The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1915-11-23
SHORTL|NF ROADS
Want more PAY

The Western Association of Short
line Railroads will appeal to Congress
1T the coming session for relief from
the present method of fixing the pay
allotted to the railroads for carrying
the mails. Several of these roads are
IN Nevada. In view of the many
charges and counter-eharges between
the railroads, the Postoffiee Depart
ment and certain patrons of the SER
wee, it is strange that this matter has
not long ago been more thoroughly
threshed out, not merely with reference
TO the shorter lines, but to the trans
continental and interstate lines as
well. The Interstate Commerce COM
mission has been given full power Of
regulation over passenger and freight
charges. The carriers are limited TO
rates fixed by that commission, whose
function it is to ascertain operating
costs. The commission is responsible
to the people for a policy that win give
them a satisfactory service without
excessive rates. It has corrected many
abuses on the part of the railroads, and
has in other instances gone so far as
to make proper service with proper
maintenance impossible. It has 40
into the hands of a receiver.
The commission has, nevertheless,
shown disposition to correct it's own
errors when pointed out, and the pub
lie has more confidence in the l. G. G
ii matters of equity between the people
and the railroads than they have in the
Fostoffice Department, which is always
more or less closely allied with poll
ties-generally more-and whose chief
is apt to be looking more keenly for a
record for himself than for abstract
justice or permanent efficiency, in
either postal or general transportation
service. He is one man, always a poll
t,eian; the commission is composed Of
seven, all as independent of politics
as the members of the Supreme Court,
end presumably appointed with special
reference to their qualification for the
important service required of them.
The Tribune will not assume to pass
upon the rates of mail pay now exist
ing, but the fact that the roads, or a
group of them, prefer the /. G. G. as
an arbiter rather than the Postoffies
Department, would indicate that they
believe, at least, that they have a
grievance. The private shipper cannot
dictate terms to the railroad company,
nor can the company dictate terms to
the private shipper. Then what posi-
BILE logic or CONSISTENCY is there in per-
mitting an executive department of
the government, with single head, to
cverrule the authority or question the
integrity and fairness of that very
commission which the same govern
ment has established as court of ar
b;tration between the railroads and the
peoples If the government itself, as
represented by the Postoffice Depart
ment, has no confidence in the I. c. c.,
how can the government expect the
people to accept its rulings without
complaints If the /. C. c., after it's 28
years of experience and with its big
corps of transportation experts, can
not find where equity lies, as betweoa
the railroads and the Postoffice Depart
ment, the commission should be dis
solved and its work transferred to ths
Postmaster-G General. Let the govern
nent and the people have the same ar
bitter, and the sauce for the goose be
sufficient for the gander.-Goldfeld
Tribune