, 1921-01-27
MUST MAKE SHOWING OF,
PROFITABLE OPERATION
No Railroad Can BE Forced ia Operate
at a Loss, is Recent Decision of
United States Supreme Court.

In opposing the plan of the Morse
Brothers Conrpany to abandon and
dismantle Tho. local railrond line If is
4 going TO he souarelv nm ia tha naonIe
of this vicinity to show i'm n conclu.
sive manner that the rniIroad if con.
Quoted bv practical railrood mon
could be operated with profit ia the
owners. Upon tIiis one point will
likely hinge the decision of the nublir
service authorities at the time of the
hearing. According TO Congressman
F.. w. Mondell. the l.. s Supreme Coprt
has recently decided that - railroad
clearly shown to he operating at n loss
because of lack of notronoee in Tho
territory served, cannot be forced to
operate by an order of the Interstate
4 Commerce Commission. hence the only
effective argument TO present in onno-
sition TO the action taken by the Morse
Brothers Co. will necessarily be along
the lines of IA showing to prove that
the railroad could be operated at a
profit.
Congressman MondeII is exerting
every effort ON npnalf OF the nnOnlp or
this section in opposing he abandon
ment of the road.. and i'm 81 recnnt
letter to The sun he outlines what If
will be necessary TO do i'm order to
prepare the necessary case before fine
commission. A few extracts from his
letter are reproduced Herewith:
"Referring TO the proposed abandon
ment of the Saratoga & Encamnment
railroad. I am Informed that tba onnl;-
cation filed with the Interstate Com
merce Commission has been fornd de
f~ective. and that it viii require some
little time to perfect If. so we ore likely
to have six weeks or two months before
the date for the hearing is SET This
should give ample time to sufficiently
arouse the public interest. and tn
properly orgnnize. : Proper organization
is of the utmost Importance in order
to properly prepare the defense.
1T is important that we present to
the Commission at the proper fine de-
tailed information showing he oreo
in acres or square miles. that is served
by the S. < e.. and that we will have
no other railroad service shouId rho
line be abandoned. We must show the
population of this territory for 1910
and 1920. so that the increase may he
shown. 1t would be most effective IN
subdivide the area served into gray.
ing and producing lands the opproxi-
mate number of livestock Skinned out
the area under cultivation minerals
timber and all other merchantable com.
modities. We should also set out tba
condition. industriaIlv. I'm which tbe
territory would he left shouI1 tba road
be abandoned.
at will require some labor ma ov
pense to make such a showing hut in
my opinion ii Will he absolutely na,es.
sary if we are to be succession The
Emitted States Supreme co,,rt hos ;,s+
decided that a railroad clearly shown
to be operating at "A loss because Of
lack Of patronage in the territory ser
we'd, connot be forced to operate by AN
order of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission. We must show, therefore,
that the source of the territory are
SUFFICIENT, ana that with proper man
agement the road could be made to
pay expenses"
Tine local committee has gathered
much data along the lines suggested by
Mr.. Mondell and this information will
all be placed in the hands of Attorney
Armstrong of Rawlins. who will repre-
sent the people Of the valley at the
hearing before the Commission. a
special effort will be made by the To-
cal organization TO gather all possible