' PAGB 2i
UAo TJobraska. 'Independent i
.. FEBRUARY 0,' 1905
distinguished people who - travel jfor
nothing. , ; .
The Chicago Record-Herald, of Feb
ruary first, reports six members of the
' Illinois general assembly who refuse
railway passes. The -remaining -147
members ride on passes. The six meni
"bers who refuse to be distinguished
'with the railway badge are In disgrace,
.and are no doubt referred to by those
"who ride for nothing, as well , as by
the railroad manager, as enemies of
railroading. The average man is glad
to get a pass and If his social or of
ficial position is such as to command
one, he feels elated. The time will
soon be, however,' when the public will
realize. that a pass is prima facie evi
dence of bribery when made to a pub
lic official and U3ed by him. The time
will soon come when today's civiliza-
, .1t . - j.
uuu win puuu pasa lruui uie luma
hawk period to that of common school,
commn sense in Its history. The idea
is not , meant to be conveyed that all
men In public position who use passes
are dishonest nor that they do not
rank well up among our citizenship,
but the writer does mean to say that
few of us realize what a blight is put
upon the finer sense " of manhood by
passes. " Small things make up the sum
of one's character, as - minute forces
of nature build the rose upon the rose
bush, and the minute cutworm of the
pass can not enter the bud without
blasting "it. : In strict fact It is a dis
honor to hold a pass and an Insult to
be offered one.
Suppose some enterprising reporter
for our daily journals would Interview
the Nebraska executive officers, judges,
legislators and county officers regard
ing passes; interview them now and
then one year from now. You will find
not 10 per cent who will admit using
passes now, will admit it one year
later. When our public men feel it
to be a disgrace. It will oe done away
with. The half-fare permit to the min
ister is a disgrace to' a poorly paid,
hard-working class. The writer once
asked a railway man why ministers
got half -rates and waa-informed that
their holy calling and influence for
good were recognized by . the railway
management and because of that, the
courtesy was extended to all denomi
nations alike. The writer was deeply
impressed with the generosity and dis
cernment as to agencies of good dis
covered by the railroads and felt that
he might have been a little harsh in
his judgment of their motives. But
sad to relate the very next vday he
found an example of a ward politician
and one who controlled saloon votes
riding on a pass. Thus was the newly
made idol shattered. This made the ,
writer think that the wires must have;
been crossed between the railway-idea J
of hell and heaven and that the man in I
the wine cellar got full fare while th
man in, the vtnyard only got a half
rate. Take a minister at Kearney wh
travels for instance as far as Omaha
and back about once a year. His
half-fare saves - him 46. - If- ha- keeps
himself and family warm . part' of the
viar tm horns five tons of coal at -an
over-charge of $3 per ton, freight rate.
and thus loses $i5, but aare not say
anvthiner about it because of being ft
half-fare friend of r the railway manr
azement. This kind of business sense
shows that -the minister is a child and
there is something of divine justice in
his half-fare permit, after an. me
question is, is there a scientific rem
edy for this railway abuse and destruo
tion of man's finer nature? The writer
claims there is. and will develop it
a; . J. GUSTIN.
Kearney, Neb; -
, , If any one will take the trouble to
study the interstate commerce statis
tical reports they will find that in
1902, 1,200,315,787 tons of freight, were
reported carried by all the roads of
the United States. The gross revenue
from that tonnage was $1,207,228,845.
(See page 76 of 190? report.) In other
words, a slight revenue over $1.00 per
ton was received: In other words, had
a freight ' stamp been '. purchased and
cancelled for each 100 pounds of freight
shipped, a 5c stamp, with the saving
such a simple' means of computing
revenue would have made for the
roads, we' would have been able to
have sent all the tonnage that was
carried, given the roads all the reve
nues they got, and the consumer would
have paid but 5c a hundred.
This is no wild dream, it is a simple
mathematical fact which is proven by
the statistical report compiled from
the ralroad's sworn reports to the in
terstate commerce commission.. From
the first year to the present, and the
average for all that time, notwith
standing the recent raise in freight
rates, does not exceed 5 cents per one
hundred pounds during the seventeen
years', report. Tables are given here
with showing the ten groupings in
which the statistician has divided the
United States. His idea being to com
pile the statistics t in each locality of
the United States with a view to ac
commodating the railroad men in their
ideas that one locality was a much
more expensive one than another ia
which to conduct railroading.
r ' ' 1TtTTt COMMCOCC COMMtMIOM
-' t rr i ' - ' '"-...,
- i- t t n r
GROUP MAP. INTERSTATE COMMERCE REPORTS.
.STATISTICS OF KAIL WAYS IN THE UNITED STATES.
Summary Showing Public Service Of Railways By GRours. 1902
. Freight Service
Passenger Service.
