fa
I s.
A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO
POLITICS, AGRICULTURE AND HOME LIFE
V "Ov WW II III
V,
.4
Twentieth Year.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, FEBRUARY 28, 1907.
Subscription $1.00
PASSENGER RATES
' General Manager Holdrege of the
Burlington says of the 2-cent fare now
.proposed: "It will effectally stop all
railroad construction in the state. Of
course if the people, would rather pay
a cent loss per mile and not have any
more new districts developed that is
their business."
Speaker Nettleton will remember
that General Passenger Agent Eustis
of the Burlington told the legislature
twenty-two years ago when it proposed
a 3-cent fare: "There is no step which
the people of the state could take
which will so much check all schemes
for further development here as an at
tempt by the legislature to regulate
the revenues of the railroads."
Mr. Fort of the Union Pacific pas
senger deperament says of the 2-cent
ffire: "It is an added Injury to the
branch lines of this road, , and I say
with all truthfulness that there is not
a branch line of this road that is at
present making expenses on their pas
senger traffic."
To - the same purpose said Mr.
Eustis in 1885 apropos of the
proposed 3-cent fare: "The rail
roads in Nebraska could no
doubt reduce expenses. But in looking
around with that end in view where
would. we reduce? Why unquestionably
upon that portion of sour road , which
in the past yielded the least profit. In
dividing up our expenses to divisions
we find that a number of our roads
cost us more per passenger per mile"
than we receive for them." ,
Assistant General Solicitor Kelby of
the Burlington says of ttie 2-cent fare:
"We must either attack the bill
through the courts, claiming that it is
confiscatory, or else make up the de
ficit by raising freight rates or cut
ting down our expenses on train serv
ice." ' "
Said Mr." Eustis of the proposed 3
cent fare on a February day in 1883:
"By a change in this train service or
some of it, a very material reduction in
expenses can be accomplished; and
some steps of the kind will no doubt be
absolutely necessary to save the rail
roads from losses." .
Tspito these warnings, twenty-two
years ago when the' state had half the
people it now has and that half not half
as abl or willing to ride uu the rail
roads as now, the 3-cent fare went into
effect as all the world knows. None
of the dolorous prophesies of the rail
road spokesmen camo true. This does
not prove absolutely that the predic
tions of Messrs. Holdrege, Kelby and
Fort regarding the effect of the 2-cent
fare will likewise prove unfounded. It
dcfi prove, however, that the fact that
the railroad spokesmen say it is so does
not n'f'ssnrlly Indicate that the
mheme l-t not worth trying.
Mr. Kti.li.V xpeech f twenty years
nso unintentionally gave the reason
why Ills prlbst.'4 faded, and likewise
av a reason why the rail mud might
well rlve the 2-cenUrat tin mm'slxtlng
trial. Said Mr. Kusth: "Wo find that
the HV-nm rttpaelty of thewe train 1 .4
nliout i'. pniwni , i- 0 h. whl!" the
vfr.itrt numtwr of panj;er cvtrrld
1 K-j than thirty i ; train. It
fdllon that to ould Imre.uo the
r.umt r 'f poentf.!- iarrll about five
iio v. !:. C H-iv. 1 ul ly li.rrea!iu
th 00 l it) o tn M'Hi. which would
reduce our rate of cost per passenger
per mile to less than 1 cent."
Mr. Eustis meant by this to show
that lack of population to fill the trains
made the 3-cent fare impossible. What
the lower rate really .did was to show
that the way to fill the trains was by
lower fares. Experience in other states
has shown that this can be carried
even to the 2-cent leveL Mr. Eustis
himself admitted twenty years ago
that with full trains his road could
carry passengers In Nebraska at a cost
to the road of a cent a mile. In view
of these their own statements would
it be more than a square deal both to
their stockholders and to the patrons
for the railroads to give the 2-cent rate
a fair trials before resorting to the
courts as they threaten to do?
WERE SHORED OUT
One of. the amusing things In na
tional legislation is the way in which
the hotel men in Washington have al
lowed themselves to be smoked out by
the anti-tipplng bill. Heretofore many
may have been led to believe that the
tipping indulged by hotel patrons was
something of an annoyance to hotel
men, a sort of a side issue in half-forbidden
indulgences that might be
likened to stolen sweets.
But when the bill was Introduced In
congress to forbid the giving or acr
ceptance of tips, a bill in which the
hotel men were not seemingly directly
involved, it brought the bonifaces to
the front in solid phalanx to enter their
To Bill Rendered
Burlington and Union Pacific Railroads
to FOOLISH LITIGATION, dr.'
February 26, 1907' .
To Taxes in Full
Interest and Penalties . -Costs
of Suit . .
Loss of Business Prestige
Loss of Political Dictatorship
Loss of Political Following
Two Cent Fare Bill
Railroad Commission
Anti-pass Legislation
Direct Primary
Fellow Servant Law
Loss of U. S. Senator
Loss of Governor, etc.
Loss of Legislature
Hurt Feelings of J. N. B;, etc.
1 1
A CUBAN LKCTIOV.
Burning issues are arising in Cuba
exactly in time for the approaching
elections. Contrary to the wishes of the
American tobacco and sugar planters
in the Island, President Roosevelt has
kept faithfully to his word with respect
to Cuban independence. The American
troops are to be recalled, as promised
at the time of American interference,
just as soon as things get In shape
for the Cubans again to take charge of
affairs. It is now thought this will be
within a few niontlis and an election
for president Is expected to bo held by
May or June.
