Newspaper Page Text
8
ager has been converted from the be
lief that all passenger men arc a set of
rascals, for, in our opinion, to argue
that he th< ughi they were disreputable
argues tlau well, never mind.
“A Very Low Kate.”
There is not probably a General
• Freight Agent or General Passenger
Agent in America who is not approach
ed more than occasionally by parties
who wish to ship something or tiavel
somewhere, and apply for what is in
dicated in the title of this article. We
have known repeated instances of
where there have been strong endeav
ors used to induce railroad companies
to reduce their rates to ruinously low
figures for the purpose of helping some
body along.
We do not blame any one for doing
the best he can for himself, but each
one must allow the representatives of
railroad companies the same freedom
of action in matters nertainimr to the
1
protection f interests which are placed
in their hands.
It should be borne in mind by those
who apply for “a very low rate,” and
frequently either directly or indirectly
resort to open or implied bull-dozing,
that the responsibility which is upon
the managers of the traffic of railroads
is in the natureof what is known in law
as “a trust” —in other words, a rad
road Genera! Freight Age v t has p’aced
in his hands the management, we may
say, of “trust funds,” and there is no
requirement in law which is more
strict than that for the protection of
trusts by trustees, and the laws in ref
erence to these are construed strictly,
and properly so, by the courts.
Now, the carrying of freight by a
railroad at “a wry low rate” docs not
diminish the expense of its transporta
tion; in other words, if, for instance,
the rate on any cl iss of goods from At
lanta to Chattanooga is 10 cents per
100 pounds ami the cost of handling
it amounts to 7 cents per 100 pounds,
if the railroad company should agree
to transport it from Atlanta to Chatta
nooga for 6 cents per 100 pounds this
would not by any means imply that
the expenses of hauling it were reduced
to less than 6 cents per 100 pounds, or
less than the 7 cents which, as we
stated above, it would cost.
Railroad companies have as much
right to make a profit as merchants
have, or cotton factors, or any other
class of men doing business, who han
dle property or money. It is a strange
fact, (we use the word fact because that
is the proper word to use,) that there
are scores and hundreds of men in the
community who recognize that mer
chants have to live, that manufactur
ers have to live, that day-laborers have
to live —in other words, that every
man is entitled to the fruit of his toil;
and yet do not seem willing to apply
this same rule to railroads, which are ;
corporations which must make money ;
enough to pay wages to their employes
who have to eat and clothe themselves ■
just as other people do, and which
furthermore are entitled to a fair profit
on their investment just as other citi
zens are.
It is an acknowledged fact that rail
roads develop the country, that rail
roads enrich communities and States,
and yet railroads are considered every
body’s game, and the rule which is ap
plied to merchants is not considered as
applicable to railroads.
We consider that the citizens of this
country who put their money in rail
road property are as much entitled to
protection under the law, and are as
much entitled to make a reasonable
per cent on the money invested, as are
citizens engaged in any other occupa
tion throughout the nation, and we
fail to see why railroads should be ex
pected to transport passengers or freight
at a less than reasonable per cent of
interest on the money invested in their
property. We also fail to see why the
public should expect railroad compa
nies to keep their road-beds safely
ballasted and laid with steel rails,
which cost money, and equip their
lines with safe and splendid rolling
stock, which also costs money, and
keep in their employment safe and at- ,
tentive employes, who also must have
wages from the companies, and in all
other respects have everything on hand j
which is necessary for protecting the
lives and property which ari placed in
their charge, and for adding not only
to comfort, but also to luxury, and
yet be unwilling for the railroad com
panies to charge such tariffs as will en
able them to come up to all of these
requi remen ts.
if anyone can inform railroad man
agers how they can meet ail of the
modern requirements of fast and safe
schedules and luxurious service, etc.,
without having money to pay for pro
viding them, and how their employes
can live if the companies are not al
lowed to make money enough to pay
them respectable wages, he will receive '
a. big price from them for the recipe, j
PLUCKY ATLANTA.
Eminently a 'North Georgia City. :
Atlanta has the pluckiest popula
tion of any city approximately its size '
in America. They depend upon
themselves, and have immense faith I
in their city.
We may state as an evidence of their
characteristic self-reliance that when
Chicago and Boston were ravaged by i
fires which destroyed tens of millions |
of dollars worth of property, collections
were taken up all over America, and
in fact to some extent in Europe, to
relieve the suffering in those two cities. I
These collections amounted to millions
of dollars.
When Charleston suffered the dread
ful visitation of the earthquake a short
time ago the great heart of the Amer- ;
can people throbbed responsively to
her calls for help, and did the country ■
honor in the answer which was given i
to that call.
On the contrary, when Atlanta was I
laid absolutely in ashes by the Federal
army on its evacuation in 1864, her
citizens, on their return, found the
most complete ruin which America |
ever had exhibited to her gaze.
THE KENNESAW GAZETTE.
They did not, however, sit down
and cry about it. They did not make
appeals through the American press
asking for subscriptions to be taken
up to help them to rebuild their city.
