Evening star., 1915-02-10
COMMUTERS FIGHT
ONRATES RENEWED
/. C. C.. Hears Arguments and
Receives Briefs of
Both Sides.
RAILROAD DECLARES
CHARGES REASONABLE
Patrons Declare Road Has Held
Back Facts and Failed to
Prove Case.

The third round of the battle be-
tween the Metropolitan Branch Com
muters' Association and the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad, in which the former
is seeking to prevent the road from
putting into effect proposed increases
in Communication rates, was begun short
ly before 3 o'clock this afternoon. when
attorneys for both sides started the
argument in the case before the inter
state commerce commission. John B.
DaIsh. local attorney, is arguing for
the commuters, while William Aims
worth Parker is taking the railroad s
side
Both presented today their briefs
covering the essential points which
they dwelt upon in their arguments.
Assuming that the proposed rates for
the sixty-trip tickets are reasonable, in
view of the testimony adduced by the
railroads witnesses that the business
part of the brief filed on behalf of the
railroad by Mr. Parker deals with the
question of the rate on the 1So-trlp
quarterly ticket, declaring that its res
toration would be in violation of law,
because il creates favored class.
There is no real justification for the
existence of a 1sO-trip quarterly ticket
on a lower basis than the sixty-trip
ticket" he says. THE class of passen-
gers using both is the same.
The only difference between them is
that the 1S0-trip commuter gets dis
count of 25 per cent, which is nothing
more or less than wholesale rate
This is an unusual and unwarranted
which is fair and reasonable, and is
not attacked. The 180-trip ticket in
effect creates a favored class and is
unlawful on that ground
Cites I. G. c. Decision.
To substantiate his point he cites a
case decided by >the commission in
which a complainant attacked the ac-
ton of the Pennsylvania and Baltimore
and Ohio roads for eliminating 1s0-trip
tickets between Washington and Balti-
more and certain intermediate points.
1.-The commission held" says the brief.
that if the defendants had discontinued
all their communication, excursion and
round-trip tickets on the Washington
branch, it would have jurisdiction to de-
,ermine and establish reasonable COM
mutation rates, but it had no jurisdiction
to require the establishment or the
restoration of the 1S0-trip ticket. and
would have had none even if it had had
rate-making power. since that would in
effect compel the granting of special
and lower rate for the benefit OF par
sustain conclusively the right Of the car
rier to abrogate the 1S0-trip ticket
The brief is full of figures on the
operation of trains. passengers hauled
and revenues and expenses, designed to
show that the proposed increases are
reasonable While it is asserted that
the commuter business over the Met
ropOlitan branch is not remunerative,
yet the brief puts the railroad in the
position of increasing the rates and
them
it says. Even under the advanced
rates the Communication business will
not be remunerative.'
The controverted point in the pres
ent controversy, it is argued, is not
the "reasonableness Of the increase in
the rate" but the ''reasonableness of
the increased rate and the brief says
that the local commuters have for
than the commission would prescribe.
so that even a drastic advance would
not be objectionable.
Business Improbable.
"The unprofita bleness of the commu-
tation business into and out of Wash
ington, considered as a whole" the
document says further. 'is due. in part,
to the unusually low basis of rates
and, in part, to the small number of
persons carried. The object with which
Communication rates are made is to in
crease travel"
The assertion is made that the pro-
posed rate is lower than any commuta-
ton rate of similar class now in ef-
feet on any steam railroad and figures
purporting to substanIiate the point are
cited in the brief.
The abolition of the twenty-four-trip
and fifty-trip tickets and the substitu-
ton of the ten-trip tickets at an in
crease is dismissed in brief para
graph on the ground that they were