The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-05-03
THE $40 PENALTY
1000-MILE TICKET.

N~AA~As~ - -eAA s7CAA AAO4NiO
that the $40 penalty attached by
the Pennsylvania and other lines
to the Ioo0-mile ticket offers an
equitable reason for asking redress
from the courts for an injunction
to forbid the requirement of this
deposit.
This will be & surprise to law
yers who take their law from the
text and letter of past decisions
alone. 1t will be no surprise to
those who have realized the trend
and purport Of more recent deci-
sions on railroad law. Courts
make the law. They also by slow
degrees change the law. Judge
made law is anchored TO past de-
cisions; but the cable is long,
with links forged by the centu-
ries, and, while fastened by it,
judge-made law swings with the
tide.
The tide is against the roads and
for the shipper and carrier. For
thirty years, step by step, the past
freedom Of the railroads has been
abridged on behalf Of the public.
They once charged each shipper
the rate the road made for the
shipper. The courts did not for
bid. Today the roads are held to
one rate.
Down to very few years ago,
ten or fifteen, the courts (after a
very early period in which their
contracts to carry passengers were
sharply construed against them by
stage-coach law favored the ticket.
Limitations OH it were excepted.
The judges Cheerfully Joined with
the G. P, A. in making the scalp
ers life burden. They held the
commuter rigidly to his sgree-
ment. They construed firms
tickets strictly. For a discount
the road could almost require a
passenger to show tattoo mark on
his right arm.
There are pretty stable row of
decisions from 1850 to 1885 for
their $40 penalty. Not directly,
but bearing that way. But for a
decade or more past the courts
have changed. The passenger is
getting the advantage. A party
ticket" has been literally con-
strued, Excursion tickets have,
particularly in the West, gained
more leeway, The stop over
privilege has widened. The re.
duced rate ticket has to be very
explicit i'll its sale and terms not
to find some court which has not
found in it loophole.
This is all Of the widespread
public impression that passenger
fares are too high. For twenty
years they have not fallen, though
all that goes into a railroad has
fallen, much of it fully one-half.
The 2-cent fare demand is deep,
broad and long. The revolt
against the $40 penalty is part of
this demand. II the roads are wise
they will begin concessions. Pas
sengers are asking: IF the Read
ing can sell 1000 miles, good for
anybody $50 fiat, why not the
Pennsylvania"
Railroad men feel there is a
good answer. But the public re-
fuses to see it or accept it. With
in few years a rate of 2 cents a
mile is certain. Why litigate the
first step?
Attorney General Carson is a
good lawyer and a fair man. He
knows the railroad side. He is
not retained. He reaches the con
clusion to begin the suit acting
judicially as Attorney General, no,
as lawyer hired by the petition
ers Why not accept his decision?
1t offers a golden opportunity to
concede to the impartial finding of
the Attorney General of Pennsyl-
van1a what a corporation might
hesitate to yield to the individual
demand of even twenty six" pas
sengers. Philadelphia Press.
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