The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1920-11-30
RAILROAD
DISCRIMINATION

DfSt hlMtNAllDN
The Nevada Public Service Com
mission appeals for support and aid
from the people of the State. jim the
railroad rate matters which are to
come before 1t next month. The COM
mission should receive this support
in any form citizens feel able to sup
ply 1t. Suggestions. needs of the
%populace, and instances of wrongful
or exorbitant charges should be made
known by citizens who have them in
mind. A communication to the Pub
lie Service Commission at this time
will be an act of good citizenship. 1t
will be moral support of a distinctly
valuable nature.
One man., or a small set of men.
cannot act all the time for a popula-
ton of seventy-seven thousand with
out a bit of encouragement or an
expression of appreciation or inter
est. Lacking cooperation by citizens
a commission cannot help becoming
perfunctory. i~ll-posted and careless,
If not discouraged or even vicious to
Il QtSfCC. IL III INK WI hpf tAS t0f'
roads are the only ones to show any
interest in matters coming up, a
merely human commission is apt to
become interested in, and perhaps fa-
vorable to. the side Of the matter pre-
scented before 1t.
The railroads have a bad strange
hold on Nevada and two or three
other states. A vast majority of legis-
lators at Washington have no con-
ception of actual conditions in these
sparsely settled states-and the popu-
lation of Nevada is sparsest. Rail-
roads make the claim, among others,
that the expense of operating lines
across a vast territory where small
business is to be expected. is the
cause of higher charges being neces-
sary.
This is true in a sense. but it IS
not true when facts are cons dered
The answer to the railroads is that
they never built their lines across
Nevada in contemplation of business
might be secured from settlers
or miners in this state-that is, what
is now technically termed the "intra-
traffic. The railroads were
constructed for the profits to be de-
rived from transcontinental hauls, or
Interstate traffic. They should be
expected now to look to that source
for profitable business. without stoop-
ing to the destructive penuriousness
of endeavoring to squeeze the last
possible cent out of the Nevada citi-
zen-the man least able to stand the
extra charge.
Railroads appear to be proceeding
upon the theory that while they have
Nevada on the run they will keep her
running. After a determined strug-
gle to keep u people off the owen
lent and well equipped fast trains
for what good reason it would would
hard to tell - which endeavor was
frustrated by the Nevada Public Serv-
ice Commission, another tack has
been taken by putting on an addition
al land very i~nconvenient) train for
use of the denizens of the Sagebrush
State, and again we are ordered to
keep off two good trains.
If we want to go to Reno, the me-
tropolis, we may go all right, but we
must arrive there at night. If the
hotels happen to be full, we are out
of luck, that's all. We may waste our
day riding on a slow train, and then
sit in the park until daylight if we
want to. The railroad put on the
train especially for US, didn't it? Well,
then, we should be content to use it.
And because we don't use very
many trains. and can't use the good
ones, we ought to pay about seven and
two-tenths cents a mile for riding at
all-more than any other people in
the United States have to pay!
The Silver State says again, support
the Public Service Commission in any
way you are able to. Moral support
is worth much.