Already candidates .'re In the field.
The Americans have innocently furn
ished the popular tasuo, it seems. Five
hundred Havana citizens on Sunday
gathered before the palace of Governor
Mniroon to lg Mm to rescind the or
dvr of General Wood prohibiting cock
fighting. One candidate has alre;wly an
nounced that ho I heart and soul with
tho peojlc In t!Hr tk-manu for tho re
solution of tho rp,:ri. Whatever other
iMoiooiito jsi queti'ri may Im nettled
n route to Cubin r'-ln'b'mj nro, it
min uAUrtsI that h, tirth of July,
which It pro;..rd iha dato of tho
metnmorphf US bo hereafter an
In.lfj ndiMtCo day tj Cub. tlu nnnl
v nt it y of tho uHuvi:t on vf th
pit.
harmonious! protests against the enact
ment of such a law. They advance two
arguments why the measure should not
be enacted. One Is that the waiters
colild not live If tips were forbidden.
It did not seem to occur to them that
they might themselves bo able to "raise
the lay of their employes to the live
and let livo point, and thus protect
their guests from tho extortions neces
sary in Washington hotels to secure
reasonably effective service.
The other argument was that the
passage of this bill would Injure Wash-
Llngton by driving from that city to
others tho best class of hotel employes,
which Ri'cma a truly alarming pros
pect. There Is no city In the United
Stated wherein hotel life cuts so im
portant a social figure as In Washing
ton. Thero Is no city wherein hotel
life, when the quality of entertainment
provided H taken Into consideration Is
no extravagantly expensive. Thero la
no oth r cily, also, wherein on who in
not proitlRiito In the l-lowul of Ms
Mu.tll coin Is liable to go so hungry as
b it Washington hotel. As related by
a n pr m utative, of the waiter to a
toiitfif.-itiml oioiiili t. "tho man
who f Alt.-t to pay Up Is In a predica
ment. Of otire ht will he waited on,
hut 1 - haw ! It will tak' ten mlnutws
I for him to gt a jlet of btiltrr, while
; thr mwii who pays si tip hit ht want
I HiiiMp.il.."
1
One who goes into a Washington
hotel the first time" may getgood ser
vice without tipping, but he might as
well not go back for a second meal.
When he shows up in the dining room
it will take the waiter full fifteen
minutes to get around to him, and
then is begun a most exasperating
struggle with adverse Influences for
the acquisition, one at a time, of the
elements of a scant rneal. t
But everyone has heretofore . con
sidered that this was something in
which the hotel man was only incident
ally ' interested, and that if complaint
were made to htm, he would get all
swelled ' up with Indignation because
the needs of .his-' guests were not
promptly met. But events .now trans
piring in Washington indicate that the
hotel man la in with it, and that tho
guest at his hotel is expected to pay
half of tro wages of waiters or go
without grub. It is stated to the com
mittee of congress by "the hotel men
themselves that it costs the guests of
Washington hotels from $12,000 to
$15,000 a month for tipping the waiters,
and that that is just about as much
as the hotel men pay them for their
services. i
It hi going to be useless for congress
to enact a law forbidding tipping with
out at the same time providing strin
gent regulations requiring hotels to
pay their waiters wages and imposing
heavy penalties upon both waiters and
hotels which become offensive or ne
glectful when tips are denied.
lIISTOIiV III3PKATINO ITSELF.
Twenty-two years and eleven days
ago today Mr. Thomas L. Kimball,
general traffic manager of the Union
Pacific railroad, addressed the Joint
railroad committee of the Nebraska
legislature on the subject of railroad
rates, lie spoke with Bpecial reference
to the bill to reduce passenger fares
from four cents a mile to three
cents. .
"I don't believe," said Mr. Kimball,
"that there is any good reason why
the tariffs on the Union Pacific road
should be reduced to three cents a
mile; and I believe that I can show
it i3 an in justice. The local paaseu
ger tariff in Nebraska which in 1869
was ten cents per mile, and from 1870
to 1872 seven and one-half cents, has
been gradually reduced to six, five
and four cents per mile, the latter
now being the maximum rate In any
portion of tho state. Mileage tickets
are sold at two-and one-half to throe
cents per mile. Individual round trip
tickets at three and one-half cents.
And excursion rates are made as low
as one and one-half cents especially
for the benefit of the agricultural pop
ulation attending fairs and similar
gatherings."
Mr. Kimball then showed by statis
tics that the passenger trains wero at
that time earning from one-fourth to
one-third less than tho cost of run
ning them. Although Kansas and the
states east had the three rent rate
Nebraska was not entitled t- so low
a rate because of horlwtr popula
tion. Nthranka had a population of
only from 15 to 210 people per rail
rtwid roll on tho different lines of the
road, whereas tho Burtlngtoti Jn Iowa
hid Sot and In Illinois 3,3 S J. He.
ild, ait Mr. Kimball, "the crying
n. cd for N I ra-:. t In connection with
tb ima.irnger ervlei of it rallroa4
in not lowrr rut hut moro trains."
Atnl moreover, h .il.. lf tho pas
n.'iocvr tariff ru Arlilttiirily rtda e!
