The San Francisco call., 1906-11-04
How Passenger Trafhc Pays Better
Than Freight.

There is an absurd popular notion that nc
steam railroad makes any considerable pront or
its passenger traffic. but the new Chicago New
York Electric Road will quickly prove that such
is not the case. and that by special equippine
for passenger traffic it can be made 10 pay far
more than freight does The reason passenger
traffic on the great trunk line steam roads yields
no profit to speak Of is not because there is nc
money in the carrying Of passengers. but be
cause the roads having been conceived and built
with no consideration for passenger requirements
and with freight the beginning and end Of the
roads commercial desires the two classes OF
tonnage don't work we'll together. When q
flyer makes sensational run under present
railroad conditions IT often means that all
freight trains for a distance of one hundred
miles have TO be run on to siding or otherwise
shifted out Of the danger zone until the passen
ger train gets By This means an almost incaI
culabIe loss loss that certainly does kill ali
the profit that would otherwise accrue.
Then again the steam routes. being freight
routes first last and all the time. have 10 GO
where the freight is. no matter how many ser
pentine twists and turns divert them from the
pathway Of directness. Passengers not only have
70 be hauled far and unnecessarily out of the
way. but are shifted around curves. gullies and
mountains that forever render extremely high
speed ont Of the question. The simple fact,
therefore. is that passenger traffic VIII pay and
pay we'll even if never pound of freight were
carried If the route only direct one and
no delay Of ffty-car freight treins. some Of them
with perishable goods. was caused by the high
speed trains.
When = manufacturer ships freight under
present conditions. a strange process ensues-
Freight may go over half dozen roads and
many miles out of its way before it reaches
its destination Most Of the roads are mem
bers Of great freight pools or trusts which
operate within certain spheres Of influence. .
Business is divided up the profits being por-
toned out in accordance with factor sched
ule and the freight going whichever pool
route the situation demands. When load OF
freight starts from New York for Chicago by
way o. let MS say the Erie no man car
predict how many other routes than the Erie it
will run over before it reaches the end Of its
journey: and II matters not so long 1t gets
there-somehow-s time. But il DOES mat.
ter to passengers whether or not they have to
tolerate such beating around the bush. When q
passenger starts for a given point he wants to
get there DIRECTLY. and, therefore, the pas.
senger trains of existing roads pick their way
through a sea Of freight trains. cattle cars on
a siding here fruit cars a spur there, all
being delayed 10 the extent of hundreds Of
thousands of dollars.
What blessing then. It viii be when the
new Chicago-New York Electric Air Line flashes
its clean. luxurious trains between Chicago and
New York City at the marvellous speed OF
seventy five miles an hour. some of them max
ing no stops II freight is ever carried IT will be
over exclusive freight tracks, ample space fol
which has been provided. The territory trav-
ersed by the new electric line is the most
densely populated in the country and the buIk
Of all the traffic, both freight and passenger
from Cleveland. Toledo, Detroit. Philadelphia
and other large cities viii ultimately be car.
red by this route II has been shown by the
work Of the "2oth Century Flyer of the New
York Central that there are plenty Of people
willing to pay the 50 per cent extra charges
required on this train; what then. will be
the patronage of a road that carries one from
Chicago TO New York City for sIo-a figure
that is about one-half the regular fare now
charged? There can be question that the
Chicsgo-New York Electric Railroad will become
the richest and most powerful business factor
in this country. its workings being on the basi.
of new order of things industrial and the
foundation stone upon which our economic well
/ being viii rest. When this great electric road
gets into ful working order the small shipper
can send his freight on basis of absolute equal
ity with the big shipper.