Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1897 — FACTS ABOUT RAILROAD TRAVEL [ARTICLE]

FACTS ABOUT RAILROAD TRAVEL

What Zt Coats to Carry Passengers on Western Road*, There is a surprising amount of mis- * information among (he people regarding the cdat of carrying passenger* on railroad trains and to this condition of the public mind is donbtless dne mucii of the sentiment in faTor of lower rates, which ia finding expression . through bill* for sweeping reductions in the Legislatures of many of the Western States this winter. Mr. P. S. Eustis, General Passenger Agent of thfe C., B. & Q. K. R., in an argument before the House Committee of the Missouri Legislature last week on the two-cent bill, gave some valuable- and surprising information about the passenger business in the West. His statements were based upon the reports of the InterState Commerce Commission and the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of Missouri, and are therefore beyond question. Mr. Eustis showed in the first place that the volume of passenger traffic on railroads is dependent upon the density and wealth of population in the territory through which it runs, and then compared the population of Missouri and the traffic resulting from it with the same figures in other States, thus clearly illustrating the theory of his point. The following table showing the relative population apd rates is interesting in this connection: Population Passenger lation per revenue per sq. mile, mile of R.R. Missouri 39 $977 00 Illinois... 6S 2,075 00 Ohio 90 1,951 00 New York 122 4,513 00 New England... 200 4,422 00 Mr. Eustis made the statement that, while the named rate in most of the Western States was three cents per mile, the aetpal amount received is considerably less than that sum. This is due to the fact that the railroad having a long line between two points cannot charge more than the rate fixed by a road having a shorter line, and to excursion rates demanded by the people, all of which reduce the average rate materially. ' But the most surprising assertion made by Mr. Eustis was that the Western roads, with possibly one or two individual exceptions, carry passengers at an actual loss. The St. Louis, Keokuk and Northwestern was cited as an instance. Mr. Eustis produced a statement of the expense on that road to show that the cost per passenger per mile exceeded three cents, the legal rate. The report of the Interstate Commerce Commission referring to the railroads of Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and that part of the Dakotas and Missouri lying east of the Missouri river shows that it cost the railroads two and three onethousandths cents per mile to carry passengers, exclusive of any charge for taxes, rents, interest on mortgages and other items of the kind. Mr. Eustis declared that a two-cent flat rate in Missouri would reduce the average to one and three-quar-ters cents, if pot lower. It was shown that lower rates do not largely increase traffic, and instances were cited where reductions from four cents and three and one-half cents per mile did not result in increased travel. Answering the question as to whether rates in Europe were not lower than in this country, Mr. Eustis showed that while the third-class rate on some European lines is lower, the second-class rates, which are paid by the great traveling public, are higher than American rates. The conveniences of second and third-class travel in Europe are not to be compared with those of America iu point •f comfort and convenience.