The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1914-01-14
PASSENGERS By THE POUND

1t had to come. The tendency of
the times made it's advent unavoid-
able. Now it is here-Or hereabouts.
weight. Some of the more f%arsighted
ones whose physical proportions eX-
coed the aldermanic average have
been shivering with apprehension and
a vague sense of impending trouble.
The first case on record where
transportation charges for human be-
ings were based on the applicants
%avoirdupois is reported from Tampa.
Fla, says the Kansas City Journal. To
be sure, the fact that the means Of
passenger transmission in this case is
the h%ydroplane has something to do
with it. The Tampa man has opened
a sort of aqua-aero ferry between that
place and st. Petersburg, across the
bay, a distance of eighteen miles. His
schedule of prices permits any per-
son weighing 200 pounds or less to be
carried for IS. For every pound the
passenger may weigh over this 200
limit an additional S cents is charged.
Comparatively few persons weigh
ing ven 200 pounds, probably, will
care to avail themselves of this n.y.
%droplane ferry. There is nothing es-
pecially alarming in the system as it
applies to Tampa and St. Petersburg.
But it is an entering wedge. 1t sug-
gests that in time such a system may
be adopted by steamships. and rail-
roads, in which cas- it would cause
widespread CONSERVATION. Harrased
on all sides by demands and restric-
tons, railroad managers confess that
they do not know which way to turn.
1t is easy to imagine that they might
seize upon this new plan of weighing
passengers and charging by the pound
in an effort to minimize their losses.
Naturally it costs a railroad company
more, in the course of a year, to carry
2%00-pound men and women than men
and women of half that weight. Rates
for live stock are based ON weight,
and these managers could argue log
ically that the same system should
apply to human freight.
To the more symmetrical person this
subject may not have special inter-
est. And yet he or she has much con-
Germ in it. If pound rates go into ef-
feet there surely ought to be some
advantage to the lightweight. If
for instance, a 200-pound man is car f
ried a certain distance for a certain
sum, the 150-pound man ought to be
carried the same distance for three
fourths that sum-. If a penalty is to
be assessed against the large person,
there should be compensating bene-
fits to the little fellows.
At first blush this seems to open up
serious and confounding p%erplexities.
But the interstate commits
sion could be relied on to straighten
them out to it's own satisfaction,
whether anybody else vas satisfied or
not. The interstate III com
missiOners are SO much wiser than
the common run Of folk that they may
even anticipate the railroads in insti-
tuting the new system. Indeed, the
time may not be far distant when the
big beefy man with the forid lace
and aggressive manner may find him.
self stopped at the steps of his train
and commanded to weigh in" on
convenient scales and have his ticket
punched accordingly.
Alas, the days of our liberties are
few and the leveling effects of reform
are wearing away social, mental, NOR
al and physical inequalities. 1t may be
that the fat man, who is always sup
Iosed to Le good-natured and jolly,
is about to get his"