Arizona republican., 1922-06-18
SUNDAY MORNING. JUNE IS. 1922
It has been wisely said By a man
of great observation that there are
as mana miseries beyond riches as
ON this side of them.
-Isaak Walton.
This No Mans Land


.;vor. is the Cinderella; the railroads the un-
feeling stepmother. and California, the Northwest
and most of the other states the naughty sep-ssters
without waiting for the fairy godmother. we are
eoine out after the beautiful prince who shall reeve
No Of the discrimination which has so long oppressed
this region and retarded its development. NeVaua
and New Mexico are in the same boat with US anu
we are now trying to exchange our basic passenger
r,ta of aS for Sc which prevails outside our own
No Mans Land
We have not kicked hard enough In the past
and have not taken pains to show the inoustlce q
-. sisoinination we suffer. Perhaps the most of
MS have become so used to it that we do not reaize
tho extent of the injustice. Now and then some oil
-, .o,,o ocross nainfu and concrete example of it,
One was brought to light yesterday. 1t has no
intimate hearing upon the complaint of the basic
r.+e on which hearings are being held but 1t IL
,,nical of the general discriminatory practice
It NAV be stated that there is no such thng as
round-trip rate from Eastern points to Arizona
noints though certain times there are more OF less
generous round-trp rates out of Arizona. Inc ran
roads discourage people against coming mere pul
encourage them go away-to take money OUT VI
the state That policy has initiated from the oegin
ming against immigration and the colonization oi
the state.
nav his travelling expenses. He made inquiry of the
railroads and found that there was no round-trip
rate from Denver to Phoenix The one-way tare Is
14o74 mr. round trip sss5S. But there is round
tri, rate from Denver Los Angeles of S64. Ihere
is some special arrangement by which one desiring
IN travel from Denver to Phoenix and return anu
not caring to so to Los Angeles, may by the pur-
chase of a Los Angeles round-trip ticket ouy
"trip ticket Ash Fork to Phoenix Tor $3.50
thus he can travel from Denver to Phoenix ana
return for s67.s6. What justification the railroads
could offer this arrangement we cannot conceive
But they pretend to offer none
The roads seem to think they have a vested
right of plunder in this NO Mans Land" an ease
,er+ estab,ished bv usage We remember the time
when goods purchased in the East by Phoenix
merchant were actually and physically carried past
Ash Fork or Maricopa to Los Angeles and shipped
back to Phoenix, the merchant paying the through
rate to Los Angeles plus the high local rate from
Los Angeles to Phoenix.
In 1896 the railroads changed that in this respect
Goods. destined for Phoenix kicked off at the
junction point and sent to Phoenix without being
carted around by the way of Los Angeles. We also
remember freight official of of the roaos
visited the newspaper offices to make known this
concession to Phoenix he regarded 1t as evidence
OF the desire of the roads be helpful to us-tnat
is not anv longer to detour shipments to Phoenix
but nevertheless still to charge for service whlcn
they would no longer perform. This man actually
believed that the roads were performing a generous
act for which we should be duly appreclatlVe
The whole inter- mountain region has always
been subjected to oppression and dscrmlhation' ou
the territory embraced by the states Oh Arizona
Nevada and New Mexico have been peculiarly SUD-
,acted n II Now as to passenger rates. We be-
,;sve u has heen amply shown that the train mile
rernuneratiye to the roads in this region than
anv other with the basic rate of AS running to s. 6,
and we think as much some branch lines
-ri+bor anv excuse which the roads have ever pre-
tended to offer.
rhe roads are clamoring for reductions OF wages.
Not long ago the railroad labor board ordered reduc
tions amounting s4S.o00,O0o. Since then there has
heen another order affecting other branches of the
service amounting to $27O00 900. These reductions
,n1 to railway employees everywhere. to those
~ this mo Mans Land which is laboring under
high and discriminatory rates and where the ROADS
~a earning more per train mile than anywhere else
in the country.
n i no wonder that the roads from the earliest
t;n,as have had to complain Of the hostility Of the
,a,bic They have invited any other attitude;
tbe have never made bid for the public's good will
"An the traffic will bear once said to be
tba elogan of the roads when their power of rate
making was unrestricted 1t is possible that that
logan was never uttered. 1t may be apocryphal
M that saving attributed to of the Vanderbilts
.tb nublic be dspnned," and which he disclaimed
~. ,he words in either case are of moment. The
cotton of the roads have been more eloquent and
Illuminating than any words could have been
~. IL et,;@ liz