New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-15

Smade 10 per cent more money on each
| ticket, but so many persons refused 10 ouy
them that the cash receipts dropped OH %
per cent. The service took as many trains
as before. so that the road saved prac-
tically nothing on the cost of operation
There is only one way this problem OF
suburban transportation can Work OUT
That is by the railroads operating their
suburban trains on the rapid transit plan
The suburbs will keep on growing, ano the
demand for transportation lines VIII sun
keep ahead OF the supply. Sooner OF later
the railroads will learn that II tney nave
not the eouipment Of tracks and plant to
run fast and frequent local trains they WIN
have to get it The faster they build up
their suburban colony, of course, the raster
their freight traffic there Will grow
| .eThe sliding scale Of Communication rates
| on the New York. New Haven & Hartford
was established in 1873, thirty-seven years
ago. To-day the suburban passengers on
| that road are four times numerous as
| +hev were then The freight rates on the
/ road are one-third now Of what they were
at that time. The road is now increasing
the passenger sliding scale from 80 TO oV
per cent. Instead of advancing the rate IL
should reduce il as much as it has reduced
the freight rates.
ut has been proven that with steam loco
motives the operating expenses OF ROAD
are about 20 per cent Of the gross passen-
ger receipts, and that with electricity theP
are about 40 per cent. The road says that
| the increase is made to pay the brakemen
the increased wages which have recently
been granted them. Yet this reduction In
the cost of operating the suburban trains Is
| twenty times as great as the raise III the
wages OF all the employees who were al
| fected
The New York, New Haven & Hartford
boasts that it saves S650000 year by using
electricity for it's trains in and about New
York 1t has one of the finest equipments
in the world for handling heavy local trafnc
cheaply. In all this ii is modern ana LOOKS
to the future. Let it look TO the future py
running its great system in the way IL Will
have TO some day, and 1t VIII ma the
business popular and profitable. BY IN
creasing its rates as il is doing II harms
all the suburban communities on It's line.
"A railroad lust about owns the towns in
its suburban territory" said Henry E. Col
well. Mayor of New Rochelle, who has been
a leader in the protest against the raise III
rates. First. the road makes very low
each way every day in the month. and so
ners,lades him 10 settle in the suburb and
keeT, at work in.the city. He builds or buys
2 bouse. and the road haUls the bricks and
mortar and the nails and laths TO build
it with. Ike brings his wife, and she rides
on the road when she goes shopping, ana
generally pays full fare for it.
His -four and his meat and his new
shoes and his milk and his cold storage
eggs come over the railroad. A grocer set
Ties in the town to sell food TO him ana
his neighbors, and plumber and a gas
! company come, and a hundred other peo-
pie, and all their supplies come over the
railroad. His daughter is married, and
half trainload of guests come on the rail-
road and go back by the railroad when
he dies his lodge charters special car
and pays railroad fares to go to his funeral
and his widow settles down on the lnsur-
ance to support the children till they are
old enough to be commuters and ride on
the railroad every day.
The railroad doesn't lose anything In
carrying the commuter himself, and it
makes a good round profit on ell the rest
of the community which Is built up about
him. He is the core of it all, and the rea-
son for it. For q road TO build up a region
by announcing That II VIII give certain ~"
rates for a convenient service and then to
take advantage of the situation by putting
the rate up at the first opportunity is not
exactly immoral, perhaps, but 1t is hardly
an act OF good faith, man seeking
new home would choose another railroad
even If the actual rate mile were trif1e
higher, if he felt sure that the fare would
not be increased without warning.
AN appeal has been made to the Public
Service Commission and delegation from
Westchester County went TO Albany IN
favor of Senator 'Wainwright's bill putting
Communication rates under the jurisdiction
| of the commission. The bill was passed
by the Assembly. and the Governor as
sured our people that he would do all he
could in it's favor. If the New Haven really
puts its higher rates into effect 1t VIII hurt
the whole of Westchester County. There