The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1912-03-15

We believe in tolerance, patience, forbearance and all those viz
tues growing out of the Golden Rule and the putting of yourself in
the other fellows place; but the exercise of these luminous atri-
butes naturally and of right should demand the same from others.
In this connection we ire reminded Of the Inconvenience, the
loss of time, and frequently the injury done, to the travelling public
by delayed passenger trains. There may be an excuse for the delay
of a train today. but the same excuse Will hardly occur tomorrow
and the day after. There has hardly been a day for the past two or
three months that the through south bound passenger trains on the
Illinois Central railroad have not failed to reach Grenada, and in
deed all other stations south of Memphis, on schedule time. They
have been from one to ten hours, and sometimes longer, late. This
should not be allowed by law. The public, who support and make
it possible to maintain a railroad, are entitled to better consider
alton and when a train from the same direction is more than twice
in succession one hour behind its advertised schedule, the railroad
company should be required to make up an extra train to take the
place of the delayed train. This is out just to the public. The peo-
pie pay their transportation and are entitled to be carried to their
destinations at the time named by the railroad company. 1t is the
law, Sc we are advised. in the state of Texas-which state, by the
way, has the best laws relating to corporations of any state in
the Union-that when trains are one hour late the railroad company
is required to make up a special train to run on the time of the de-
layed train. Only this winter the attorney general of that state has
filed uits against the railroad companies for over half million dol
lars for their failure to live up to this statute. Why, it is frequently
the case, and very frequently, too, that passengers are unable to as
certain lust how much a belated train is late. The figures on the
the time board may show an hour late. and only a few minutes alter
ward still another hour, and so on. The railroad company should
be compelled to correctly and accurately advise the public as to
how much a delayed train is late. The railroad companies are not
pets that they should not continue to be petted and fcndled by the gov
eminent. They have already had too much of this. Those who own the
railroads have their money invested in them because of what they
expect to obtain in dividends. We hazard the statement that the
railroads have had more donations of lands and more money voted
to them by the state and national governments than all other bust
ness enterprises and corporations combined. Therefore, the public
has an emphasized right to demand an exact performance of their
duties as public service corporations.
We repeat, that the travelling public should not be continuously
annoyed with belated trains. If the road beds are not in good con-
diton, so that they can withstand the rains and the general weather
inclemencies, why then it is the duty and the business of the railroad
company to use the labor to put them in the condition that they will.