Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1907 — Handicapped. [ARTICLE]

Handicapped.

“Alas,” moaned the leopard, "I can’t sneak out of recitations any more. I’m always spotted.”—Harvard Lampoon.

Roads Win Millions by At nil thins v Deadheads and Freight Rebates. How much have the railroads saved in revenue by abolishing deadheads?, Nobody knows exactly, not even thye railroads. All the same, it is certain that the passenger revenues have- been wonderfully stimulated by doing away With passes. On the southwestern lines, for instance, it was admitted by Mr. Stubbs that 30,000 passengers formerly rode free every year as “land agents.” An official of the Pennsylvania road admits that 50,000 trip passes were formerly issued at Philadelphia every year, covering merely the eastern division of that system. The deadheads on other lines have included thousands of politicians, most bf whom travel as much' as formerly, but are now paying fare. The latest official figures secured by the interstate commerce commission show tha passenger revenues of all the roads in tha United States as $472,694,732. One of the most important scalpers of the country once told the interstate commerce commission that the deadhead and halffare business of the railroads, if done on a paying basis, would add 25 per cent to the passenger revenues. This is probably an excessive estimate. On the other hand, Charles Francis Adams, when president of the Union Pacific road, said that he could add 10 per cent to the passenger revenues if he could do awgy with passes.

Taking the latter estimate as a basis for calculation, the abolishing of deadheads should add $4,726,947 to the passenger revenues of American roads. If the scalper’s estimate was nearer the truth, the revenues may easily have been inoras’ed by .$8,000,000 to $10,000,000. By far the greater increase in railroad revenues, however, during the current year will be from freight, which are no longer affected by Tebates. The gain is somewhere between $25,000,000 and $50,000,000.