Average Rpnn- VT , . (Average -Average Revenue
Revenue revenue ""rj Number of Average Average - Numrxr of number Average Revenue revenue per trala
Territory Per Ion lroui coch peL..Y"a , tons of number haul Territory passengers of pas- journey per passen- from each mile
covered per mile . ton of t freight car- of tons in per ton covered ? carried sengera per ger per - passenger passeng'r
. . V fwigbt Vrnfn, led train - ' , in train passeng'r mile carried train
' , " - carried ' wauw ' - - - .-' . - -
" Cents- Dollars Dollars . " ' ' Cents Dollars Dollars
Groupl... --'.'1.172 .99027 ' 2.42133 , 55,711,126 20(741 84.07 Group I... ........ ; 115,314,773 7 61 18.75 . 1.798 . 83710 1.2736)1
ronp II .664 -.79160 . 2.64410- ' ; 876,492,715 : 378.36 111.82 Group II 242,345,705 63 21.75 1.785 .89113 l.lu76
Group 111 .676 .. - .65241 2.09018 283,953,097 . 361.65 112.49 Group III.. , 70,591,949 ' 44 89.77 1.910 .76362 1.04424
Group IV .650 -1.2578 2.05594 41,251,8(50 314 72 189.07 Group IV 4 16.670,619 34 38.72 2.254 . 87973 . 95795
Group V .816 1 21289 1.80255 - 79,555,332 219 96 146.78 Group V 30,519,223 32 39.58- " 2.291 .91258 .90371
Group VI ............. .787 1 17199 - 2.2141 210,16927 275.69 . 142.20 Group VI.. ..., - 95,697.8511 39 85.46 2 088 . 74205 .99614
Group VII .994 - 2.3J765 2.61781 .20,954,081 263.08 229.43 Group VII. ............. ...... " 5,819,008! 44 105.52 " 2.188 ' 2.83021 1.22548
Group VIII .978 1 94970 2.13816 ' 66,440768 .-215.57 , 174.60 Group VIII 23.282,296 . 87 . .60.27 ' ' 2.236 1.35479 1.04547
Group IX.. .984 -1 58228 2.10106 33,002,688 . 212.32 159 08 Group IX 12,530,520 40 51.71 2.262 1.17013 1.10218
SroupX. 1-037 2.42140 3.15500 33.788,243 303.29 ' 230.68 Group X .77... 37,104,501 63 41.43 2.071 .87;S37 1 49656
United States.... ...... .757 1.03219 , 2.27093 "X200,315,787 - 296.47 131.04 United states.... 649,878,905 - 45 SO'.SO 1.986 . 60494 1.08531
From the map, find In whiqh group
you are located. Note what the ave
rage rate is for your group. Then re
member what you pay aad it will help
to fix in your mind that not only
business ,hou3ea are discriminated
againstby ton per mile, rates, but that
commodities and cities are likewise
treated by these quasi-governmental
agencies.
We have no room to discus3 passen
ger service. But the average journey
per passenger for United States is 30.3
miles and average number of passen
gers in train to have been 45, when,
under a just rate application, the travel
would be ten times that. The average
revenue from each passenger was 60
cents plus." In Group VII the revenue
is $2.33 per passenger and in Group
I it is 34 cents.
This explains why the roads take
spurts at excursion rates that set the
natives to drooling for a varnished car
ride at; say, $3.00,:as lately made for
trip from Chicago to St. Paul and re
turn, while the standard rate for the
same haul is $19.4C.
The railroad man tells us that his
business is very intricate. It is, and
deliberately made so by his nihilistic
discriminatory rates. .
. Right Kind of Stuff
Editor Independent: Find enclosed
order-for one dollar, which will pay
my subscription up to date and I want
you to keep sending it as it has the
right kind of stuff in it for me. Al
though. I am an advocate of the single
tax, I have never supported any other
political party than the -populists. - The
only objection to the populist platform
Is that it contains too much. I think
that it should only contain one plank
and that the initiative and the refer
endum and we should try to educate the
people along those lines. I . can not
close this without commanding you for j
jour editorial on page 9, of January
19, entitled "Typical Mullet Heads.''
That had the right ring to it and my
only objection is Hi at you did not put
it in a more conspicuous place and in
larger type. ' ; 4
I do not allow one of The Indepen
dents to go to waste in my house,
but when I have read them, I send
them to some of my friends.
; . - " ' ' W. A. CAMPBELL. '
Colorado Springs, Colo.
; The Independent and Kansas City
Weekly Starp both one year for $1.10.
, ' The new banking law that Is being
quietly pushed through congress , will
greatly decrease the volume of legal
tender money, made by the government
out of something, afad enorcously in
crease, that of hocus pocus' made by
bankers out of nothing. Bankers are
now collecting' from' 1 per cent a year
to l per cent a day a3 interest on over
6,000,000,000' of this stuff, and its use
is the sole cause of commercial panics
and of most periods of disastrous busi
ness depression. "The Hocus Pocus
Money Book" tells all about this and
shows that a sounder, safer and juster
system can easily be substituted for it.
Send immediately to Albert Griffin,
Topek a,' Kansas, 25c for one copy, or
$1.00 for five: 1
' Wants a Conference
Editor Independent: si Jhave been "ex
pecting a call for an early conference,
tori organization work ought to be
pushed. A well attended conference
would hold up the hands of our officers,
enthuse an element that needs the con
tact of numbers to stimulate it and;
loosen some purse strings.' It would
enable us tc more fully - develop the
concensus of populist, judgment as to
party policies. J. M. LONDON.