The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1915-01-27

IOWA RAILROADS PAY OUT MILLIONS OF DOL
LARS ANNUALLY FOR LABOR, FUEL, SUP
PLIES AND TAXES.

|
| ing this decision the commission tool
occasion to point out the precarious
financial conditions which have beer
brought about by the great foreign
war and which have added enormous
| ly to the former troubles Of American
railroads. So, too, the commission
pointed out the unremunerative pass
en.er incomes which obtain almost
upon every hand, and especially upon
the local traffic within the different
states: If the commission was correct
in it's view that the eastern lines were
entitled to an increase of S per cent
in freight rates-and the decision has
been applauded in business circles
throughout the nation--then how
much more are the western lines en-
titled to an increase? The population
per square mile of Massachusetts 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 two
cent passenger rate law enacted by
the legislature on the ground that it
was an arbitrary procedure which did
not take into consideration fair re-
turn 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 illegal and unfair
practices on the part OF large corpora
tons.
So, too. the supreme court of Penn
sylyania held that two-cent passen-
ger fare was unconstitutional in that
state because it was essentially con-
fiscatory. This high court took the
position that capital invested in rail-
roads is entitled to earn 6 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 Pennsylvania. 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 inequitable rate to make up
The losses sustained in another depart |
nent
If the arbitrary enactment of a two
cent passenger rate is unfair to the
railroad 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 rate in purely agri- |
cultural state like Iowa?
AS result of the action of Governor
Hughes in vetoing a two cent passen-
ger fare bill, in New York and the
supreme court of Pennsylvania de-
claring it confiscatory in that state,
he railroads of both New York and
are today operating un-
Ter two and one-half cent passen-|
ger fare, while in Iowa they are COM
,elled to content themselves with two
cents per mile. In the meantime, in |
'urther confirmation of the population
figures cited above, the total popula-
ion of New York state is 9,172,954, in
Pennsylvania it is S,107,942, while in
iowa it is only 2.222,472 Surely if the
great Pennsylvania system can estab.
ish the fact that it is justly entitled |
% two and one-balf cents per mile for |
carrying passengers, the Iowa roads |
with their thousands Of miles OF eX.
lensiye branch lines liz q territory al 4
most purely agricultural and with no
arge cities or manufacturing centers
should have little difficulty in estab-
fishing the justice of their plea.