Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1915-01-27

is SO well supplied with railroad
, facilities as is Iowa-there being few
points in the state which are more
than a dozen miles removed from
steam road facilities-and that it is
Of the highest Importance to the peo-
pc that this network of railroads be
given sufficient income so they may
be maintained in a high state of eff
ficiency should be apparent to every
| thinking man.
AS to whether the railroads of To-
wa are Justified IN asAlng for some
substantial increase in freight ana
passenger rates, we wish to cite the
recent decision of the Interstate
Commerce Commission in granting a
per cent increase in freight rates
to Eastern lines-a fact with which
the reader is doubtless already ia
miIiar. In rendering this decision,
the Commission took occasion to
point out the precariOus financial con
ditions 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 point
ed out thu unremunerative passenger
incomes which obtain almost upon
every hand, and especially upon the
local traffic within . the different
states. II the Commission was cor
rect in its view that the Eastern
lines were entitled to an increase of
S per cent. in freight rates-and the
decision has been applauded in bust
ness circles throughout the Nation
then how much more are the Western
lines entitled to an increase? The
population per square mile of Mas
sachusetts is AL, Of New York 204,
of Pennsylvania 1871, of Ohio 122,
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
er by the legislature. >on the ground
that it was an arbitrary procedure
which did not take into consideration
a fair return upon the railroad prop
critics Of that state-and few men
stand higher i'm the esteem of the
American people than this great jur-
list who did perhaps as much as any
other one man in the country to
break up illegal AMI unfair practices
on the part Of large corporations.
So, too, the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania held that two-cent
pass enger fare, was unconstitutional
in that state because it was essen
TALLY confiscatory. This high court
took the position that capital invest
ed in railroads is entitled to earn six
per cent ON a fair capitalization and
that the arbitrary enactment of two
cent fare rendered impossible such
a return upon the lines in Pennsyl-
vania. 1t also took the position that
railroads not only have the right to
insist upon a fair return 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 compelled to pay an 7nequit-
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 Pennsyl-
vania, where there are large centers
Of population and where the nations
greatest density of freight tonnage
naturally exists, how much more I'M
fair is such a rate in purely agri-
cultural state like Iowa?
AS a result of the action of Gov
passenger fare bill in New York, and
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
declaring it confiscatory in that
0f
York and Pennsylvania are today op-
Grating under two and one-half cent
passenger fare, while in Iowa they
are compelled to content themselves
with two cents per mile. In the
m ,antime, in further confirmation OF
the population figures cited above,
the. total population of New York
State is 9,712,954, in Pennsylvania 1t
is S,1O7,942, while in Iowa it is only
2,222,472. Surely if the great Pennsyl-
vania System can establish the fact
that it is justly entitled to two and
one-half cents per mile for carrying
passengers, the Iowa roads, with
their thousands Of miles of ex-
pensive branch lines in a territory
almost purely agricultural and with
no large cities or manufacturing cen
tiers should have little difficulty 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 OPP
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 rail-
roads can perform the impos sible-
and in the final analysis the peo-
pie get the kind Of railroad service