Pioneer press. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1882-19??, 1914-11-21
NEW RATES on ALL
STEAM RAILROADS
BY the First OF the Year Genera,
Plan viii Be In Force to Raise
Money.

pected that cCmmutation rates o.;
steam railroads will be advance,
throughout the country, in line with
| g general plan which the roads Eavt
under way 10 raise the fares for all
Glasses Of passenger travel TO Il levp.
IL keeping with the Improvement and
extension of service which HIS beCn
| made since this class of .iaflc wa
developed.
1t became known today that .hc
Baltimore and Ohio railroad is pre-
pairing and within a few GAYS viii
file tariffs with the Public Sarvic,
Commission of Maryland AMI tn" il
rerstate commerce commission. al
vancing the communication rates III
the territory contingent to Baltimore
Washington and Philadelphia Sim.
lar action will be taken in other
localities, it was also learned
In rc-arranging the basis of passen-
ger service charges the railroads
have secured the moral support of
| he Interstate commerce commission
IL its opinion that greater revenues
| might be obtained by increasing the
! charges; and in line with such suy
| %estOn the roads in different sections
Of the country advanced the rdtc on
| mileage books as we'll As on through
tickets and individual tickets. Inc:e
! ri a
| become effective without susDn sion
! hy the commission
| At the same ume the CHARGES; for
shipping milk were advanced lust re-
| Gently in central passenger associa-
ton territory when the roads put il,
service sanitary refrigerator cars to
handle the business.
In justification OF the advance in
"ommuation travel, traffic official
! II the Baltimore and Ohio railroad
contends that the rates were found to
be so low, in view Of improvements
II SERVICE addition Of more expensive
| equipment and other increased ey-
penSc during recent years, that the
| carriers were confronted with one
If two alternatives, that they adj
vance the charges slightly or that
the cOmmuter service be curtailed t.
hO!d down the expense 1t was be
lieved that such radical retrench-
ments i'll service would have been
lr"cosSHry that the public would be
within" to pay the increased charges
rather than hav" the trains taken
of.
The position taken by the Balti
more and Ohio is that the commute1
rates at present in effect were based
On charges for greatly inferior serv-
ice when they were fixed 40 years
ago, and in some instances were
made low to aid in suburban develop
ment but that while the service has
been supplemented by more trains
run on faster schedules and with bet
ter equipment, in many instances the
volume Of traffic has decreased while
trolley lines and motor vehicles have
made inrOads into the revenue.
The filing Of new tariffs will cali
for changes in certain Of the regua.
tons now in effect with respect to
lCOmmutcr service. The number Of
tickets which will be issued in
blocks is to be changed to conform
with what the railroads believe to
be the convenience Of the public. Tick
| cts calling for 100 and $50 trips at
any time within the year will be dis
continued, although regular commu
! tation, only slightly changed in some
| Instances. The reason given by the
railroads for doing away with the
yearly tickets is that they are, in
effect, discriminatory because the oc-
casiOnal traveller should not be en-
titled to q reduction in rates sim
| ply because he has the ready cash
| width wich to buy a greater numebr
OF tickets at one time. The railroad
| holds that this form of tickets is