The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-03

kept the price of its subscription at
| the old figure. This it has reduced
/ In the ten years one-seventh. And
| the reason that it has not further re-
duced such price lies not at the door
of it's own greed but at that of the
railroads whose freight rates make
| the cost of its white paper too bur-
densome for further reduction
| therein.
Mr. Page caught the immediate at
| tention of the audience by declaring
that it made no difference to him what
was done about passenger rates. His
road had been originally a lumber
road, but that business had played
| out with the destruction and hauling
away of the long-leafed pine timber.
! The passenger business amounted 10
nothing with him. He sold 500
miles of transportation for $40 any
! how All that he wanted to do was to
| get more people to come to his
| country and to make it possible for
| them to get out after they got there.
Mr.. Page left the decided impression
! that as far as his own railroad bust
ness was concerned, it was a kind of
! a toy something that had once been
O pleasure, but which had ceased 20
| be fun. In fact, intimated Mr.. Page.
he had the habit of railroading and
he was going to play it to the busting
| pOint A mere matter of carrying
| passengers at one rate or the other
was nothing so far as he was con-
| cerned But he had been helped by
the big roads and they were his
friends, and he wished to say that il
the bill proposed was passed, 1t would
cripple them badly. They needed
passenger fares, not he. And the
only clamor came from Joe Daniels,
whose editorials it was gathered, Mr..
Page read with interest. some pleasure
and more criticism. He did not see
how il was that a man who had built
UP a paper from two to ten thousand
subscribers in ten years could be
heard to demand n reduction in rates
simply because gross passenger fares
had risen in that time from returns
of 5000 900 to $4,000, 000--espe-
cially when the man knew as little
about railroads as he did about news
papers.
SIR. Ryan's Argument.
Mr.. c. b. Ryan, General Passenger
Agent of the Seaboard Air Line, who
opened the argument, talked in the
business-like way that one would ex-
pect from his business like appear
ance. Mr. Ryan is short and big
far back on stout legs that curve
backward at the calves. He has a
big chin, a face that is lined with
thought and work q straight nose and
a mustasche that is trimmed with un-
compromising severity. Mr.. Ryan,
for the most part talked figures. al
though he started out with brief
feint at q speech by saying that the
interests of the road and of the State
were synonymous, and referring with
some show of pride to the increased
improvements in train service in
North Carolina pronounced Kalinah--
and that the rate had been reduced
from five cents mile to the present
price. and that it ought not to be re-
duced TO a point that would make the
passenger business an unmitigatcd
loss.
Having warned the committee off
of that rock, Mr.. Ryan proceeded by
figures to show that the roads We're
already paying good money every day
for the privilege Of hauling people on
little journeys in the world at a loss to
the road.
The cost of transportation of pas
sengers on his road, said he. for the
eleven months ending November Goth
last was $3,226,000 and the passen-
ger returns S3,096,000 there being q
considerable loss in spite of every
species of return figured into the
earning capacity Of passenger trains,
including mail contracts with the
Government. He talked q great deal
of the return and the cost per train
mile of passenger service. declaring
that there was a loss of 65 cents per
train mile for every passenger carried
on certain trains.
Mr. Ryan spoke at some length
statistically, stating that the cost per
tram mile for passengers was 90 6-10
per cent, not taking into considera-
az u, .l
and not figuring into the cost the
charges for deterioration. He de-
declared that the policy of his road
was to give better service, and that
he would not oppose the one rate of
three cents per mile, although it
would work a hardship in the matter
of cost, but would be in many ways
compensated for by, the resulting
simplicity of equipment On through
trains, said Mr.. Ryan, it was the
habit of many people to ride on sec
ond class tickets at two and a half
cents per mile, because they knew
that the road did not furnish on these
trains anything but first class accom-
modations. He showed that through
rates would be affected if the , 3-4
cents rate went into effect, because
the rates received from the Pennsyl- |
vania association were figured in ac-
cordance with the rates permitted by
the several Southern States, which the |
road traversed He opposed the bill |
on the ground of the density of popu-
lation which. in the North was very
great, and in the South very scant |
also because the average wages paid |
i'll the North were over $500 as against |
$3.50 in North Carolina. Only in |
Connecticut. Massachusetts, New
York and Rhode Island, said he, were |
rates lower than three cents per mile
He cited an interesting fact in the |
statement that while the population |
in the State was not nearly SO dense |
nor the wage average SO high, skilled |
railroad labor. engineers, etc, was
paid higher here than in the North.
the difference being SAILS per day as
against $4.04. The cost OF travelling.
said he, ought not to be considered |
without measuring the saving in hotter
bills secured by increased trains, per
hitting men in the outlying districts
to come to the cities and return with
out stopping at a, hotel.
Mr. Ryan admitted that the average
IT, &C..