The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-08-04
Trial Month Of z Id Pas
sengerRate Law Shows
Decided Losses.
TIVE MY p EI2 G EN1'.
LESS THAN 1906
Increase in Travel Not Sufficient
to Make Up Thirty Per Cent.
Deficit Following New Rate
Law-T'wo Other Roads
Show Similar
Record.

tspccla From d STAFF Correspondontl q
RALEIGtl. n. c., August 3.--Snco
the first day Of July, at which timn
the two and one-aunrter cent rate,
the local passenger rcceipts@ or the
company show II decrease rather
than gain over the corresponding
month. or last year. This rpcord--set
down in black and white for tho
news value attached to it's es7
Drcially significant fol two reasons,
first Of Which Is the matter Of travel
to tho Jamestown Exposition, which
was not factor one year ago. Even
with this movement and in spite OF
the fact too, that the Seaboard In
vades the Southern territory on
which the rate charged Is three and
olic-quurtcr cents, tho pickup In
travel has not been sufficient here
Rbouts 10 meet the natural deficit
caused by statute which demands
reduction In rates of thirty per
cent.
For ali of the local passenger busi-
ness Of the Seaboard Air Line III North
Carolina In the month or July, rs ex-
planned to-day. there is shown ap-
proximatcly an increase in the sale OF
tickets Of per cent, with an npproXit
mate decrease In total rccuiptB for
that period Of 20 per cent.
New Rnsincs. Not Very Much.
Unwilling 10 contest The State law
by appeal 10 the Federal courts. tile
Scaboard complied, and slashed rates,
and waited to src the effect. al the
depot office. ut which practically al
s local or intraStatc tickets arc solu,
the decrease over June VIII run any
where from 20 to % per cent. Grant
ing that there has been some gain IN
travel, it has not been fu;ticlcn. to
cover the loss occasioncd by the cut,
and to Scaboard people around here
the situation is just triilc gloomy.
On through tickets. not affected by the
n cut, the record Is about the same rs
in normal months
What Other Line shows.
On tie Norfolk and Southern, which
embraces great many shorter lines
In Eastern Carolina. the story is very
much the same. The July figures show
passenger loss over juno Of more
than twenty per cent, which Is not
comforting to the management. mas
much az summer5travel to the scashorc
and to the exposition has been unu-
suaIly heavy. In a word, therefore
more ltuSScHk cIS may IaNC pSE1
handled but the total receipts have
not made up for the loss due to tht
lower tariff.
LOudest Vail OF All.
The most pcssjmistic wall of ALL how.
ever, comes from the Ashcboro anc
Aberdeen, a road connecting with the
Seaboard Air Line, which has less tl>~<
one hundred miles OF trackage, Fol
reasons best known to members OF the
Legislature, this property was included
under the provisions OF the new rate
law, Notwithstanding the earnest pieu
of,President Henry a. Page for exemp
tion, on the ground that the statute
L would ruin the service.
a man close to Mr.. Page informed
n representative OF The Times-Dispatcl
to-day that the passenger operating
expenses on the Asheboro and Aber.
deem amounted to $1,000 month. while
the passenger receipts were less thar
$500 a month It is said In this ron
nection that the company will bt
forced to abandon Its schedules in (;
way and attach passenger coaches t
freight trains.
Roads Not building Now.
The Southern Railway and the At