Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1915-01-29
COMPARING EASTERN AND
WESTERN RAILWAY RATES
Iowa Railroads Pay Out Millions of Dollars Annually
for Labor, Fuel, Supplies and Taxes.


road facilities-and that it is of the
highest Importance to the people tina,
this network Of railroads be given
sufficient income so they may be
maintained in high state Of eff
cheney should be apparent to every
thinking man.
AS to whether the railroads Of To-
wa are justified in asking for some
substantial increase in freight and
passenger rates, we wish to cite the
recent decision Of the Interstate
| Commerce Commission IN granting
a s per cent increase in freight rates
to Eastern roads-a fact with which
the reader is doubtless already IA
milia1 In rendering this decision,
the Commission took occasion to
point out the precarious financial
| conditions which have been brought
about by the great foreign war, and
! which have added enormously to the
| former troubles Of American rail-
| roads. So, too, the Commission
| pointed out the unremunerative
passenger incomes which obtain al
most upon every hand, and especial
ly upon the local traffic within the
different statesIf the Commission was
correct in it's view that the Eastern
lines were entitled to an increase Of
5 per cent in freight rates-and the
decision has been applauded in
business circles throughout the ma
tion-then how much more are the
Mt cd 70
The population per square mile Of
Massachusetts, is AL, of New York
2c4, of Pennsylvania ISL, of Ohio
1922, while in Iowa it is only 40. In
view Of these facts can there be any
doubt Of the justice Of the plea made
by the railroads of Iowa at this
time /?
New York and Pennsylvania.
Four years ago, as Governor of
New York, Justice Hughes, Of the
United States Supreme Court. vetoed
a two-cent passenger rate law enact
ed by the legislature on the ground
that it was an arbitrary procedure
which did not take into considera-
ton fair return upon the railroad
properties Of that state-and few
raen stand higher in the esteem OF
the American people than this great
jurist who did perhaps as much as
any other one man in the country to
break up illegal and unfair practices
on the part of large corporations.
So. too, the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania held that a two-cent
passenger fair was unconstitutional
in that state because 1t was essen-
TALLY confiscatory. This high court
took the position that capital in
vested in railroads is entitled to earn
six per cent on fair capitalization
and that the arbitrary enactment of
a two-cent fare rendered impossible
such a return upon the lines in
Pennsylvania. 1t also took the po-
sition that railroads not only have
the right to insist upon a fair re-
turn upon both local freight and
passenger business, but that it is
their duty to do So in order that one
class Of patrons may not be COM
PEELED to pay an inequitable rate to
make up the losses sustained in
another department
If the arbitrary enactment Of a
two-cent passenger rate is unfair to
the railroads Of New York and
Pennsylvania, where there are large
ccEters Of population and where the
nations greatest density Of freight
tonnage naturally exists, how much
more unfair is such rate in a |
purely agricultural state like Iowa ?
AS result Of the action Of Gov
ernor Hughes in vetoing two-cent
passenger fare bill, in New York
and the Supreme Court of Pennsyl-
vania declaring it confiscatory in
that state, the railroads of both New
York and Pennsylvania are today
operating under two and one-half
cent passenger fare, while in Iowa
they are compelled to- content them
selves with two cents per mile. In
the meantime, in further confirma-
ton Of the population figures cited
above, the total population Of New
York state is 9,712,954, in Pennsyl-
vania it is s,107.s42, while in Iowa
great Pennsylvania System can es-
the fact that it is Justly en-
titled to two and one-half cents per |
mile for carrying passengers, the To-
wa roads with their thousands of
miles Of expensive branch lines in
a territory almost purely agricultural
anI with no large cities Or manufact-
uling centers should have little diff
Guilty in establishing the justice Of
their plea ?
All the railroads Of Iowa ask is
that the local traffic shall bear its
just proportion of the expenses of
operation, taxes and maintenance
am in asking this the are pleading
not merely for simple justice, but up
OH this depends the character of
service which they will be be able |
to furnish the public from this time