Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1911-04-08
P. R. R. FIGHTS
THE TOLL BILL
Railroad Lobby Active in
Attempt TO Block tha Dom
nelly Measure.
WOULD REDUCE RATE
Canal Traffic Is Now ThrottI-
ed by Excessive Tolls
Charged b. Lessee.

Much interest is being aroused
throughout this section of the state
in the Donnelly bill which would re-
duce the toll on the Delaware &
Raritan canal to ten cents ton. As
told in the EVENING NEWS yester-
day, committee has been appointed
to represent Perth Amboy at the
hearing on this bill TO be held at
Trenton Tuesday afternoon at 4
o'clock. The Boards Of Trade Of
New Brunswick and South River
have also taken action to be repre-
sented.
The following article published in
the Philadelphia North American
yesterday throws much light on the
situation from the peoples stand
point;
Railroad Lobby Active.
Desperate efforts are being made
by the Pennsylvania railroad lobby
here to prevent favorable report
from the house committee on rail-
roads and canals of the Donnelly
bill, to open the Delaware and Rart-
tan canal to general freight business
by cutting down the high toll rates
now charged by the railroad for
hauling goods through that water
way
Headed by Captain w G. Clark, +
an enthusiastic waterways boomer. s
a delegation OF canalboat men, who
have been virtually driven out of
business by the prohibitive canal
tolls, is fighting the railroad lobby,
in order to force consideration OF
the Donnelly bill.
The Delaware and Raritan canal.
extending from Bordentown to New
Brunswick and connecting the Rari- +
tan and Delaware rivers, is forty
three miles long. Under the present
tariff, the toll charged by the Penn-s
sylvania Railroad Company for the
passage of a boat through the canal
depends on the kind of goods with
which the boat is loaded. On some
classes of cargo the tolls exacted by
the railroad for the passage OF boat
amount to 1915. The lowest toll ex-
acted for any kind of cargo of $50
tons is $3.50.
Discrimination Charged
Because of these high tolls the
boatmen say they are unable to get
anything but the lowest grade of /
freight cargoes to haul. They charge
The railroad with ...Ias making sAafa s.
deliberatige purpose Of o.rssssaI.ss. .ssss
prohibitive on classes OF goods that
the railroad wants to haul By rail.
The effect OF the high and diseriIni-
mating tolls, the boatmen say, Is that
1t Is cheaper to ship higher graSsS
OF freight from New York to Phila-
delphia, or between intermediate
points, by rail than 1t is by water.
THE Donnelly bill proposes to
make a maximum rate of ten cents a
ton as the toll the railroad may ex-
act for the passage Of any kind OF q !
loaded canalboat or barge through
the canal The present tolls range
from thirty-five cents to $3.50 a ton. I
II the proposed bin should become q
law, the effect would be fat toll
rate of s25 for the passage OF boat
loaded with ESQ tons of any kind Of
freight through the canal
'Thirty-flve cents ton Is the toll
now exaeted by the Pennsylvania
from the boatmen for hauling coal
through the canal
This toll rate, the boatmen as-f
sert, is FIVE cents q ton more than
the railroads pay to boatmen for
hauling coal from New York to
Buffalo.
Manufacturers along the route of
the canal now find it cheaper to ship
their goods to New York or Philade1.
phia by rail than By water, because shs
toll rate demanded Of the boatmen
makes 1t impossible for them to compete
with the railroad in freight rates. Tho
effect of this is that virtually the oaly
goods shipped by canal are low elassas
ef freight that the railroads do nes
want TO haul.
Water Traffic Is Throttled
Because of the high toll rates, tho
boatmen assert that independent and
cheap water transportation between
the two big cities has been throt+led
for folty years. The policy of d.
stroying the Delaware and Raritan ea-
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