Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-09-10
LETTERS -TO-TEF
- EDITOR Z.
SAYS P. r.. r.. is UNFAIR

o he Editor Of the Telegraph:
A Harrisburg evening paper of re-
cent date is responsible for the state
ment that ten or fifteen passenger
trains on the Pennsylvania railroad
would be taken out of service about
september Is. A day or two earlier
the public was startled by the an
nouncement that there would be a
general increase in all passenger tar
IT'S on the Pennsylvania railroad
ABOUT october ], providing the Inter
state Commerce Commission and the
consent
"The former will surely consent to
the proposition for it has already
limited that such a course was open
to the railroad company. The latter
VIII follow suit for its chief business
seems to be to serve the railroads
and the politicians who created it.
The only negative recommendation
this august body of high priced Sol
ons has yet made was to refuse a spe-
cial rate to clergymen and charity
workers-a privilege previously grant
ed by federal statute through the In
ter-state Commerce Commission.
when a school boy I was compelled
TO memorize a passage in the United
States Constitution that read some
thing like this: No State shall enact
vision of this Constitution Evidently
our forefathers knew nothing about
the resourcefulness of Pennsylvania
lawmakers. In view of which, our
Public Utilities Commission may be
trusted to grant whatever permission
the railroad company desires.
More Trouble Coming
And, now, as if the travelling pub
uc's cup of iniquity were not full,
the effect that the Ways and Means
Committee of the House of Represen-
tatives is seriously considering the
proposition to add tax of from five
to ten per cent. on all railroad tickets.
as one of the ways of raising suffi-
cient revenue to meet government eX-
penses. Let me ask, Who'll pay this
tax? The railroads or the travelling
public? p From our recollection of the
Spanish war measure it is a safe guess
that the railroads will be able to
dodge it.
"1 am only a plain man occupying
a very humble place in life and 1
had hoped that men and women would
so thunder through the press and
elsewhere against the abuses that are
constantly being heaped upon the
travelling public by the railroads and
the Pennsylvania railroad in par
ticular that a halt might be called.
In the absence of such protest, l must
speak.
eff we cahnot prevent these injus-
tices is there not some way by which
the Public Utilities Commission can
compel the Pennsylvania railroad to
have at least as much consideration
for the comfort of its passengers as it
does for the comfort of its hogs and
cattle? For thirty years 1 have been
obliged to use the trains of this great
corporation. For twenty of these
thirty years 1 have almost lived in
them and l am prepared to prove that
never in all these years has so little
consideration been shown for the
comfort of its patrons as during the
past five months.
Herding Process Starts
with the taking out of service last
March number of passenger trains,
the herding process was begun and to-
day passengers are crowded into day
coaches precisely as cattle are crowd
ed into stock cars. Should a passen-
ger of moderate means and on long
journey, from sheer exhaustion be
compelled to sleep, he must either
PROSTATE himself in the aisle or YES
tibule--a thing which is unthinkable.
And if the room is to be further re-
stricted by taking off a dozen other
trains, what will be the result? One
can scarcely contemplate it with pa
tience.
within two months the writer was
compelled upon two different occa-
sions to come from Pittsburgh to Har-
risburg on train 6. In both instances
the cars were absolutely jammed and
tired passengers were compelled to
stand in the aisles, filing them from
end to end, from Pittsburgh 10 AL
toona. On one of these trips, I had
the pleasure of sharing a seat from
Johnstown to Harrisburg with
drunken Hungarian who sprawled
over me every time the car lurched.
1t was either sit with him or stand
and being very weary / chose the for
mer. Similar conditions maintain on
a dozen other trains which have used
during the last five months.
Another instance-just one of
many such. Recently l was obliged
to go to Rice's Landing, the terminus
of the Monongahela division of the
Pennsylvania railroad. The distance
from Pittsburgh to Rice's Landing is,
approximately, siXty-five miles, re-
quiring a little more than three hours
for the journey. Hurriedly transact
ing the business that took me thither
returned on the same train to Pitts
burgh, having travelled 130 miles and
spent more than six hours on the
train. This trip was made on the hot
test day this summer and for the
more than six hours l was in that
stuffy train, with the dust almost
sitting. Not a drop of water was to
be had
Children Were Crying
"Children were crying and mothers
were appealing to the conductor,
pleasant gentlemanly fellow, but he
was helpless. Finally. I could stand
it no longer and I told the conductor
that unless something could be done
Immediately by which the passengers
might have some water ] would be
10 hn fn thn