The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-06-05
THE rs QUFsTToN.

Tic e41%S IAe4At~G anu Use "a passes 8F0A
railroads by public officials. A few
years ago the man who would refuse
the Courtesy Of a pass would have
been a seven days wonder. Today 1t
is not at all uncommon to run across
such individuals.
The example set by Governor Hanly
of Indiana and recently by President
/ Roosevelt is doing much to crystal
lie public sentiment on this subject
A few days ago President Roosevelt
sent the Pennsylvania railroad com
pany a check to cover the expenses of
his train on his recent western trip,
and requested that road to make set
Elements with the various other roads
over which he passed.
The utterances of Governor Hanly
in his recent lecture in Topeka were
right to the point. Governor Hanly
pointed out that railroad managers
I are shrewd business men. and they
do not give away thousands Of dol
lars of transportation without ex-
/ pecting and getting something in re-
turn. And if the transportation is
given to public officials they expect
to get favors from those officials.
If all passes were abolished the
railroads could undoubtedly afford to
carry the public for TWO cents a mile.
/ The trouble at present is that a lot
/ Of favorites ride free and other peo-
pie have to pay enough to make up
the cost of hauling the favorites. If
the rate were two cents q mile there
would also be much more travelling
by people who pay-although the
deadbeats might not ride SO much.
Few up-to-date newspapers now
accept passes as they once did. They
make contracts with the railroad
companies for advertising on a cash
basis and accept in payment what
transportation they want on the same
basis. Why should not public Off
Gals also pay cash for their transpor-
tation instead Of paying the transpor-
tation companies with faYors at the
expense of the public?
There are doubtless many officials
who accept passes who do not intend
to allow such favors to influence them
in the performance of their duties.
yet it is almost bound to do so if an
instance comes up in which the COM
pany issuing the Courtesy Is inter-
ested.
It would have been greatly to the
credit of the last legislature if it had
PeAsNGA NAAE 4AlAEAC Dllzs pEOlADAIAL1R the
Issuance of free transportation and re-
duced railroad fares in Kansas to two
cents a mile. Such a law is bound
to come sooner or later, and the leg
islature that passes it viii be doing
a great favor to the public, and prob
ably to the railroads in the long run.
-
WANTED-A COUNTRY MAGAZINE
We are getting back to the soil'' as
a people There is more interest taken
T in country life and country pursuits
than ever before. During the last three
or four years nature study has grown
j greatly in favor, and the farm is com
ing to be recognized as a greater factor
in our national life than ever
| A large amount of matter is published
! about rural life and conditions, yet in
/ it all there is not one real farmers mag
azine. There are magazines for nearly
every other class imaginable, and there
are farm papers without number, but
there is not a single high-grade mag
azine that appeals specially to rural
residents.
There are three or four excellent mag
azines that seem to do so, but they are
not for real farmers One of these.
/ Country Life in America, has achieved
tremendous success. When it was start
ed three or four years ago there seemed
to be little field for such a publication.
but it has grown so much that its pub
fishers announce that hereafter they
will charge thirty-f1ve cents a number
for it instead of twenty-five The June
number contains IS pages of the best
! advertising, three columns to the page.
But listen to the titles Of the principal
articles: "The Black Bass" THE
House Boat Cruiser Fishing for
Tuna Ten Days in the OIympics;"
Changes in the Game of Golf" Seven
ty Miles an Hour in an Automobile"
| "A Camera Vacation and others Of
just about as much interest to the aver
age farm dweller. It is a superbly pub
lished magazine, and the illustrations
are a delight to the eye.
The Country Calendar, which was
launched only two months ago, seems
to be patterned after Country Life. And
although it occupies precisely the same
field. it seems to be as great a success
from the start as Country Life. It's con
tents is made up of exactly the same
sort of matter but in addition it has an
excellent editorial department. The
cover of its June number is one of the
finest things ever printed, and it's typog-
raphy and illustrations have the same
beauty as those Of Country Life.
Yet neither Of these publications an
peal to the farmer. They are for the
Weather classes who play at rural life,
but do not make a living at it.
There is a tremendous field open for
the right sort of a farm magazine. The
extension of rural mail delivery during
the last few years has brought millions
Of actual farmers within the range of
magazine literature, and the field is con
tinuaIly growing. yet the thirty million
jewellers on the farms of America have
not a real, high-grade magazine pub
lished with their wants specially in
view.
Such magazine should appeal to the