Bisbee daily review., 1907-08-09
RAILROADS SHUT | DOWN EXCURSIONS
New Rate Law Results in New
 Economy Deal.

One feature of railway transporta- ton which is receiving great deal less attention this year than fHmerly is the problem of excursions. In fact, the roads in some sections of the country are almost unanimous in eliminating the excursions if possible. his is especially noticeable in the Sun day and holiday excursions.
 m former years the Sunday excur- sions of the different roads have been looked upon as almost necessities and were run more because people were in the habit of expecting something Of the sort than from the Pecuniary returns. The excursions, however, of tentimes have proved advantageous from the standpoint of profit.
 However. during the past year or two the transportation problems Of the different roads have been greatly increased. The scarcity of equipment is a serious problem for the railroads to face at the present time without the added problems offered by the puttingfi on of extra Sunday trains. For the purpose of running a Sunday excursion between two points it is almost always necessary to mobilize coaches and chair cars from different points on the system for several days in advance This takes them out of
 service for several days while they are being brought together and re- turned. In this time the roads re- ceive nothing for this part of the rolling stock.
 Most western roads and especially those in the immediate section of the country are none too well supplied with rolling stock. The traffic at the present time has reached the highest point in the history of the west. Traf- fife in Colorado and other points thretens to reach the point of conges- tion at times. This is a busy season of the year from railroad stand point. People are now on their Yaca- tiOn. All this taxes the capacity of the different systems to a point that is far out of proportion to the bene- fits that could be derived from run ming an excursion train.
 Most of the roads have orders for equipment which will in time alleyi- ate these conditions. But this time will not arrive in the near future. The car shops are far behind with their orders and large orders that called for delivery several months ago are still undelivered In some cases roads orders are as far behind as year. At the rate that the factories are taxed at the present time it is doubtful whether the deliveries to the railway system will enable them to more than keep pace with the gradual increase in business.
 Scarcity of motive power is another question that forces the Sunday eX- cursiJn into the background. None of the western roads have necessary service and in many cases the engine that pulls the Sunday excursion is the only engine that is left to take trains in case of au engine failure or break down
 Excursions have been found to be detrimental to the movement of traf- fic both of a freight and passenger nature Traffic is considered con- gested enough already. Every through freight must sidetrack for an eXcur- sion and oftentimes make long de- lays in this way The fewer trains on the right-of-way that the company maintains the quicker will be their service
 Two-cent fare have served in a measure to give the excursions a set back. Even under the mileage book system more people are enabled to take trips such as they would take on an excursion on a regular train. FIX cursions are not as profitable under the two-cent fare system and they also tend to detract from the profits of regular traffic to a greater extent than under the old flat rate of three cents With the prospect of a flat two-cent fare rate in sight the demand for excursions will become still small CT and in a short time it is expected that the excursions will be done awly with entirely.
 On some systems there have been positive orders issued by the head of the operating department to the ef- feet that excursions must be cut out as much as possible and a few sys- ems have cut them out almot entirely.
 The name of Governor Glenn of South Carolina has not been seen at tached to any patent medicine testi-
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