Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-26
Comparison With Foreign Rates.

most every Legislature they are getting their
revenge without regard to any other con-
sideration than political capital
Comparison With Foreign Rates.
Railway passenger and freight rates are
| lower in the, United States than in any
other country in the world, Notwithstanding
the density of population, government
ownership and other conditions in Europe
| which should permit of greater economy in
| handling freight and passengers, and con-
ditions in the United States which make the
public entirely dependent upon the rail-
ways for their prosperity. The legislature
of South Carolina, which has always been
radical on the question of railway regula-
lions, seems to have had a lucid interval
and has rejected a bill similar to that which
has recently been reported favorably here
in the North Carolina legislature. The rail-
way committee down there took the sensible
ground that it is wiser to increase the
revenues of the railway companies in that
state in order to enable them to provide
better facilities.
Railway Passengers Carried.
According to the recent report of the in
terstate commerce commission, the $50 rail-
ways in the United States carried 73S 1874, G67
passengers last year. Their average journey
was thirty-two miles; their average fare
was 10 cents per mile, and not single
complaint was filed before the commission
Dy passenger on account OF excess
charges or other grounds. This average rate
included charges of four, six, eight and
even ten cents a mile on some Of the roads,
and 1t also included excursion rates often
as low as one-half cent a mile, given for
conventions. reunions of the Grand Army
and Confederate Veterans, agricultural
fairs eXpositions religious and commercial
gatherings, suburban commuters rates,
theatrical rates. half-rates to the clergy and
to school children, mileage tickets, free
passes and the movement of troops under
contract with the government.
If two-cent fare should be enforced
throughout the United States and the same
reduced fares should be given. it would
bring the average passenger fare down
from 10 to 1.3 per mile, which would be
Improbable throughout the country and
would starve the railroads to death in this
section
Effect of Decreasing the Rate.
Take the Southern railway as an illustra-
ton. have not inquired of any other. Dur
ing the year 1905 1t was operating 1915
miles and carried II ,G63, $50 passengers at
an average rate of 2.413 per mile, while the
maximum rate fixed by law, which it might
have collected from all these passengers, is
three cents mile. If this maximum had
been reduced to two cents as proposed by
the North Carolina legislature, the average
passenger travelling on the Southern rail-
way last year would have paid 1.609 cents
per mile, and the passenger receipts of the
company would nave DeeH reQuCeQ from
$13 80 113 to So, S39, 400. The volume of pas
senger traffic ON the Southern must be in
creased so per cent to maintain the present
earnings if the two-cent-a-mle law passes,
and that is impossible in the southern
states The trains necessary to handle this
30 per cent increase would overtax the pres
ent equipment and tracks and other facii-
ties and the capital stock of the road
would have to be increased to provide for
it.
Railways in Massachusetts, and other
densely settled sections of the north can
carry passengers for two cents mile and
make money, but it cannot be done in the
south. Massachusetts has an average pop
ulation of $40, New York 160, and Ohio 105
people to the square mile, while the south
Atlantic states have an average of only 81
people to the mile, and more than one-third
of them are negroes who seldom travel. De-
Quoting the negroes, the density of popula
ton south Of the Potomac is about 81 people
to the mile. The highest average Is in Ten
nessee where there about 80, and the
lowest in Florida, where there are about 10
people to the square mile.
The members of the North Carolina legis-
lature evidently have not considered these
facts. They evidently have not read the
latest report of the interstate commerce
commission, which shows that the south
Atlantic states afford the lowest average of
revenue to railways of any part of the
Union. 1t Is the rule also In thinly populated
sections of the country that 1t costs more
to handle a passenger than anywhere else.
In the south Atlantic states the railways
check one piece Of baggage to every six