Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-08-03
FREIGHT INCREASES ARE 10 BE PUT IN EFFECT AUGUST 25 All Passenger Fares to Go Higher on August 20,
 is Plan
|. C. (. MUST FIRST
 GIVE ITS APPROVAL
Roads Have Cost Government Billion and Half Dollars Since 1T. s. Took Them Over-Continue
 Rental PrOuram

! Washington, Aug. 2.-Thn new i passenger fares will probably be- vanced freight rates August 25, ac- cording to program outlined to- night by Alfred P Thom, general counsel for the Association of Rail road executives,
 Simultaneously with the effective ness of passenger fares, the increases in the charges for Pullman travel | and the rates on excess baggage and
 milk will be put in force.
 Railroad rate experts have begun the preparation of blanket rate tation casts on percentage basis These will be presented to the inter- state commerce commission five days prior to the proposed effective dates. The rate sheets will be sup ! plemented by printed tariffs con- te'' iiiiiS iolSo ioI All ltI anu
 on all commodities as soon as the physical task of working out the multitudinous details can be accom-
 plished. Until this work is done
 local rail officials will compute the new rates and charge for their re- spective territories on the basis of
 the existing rates plus the percent age increase authorized by the com
 mission.
 While this method of putting new rates into effect would be unusual
 railroad officials pointed to the sug- gestion of the commission that the higher charges be put in force "at
 as early a date as practicable" By putting the increased rates into effect prior to Sept. 1, the drain
 on the treasury under the guarantee provisions of the transportation act likely will be ended before expira- tion of the governments guarantee provisions would have cost the gov i ernment approximately $650,O00,0 ,0OO for the six months the passage of the present railroad law. Continue Rental.
 The government has been obliged
 to continue the $75O0O,0OO monthly
 rental payment which was irf effect during federal control, as we'll as to meet deficits, not covered by the rental amount, sustained by the in-
 dividual carriers. Included in the charges which will fall on the treas ury in these deficits, is that portion of the $6OO,000,000 wage award cov- ering labor costs from Mry to Sept. 1, when the guarantee expires. This was officially estimated at $206,- O00,O00 Thus, the American people will pay one third of the increased wages for railroad employees this year in taxes.
 With the amount gained the carri- CTS this year and the claims of the lines for compensation under their contracts with the roilroad adminis- tration the roads have cost the gov ernment approximately billion and half dollars since the president took over the properties, December 2S, 1917.
 Operation of the roads after Sept. 1. under the new rates will yield, according to accountants and tariff experts of the carriers, an an nual return of about $1,58O,O00, ,0O0. While these were preliminary fig
 ures, the railroad experts believed the freight revenues to be derived under the new charge would amount to 1,300, ,00O, ,000, and the income from passenger traffic $283, 3,0OO,OOO. Their estimates, it was explained, were based on the assumption that intra state rates would be increased cor
 respondingly with the advance authorized by the federal commission in intarStata rates