Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-05-27
PERE MARQUETTE
OFFICIALS MEET THE
BELONG SHIPPERS
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road is required to carry hundred
pounds of freight about two miles and a
half for the cost of postage stamp. This
is the cheapest rate in the world, and
this i'm the face of the high maintenance
cost of railroads i'm Michigan.
I'm the state of Michigan the Pere
Marquette has about $500 miles of rail-
road. OF this amount SlS miles are what
the company calls branch lines. In this
branch line territory there are on an
average about twenty-three passengers to
the mile, while in the eastern states there
are, in many places, several times that
number of passengers to the mile. In
the eastern states the roads are allowed
to charge 2% cents per mile per pas
senger, but in this state &c per mile per
passenger is the limit. Over the branch
lines fthe Pere Marquette in the state
the average number of passengers to the
coach per mile of trains run is Is. This
means that the train is running over the
road with gross receipts per coach per
mile of 80 cents. This amount must pay
all operating expenses, interest on bonds,
depreciation, etc, and have enough left to
pay off some of the bonds.
With all of these difficulties Mr.. Gar
rett still has faith in view of his past
experience that the Pere Marquette may
be pulled out of the hole. I'll has been his
endeaVor and will continue to be to give
the patrons of the road service. He will
give them service if the patrons will have
faith in the road and in the management,
and cooperate with the officials to make
the road and working conditions better.
Since the road is required to operate
and serve the people along its route, Mr..
Garrett claims that one of three things
must be done. These he called the \, Is,
c of the situation The rates must be
increased, the wages of employees de-
creased, or the government would be
obliged to make up the deficit.
The officials are urging the Safety
First idea upon their employees and at
the same time seeking to gain their CO.
operation for the efficient handling of the
business. They believe they are secur-
ing this service from their workmen and
are commencing them for the co-opera-
ton they are giving.
Following the talk given by Mr.. Gar
rett the factory men and few of the
men of the town were invited to take
luncheon with the railroad officials in
their car on the siding The matter of
both freight and passenger service was
taken up again during the luncheon hour
and free discussion of local conditions
entered into. These will result in secur-
ing for this city better service than in
the past if the will of the officers be car
riel outd
The party were shown about the town
and through the refrigerator and silk fac
tories, beside making a tour of one of
the dormtories. They were highly
pleased with the manufacturing condi-
tons found here and surprised that the
were producing such
quantity OF goods and employing so
much labor.
Among the group in the car besides w.
A. Garrett were A. Patriache, special
traffic man; j. l.. Hayes, road superin
tendent; Y. c. Cornell, superintendent of
transportation: A. l.. Grandy, chief en-
gineer; III. o. Halsted, assistant general
manager. and r. A. Gordon, travelling
freight agent.
The special car was hooked onto the
afternoon train north for Ludington.