Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1915-01-28

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
perhaps as much as any other one
man in the country to break up IL
legal 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 essential
ly confiscatory. This high court took
the position that capital invested in
railroads is entitled to earn six per
cent on a fair capitalization and that
the arbitrary enactment of a two
cent fare rendered impossible such a
return upon the lines in Pennsylvan-
la. 1t also took the position that rail-
roads not only have the right to in
sist upon fair return upon both To-
cal freight and passenger business,
but that it is their duty to do so in
order that one class of patrons may
not be compelled to pay an inequit-
able rate to make up the losses sus-
tanned in another department.
If 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 ma
tons greatest density of freight ton
mage naturally exists, how much
more unfair is such a rate in a pure
ly agricultural state like Iowa?
AS a result of the action of Gov
InUhnc in n fnn
passenger fare bill, in New York and
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
declaring it confiscatory in that state
the railroads of both New York and
Pennsylvania are today operating
under a two and one-half cent pas
senger fare, while in Iowa they are
compelled to content themselves with
two cents per mile. In the mean
time, in further confirmation of the
population figures cited above, the
total population of New York State
is 9,712,954, in Pennsylvania it is
S,107,942, while in Iowa it is only
2,222,472. Surely If the great Penn
sylvania System can establish the
fact that it is justly entitled to two
and one-half cents per mile for carry
ing passengers, the Iowa roads with
their thousands of miles of expen-
sive branch lines in territory almost
purely agricultural and with no large
cities or manufacturing centers
should have little difficulty in estab-
fishing 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 op-
GRAFTON, taxes and maintenance-and
in asking this they are pleading not
merely for simple justice, but upon
this depends the character of service
which they will be able to furnish
the public from this time forward
There is no magic art by which
railroads can perform the impossible
and in the final analysis the peo-
pie get the kind of railroad service
they pay for. just as they do in other
realms of merchandising.
Conditions Must Be Faced
In his opinion given in the East
ern Rate Advance Case, Commission
er Daniels of the Interstate Commerce
Commission referred to the fact that
the maximum freight and passenger
rates established in many states, dur
ing the last few years means that,
with the ever-increasing cost of OPP
Grafton, the railroads of the country
are facing a condition which means
that they can neither give adequate
service to the public or make such a
showing upon their properties as will
enable them to borrow the millions
necessary for future betterments and
improvements. In conclusion, he
says it is situation which must be
faced, not trifled with"
Once more we wish to impress up
on the reader) that the railroads
should not bF confused with private