Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1915-01-07
RAILROADS OF KANSAS !,
LOSING THOUSANDS
pay MILLIONS TO PEOPLE in
WAGES, TAXES AND FOK
SUPPLIES EVERY YEAK

The Rock Island filed data show
ing that 1t lost $50 $50 during 1918
ON it's Kansas freight and passenger
business and that Of this amount Its
loss in the passenger department was
s2s,o7S. That its general losses are
rapidly increasing is also shown by
the fact that 1t only earned 2.26 per
cent on its Kansas property in 1913
on both interstate and state business
while in 1914 1t earned only 1.5 per
cent on its Kansas investment.
The Santa Fe filed evidence show
ing that in 1918 1t lost $76,S3S.27
ON its Kansas freight and passenger
business, while in 1914 the deficit
climbed to $125,673.sS. In view OF
these facts, is there a fair-minded
citizen in the state who Will contend
that Kansas railroads are not en-
titled to restoration of three cent
passenger fares?
Losses Growing Continually
From these figures. which are
open to absolute proof, it can be seen
that the Kansas lines are not only
sustaining a loss amounting to hum
dreds of thousands Of dollars an
nually on their passenger traffic. out
that with an ever-increasing cost OF
operation these losses are constantly
growing heavier-and IL the service
to the public is to remain efficient
and adequate, and If the railroad in
vestments of the state are not TO be
driven to the point Of confiscation'
the people of Kansas must, through
their alternating authorities con-
sent to a return to the three cent
Messenger fare which was arbitrarily
suspended by the old board Of rail-
road commissioners in 1907 without
a due regard for increasing labor
land supply cost or an adequate IN
Iterest return upon the millions IN
vested in Kansas railroad proper
ties. What industry is there in the
nation which could have tolerated a
reduction of one-third in its income
ON a large volume Of its business
during the last few years without
looming to grief?
Four years ago, as governor OF
New York, Justice Hughes of the
United States supreme court, vetoed
two cent passenger law enacted by
1.-THE legislature on the ground that 1t
was an arbitrary procedure which
did not take into consideration
fair return upon the railroad proper
ties of that state-and few men
stand higher in the esteem OF the
American people than this great 1ur-
list who did perhaps as much as any
Iother 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 fare was unconstitutional
in that state because it was essen
TALLY confiscatory. This high court
took the position that capital invest
ed in railroads, as we'll as in other
lines of private property, is entitled
to earn 6 per cent on fair cap1tall-
cation and that the arbitrary enact
ment of two cent fare rendered
such a return upon the lines in Penn
sylvania impossible. 1t also took the
position that railroads not only have
the right to insist upon fair return
upon both freight and passenger
: business. but that it is their duty to
} do so in order that one class OF pat
rons may not be compelled to pay an
ineuuitable rate to make up the
losses sustained in another depart
; ment.
II the arbitrary enactment OF a
two cent passenger rate is unfair TO
the railroads of New York and Penn-
, sylvania, where there are large cen
tiers of population and where the
nations greatest density of freight
tonnage naturally exists, how much
: more unfair is such rate in a pure
" agricultural state like kansas
: which has a total population OF only
3 a million and a half with no large
manufacturing centers?
} The reader is familiar with the re-
cent s per cent increase in freight
5 rates granted by the Interstate COM
a merce. commission to eastern lines
ana again, as the commission wisely
says, II the precarious financial con-
ditions created by the European war
renders this increase necessary, how
much more are the weaker western
: II,raa-whIch are compelled to exist