Railroad passenger rates in the STATE
will be thoroughly revised, the charges
for transportation being placed on {
| fiat basis of three cents per mile.
new tariff sheet issued by the Grea
| Northern passenger department show
inf the new rates is already out AM
! the Northern Pacifis is expected t,
conform to the changed policy within
few days. The rates are effectivt
| after June 1.
All passes issued on tine Hill lines ir
this state will be recalled June S, foul
days before the railroad commission
bill goes into effect. Only employees Of
the railroads or witnesses called by
them in an inquiry or court proceed.
ings, will be granted free transporta-
ton. Witnesses will be treated as EN-.
ployes for transportation purposes.
According to high railroad officials
the Hill antipass order will be fa1
more sweeping than the original an
nouncement that passes in Washington
will be taken up. 1t is declared to be
the Hill policy to withdraw all free
transportation along the entire sys-
tenn of the Northern Pacific, Great
Northern and Burlington.
Thousands of prominent officials, not
only in the states through which the
three lines run, but in all parts of the
country. will be affected by the sweep
ing antipass order, for the western
lines have been generous with free
transportation, though the extent to
which the courtesy has been extended
has been curtailed gradually for sew
eral years.
The permanence of the antipass Or
der is questioned in some quarters, but
railroad men believe this new rule will
be enforced SO far as possible. This is
especially true in Washington, where
the railroad commission act forbids
discrimination in passenger rates. The
railroads will enforce the defree i'm
partially, something that even the
most radical advocate of antirailroad
legislation did not anticipate.
The new order of the passenger de-
partments in putting passenger rates
m, vi re- hoe iS will Loo
to a great deal of early confusion. In
the past the tariffs have been figured
out in even money. Rates have been
made to end in SO" or an o. for the
convenience of the travelling public
and the ticket agents.
After June 1 pennies will be intro
duced. The rate from Seattle to Rich
mond Beach, for instance, will be A
cents; to Edmunds, SO cents; to Sno-
homish, $1.14; and in conformity with
the policy of demanding the exact
mileage rate the railroads will demand
every cent allowed by their mileage
charts, but return each penny not au-
thOrized.
Nothing Off for Tickets
One of the most important rulings
made by the passenger departments is
to the effect that conductors will no
longer charge the extra fee of ten
cents from those passengers who fail
to secure a ticket at some station. This
order makes it as cheap to pay fare on
the train as to secure tickets from a
railroad agent.
There has been some complaint over
this order. 1t is pointed out that a
great many persons wilfully neglect to
purchase tickets in the hope the con-
ductors may overlook them. This is
especially true on short runs, for the
busy conductor is apt to overlook a
passenger riding between station if the
train is crowded. The ten-cent penal
ty has minimized the evil, and the pas
senger departments order as regarded
as determination to ''go the limit on
rigid Interpretation of the t1ree-cent
fare.
The changes in the passenger de-
partments are in line with the numer-
Gus small freight changes which har-
monte those tariffs. The revised tar
if sheets Of both passenger and freight
departments will be filed with the rail-
road commission next month, and the
railroad men believe there will be left
no loophole for complaint.
Mrs. Johnson's Concert,
Mrs. Smith S. Johnson has a fine