Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1915-01-09
RAIL ROADS OF KANSAS
LOSING THOUSANDS
PAY MILLIONS TO PEOPLE IN WAGES. TAXES
AND FOR SUPPLIES EVERY YEAR

fact that il only earned , 25 per cent
on Its Kansas property in l9l 3 on both
interstate and state business while in
1914 it earned only Is per cent on its
Kansas investment.
The Santa Fe filed evidence show
ing that in 1913 it lost SO. s33. p on
its Kansas freight and passenger
business, while in 1914 the deficit
climbed TO SIPS. 673 90. In view of
these facts, is there fair minded
citizen in. the state who will contend
that Kansas railroads are not entitled
to restoration of three cent passen-
ger faress
Losses Growing Continually
From these figures. which are open
to absolute proof, it can be seen that
the Kansas lines are not only sus-
tanning a loss amounting to hundreds
of thousands of dollars annually on
their passenger traffic, but that with
an ever increasing cost of operation
, these losses are constantly growing
heavier-and if the service TO the
public is to remain efficient and ade-
quate, and if the railroad invest
ments of the state are not to be driven
to the point of confiscation, the peo-
pie of Kansas must,~ through their
rate-making authorities consent to a.
return to the three cent passe niger
fare which was arbitrarily suspended
by the old Board of Railroad Com
missioners in 1907 without due re-
gard for increasing labor and supply
@ln
turn upon the millions invested in
Kansas railroad properties. What
industry is there in the nation which
could have tolerated reducti of
one third in its income on large
volume of its business during the last
few years without coming TO grief2
Four years ago, as Governor of New
York, Justice Hughes, of the United
States Supreme Court, vetoed two
cent passenger law enacted by the
Legislature on the ground that it was
an arbitrary procedure which did not
take into consideration a fair return
upon the railroad properties of that
state-and few men stand higher in
the esteem of the American people
| than this great jurist who did per-
haps as much as any other man in
the country to break up illegal and
unfair practices on the part of large
corporations.
So, too, the Supreme Court of Penn
sylania held a two cent passenger fare
was unconstitutional in that state
because it was essentially conisca-
| tory. This high court took the posi-
tion that capital invested in railroads
as we'll as in other lines Of private
property, is entitled to earn per
cent on a fair capitalization and that
| the arbitrary enactment of two
cent fare rendered such return up
on the lines in Pennsylvania impos-
sible. 1t also took the position that
railroads not only have the right to
/ insist upon a fair return upon both
/ freight and passenger business, but
that it is their duty to do so in order
that one class of patrons may be COM
PEELED to pay an ineQuitable rate to
make up the losses sustained in an
other department.
If the arbitrary enactment of a two
cent passenger rate is unfair TO the
railroads of New York and Pennsyl-
vania. where there are large centers
of population and where the nations
greatest density Of freight tonnage
naturally exists, how much more uR-
fare is such 3 rate in purely agri'
cultural state like Kansas, which has
total population of only q million
and a half with no large manufacture
! ing centers?
The reader is familiar with the re
| cent per cent increase in freight
rates granted by the Interstate Com
i merce Commission to Eastern lines
and again, a. the commission wisely
says, if the precarious financial condi
lions created by the European va
renders this increase necessary. how
much more are the weaker Western
( linesAwhich are compelled to exis
! almost altogether upon an agricultur
al patronage entitled to some sub
d stantial reliefs
Facing Grave Problems
: PROFESSIONALLY we are facing som
of the gravest problems that eve
confronted us as nation and thes
' problems grow largely out of wa
e which is without precedent in his
n tory rrDe with a rapidly inrreaSin