El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-05-28

~ ALCUTTA, India, May 20.-The
q railways of India are the strongest
~ link in the chain which binds it TO
Great Britain, and at the same time one
of the factors in the unrest which is
tearing the countries apart. 1 have jusr
returned from a call upon Mr.. Robert
son, the viceroy's secretary of COM
Issrce and industry, under which de-
partment the railways are managed.
Said he:
~One of the striking features of this
unrest just now is an anti-railroad cru
SADIE carried on by the extremists
among the revolutionary agitators.
They claim that the roads are built with
British money for robbing the natives.
They say that the dividends and inter
est go out Of India, and that the rail-
ways are bad thing for the people,
not only in money way, but on the
ground of religion. They are using
this argument to excite the masses, who
can be stirred up only by attacking
their religion and imperiling their
caste. The extremists say that the rail
roads are breaking down caste distinc-
tions, and that eternal damnation is
sure to follow. They advise the people
not to patronize them and say they
should De given over to the native
leaders, who could regulate the .raffic
to suit their faith
India's Greatesr CiviIizer.
But are the extremists not right in
saying that the railroads are affecting
caste prejudice?" 1 asked
Yes" replied the secretary, They are
bringing the people Of India together,
and, for time, at least, putting all
castles on the same level. When we first
began to build railways, the natives de-
manded that special cars be furnished
for certain castles. The Hindoos and
Mohammedans would not sit down to-
gether, and the Brahmins demanded &c
flock by themselves. After a time they
found that they could not get the cars,
and they then tacitly decided that caste
must be abolished while on the railroad
trains. So the native has apparently
dropped such prejudices when he enters
the cars, although he assumes them the
more rigidly when he leaves. You can
not imagine what this means until you
have lived a long time in India and
know something of the people. Our
railway trains are about the most
crowded OF the world, and the different
castles are all damned in together. The
travel steadily increases, and that es-
pecially at certain seasons of the year.
The people are using the trains to go
to shrines and our pilgrimage traffic is
enormous. It used to take weeks and
months for the average pilgrim TO go
to Benares or some other distant sacred
locality. The man now finds he can
get there by rail in hours or days. We
cater TO this element, and do all we
can to accommodate 1t. Moreover, we
have what might be called a heavy So
cial traffic during the wedding season.
On many of the roads the crowds are
then so great we cannot carry them. We
make the rates as low as possible. and we
have on the whole the lowest passenger
fares of the world. The average rate
for all passengers is about two-fifths Of
a cent per mile, and the third class fares
are below that. Still it is from the low
est fares that we pay our dividends"
Government Ownership.
During my talk with Mr.. Robertson I
learned something of the plan of the
government to take over the railroads. /
A large number of the lines have been
built and controlled by the state, but |
others were constructed by private !
parties and not few by companies |
with government guarantees or sub !
sides. The government has now taken |
possession of all the lines. and is pay
ing for them by a series of instruments |
which are to run about 40 years. The |
selling price has been fixed at the esti- I
mated values Of the roads, to which the |
interest for 40 years has been added. |
This amount has been divided up into |
annual payments for which notes have /
been given. The notes have a market |
value, and are bought and scld on the /
exchange. Mr. Robertson tells me that |
the railways ought to pay at least 5 /
percent per annum. During certain years /
they have paid almost 6 and their re- |
eeipts are steadily increasing.
The railways are managed by a rail |
way board subordinate to the govern |
ment of India and represented in the
yiceroy's cabinet by the secretary of !
commerce and industry. This board con- !
trolls all railway matters. 1t lays out /
new lines and builds them. It settles
disputes as to transportation. and regu-
ates the prices and the traffic 1t is
low considering the standardizing of |
he cages Of the different roads. When