On the contrary, they put their
shoulders to the wheel and went to
work manfully to build it up by their
own exertions. They did not depend
upon any one but themselves, and the
result is that Atlanta stands to-day the
“Queen city” of the*southeast.
The tact that some outside capital
ists came to Atlanta and invested their
money, is not fogotten in what we
have said. They merely found that
this was the best location in the south
for the permanent security of capital
and its ability to give permanent re
turns and good interest on the invest
ments. The proportion of outside
population as well as outside capital
which came to Georgia and located in
Atlanta is so small that it cuts a very
inconsiderable figure when it comes to
being a factor in the rebuilding of At
lanta ; and just here we will advance
an idea which we have never before
seen in print, although it may possibly
have been put before the public with
out our knowledge.
Os the population of Atlanta nearly
all who shape her destinies in the va
rious professions and vocations are
either former residents of the city or
the State of Georgia or of States im
mediately contiguous to her.
Take the twelve leading lawyers,
for instance, and this rule will hold
good. We may say die same of the
twelve leading merchants. The same
can also be said of the twelve leading
doctors. The twelve leading ministers
of the gospel have mostly had the same
citizenship and raising. Os nearly
every banker in Atlanta the same can
be said. Then take the railroad offi
cials, and it will be shown that nearly
every single one of them is either a na
tive or a resident of the city since a
long time before the war, or was a cit
izen of the region within three hun
dred miles of her.
We do not say this in disparage
ment of any capitalists or immigrants
who desire to come to Atlanta and
cast in their lot with her; but we
write these words to correct the very
general error that the prosperity of
Atlanta is the result of outside capital
and outside brains.
Atlanta is in any sense in which you
consider her a North Georgia city, and
the hardy sons of toil who came down
from the mountainous portion of North
Georgia, Carolina and Tennessee have
done more to make her a citv and to
keep her prosperity on an elevated
plane than all the other agencies com
bined; in fact, all the other causes
which may be adduced are merely in
cidents to the above.
We shall probably touch upon this
subject again in some of our future is
sues, because we consider that it is
nothing but proper to the people of
Atlanta to give them credit for the
upbuilding of the most splendid city
in the south instead of allowing the
credit therefor to be persistently’ cab
baged by outsiders.
(Communicated.)
‘PLEADING THE BABY ACT,’
—OR—
The Question of ‘Differentials.’
Editor Kennesaw Gazette: In
my first article under the above sub
ject I touched upon the claim of the
East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia
Railway Co. to differentials, in order
to neutralize advantages which it con
fesses the Western & Atlantic Rail
road and other railroads centering at
Atlanta have over it; and gave a
I short resume of the procedure or course
j of action adopted by that company to
ward the other railroads in Georgia,
after it was chartered by the Legisla
ture of the State of Georgia, and com
pleted its lines from Chattanooga to
Brunswick by purchase or construc
tion.
In my second article, I gave a few
out of the very*many examples which
can be adduced to show that if the E.
T , V. & G. claims for differentials
are allowed, then differentials must
necessarily be allowed to other lines at
points where they are at a disadvan
tage, and that these instances of rela
tive disadvantage would apply to some
of the lines at nearly all common
points, and that the question would
soon resolve itself into an absurdity,
when it was carried out to its legiti
mate end ; in other words, that there
would be no certain basis for making
rates, and, therefore, there would almost
immediately be no rates if the principle
of allowing differentials to neutralize
disadvantages were put into effect.
I showed that if the W. & A. con
ceded to the E. T., V. & G. a differ
ential on passenger traffic, from Atlan
ta to Chattanooga, tho T}. T., V. & G.,
by the same course of reasoning, must
concede the W. & A. a differential on
passenger traffic from Atlanta to Mems
phis and all Arkansas and Texas point,
which passes through Chattanooga; that
if the Central R. R. conceded to the
E. T., V. & G. a differential on pas
senger traffic from Atlanta to Macon the
E. T., V. & G. would consequently
be compelled, for consistency’s sake,
to concede a differential to the Central
R. R. on passenger traffic from At
lanta to Florida points, which traffic
would pass titrough Macon when from
Atlanta.
So I might recur to other instances
referred to in my second article, as well
as to multitudes more which could be
brought forward.
I now propose to demonstrate the
fallacy of another idea which the E.
1., V. & G. Ry. Co. has, with con
siderablepersistence, endeavored either
directly or indirectly to impress upon
the mind of the public, viz: that that
company agreed to go into the South
ern Passenger Association and become
a full-fledged member of it, not so much
for the benefits which it would receive
as for the settled condition of affairs
which would be brought about to the
benefit of all the railroads and the stop
pt ttg of the unsettled condition of affairs
which had existed almost ever since it
opened its line through Georgia.
In other words, that “for the sake
of harmony,’ it sacrificed some of its
valuable interests, and conceded points
v\ hich it could maintain if the fighting
were to go on.
Now this, they attempt to persuade
the public, was practically a great
piece of self-abnegation, in fact, almost
benevolence on their part; but when
it is analyzed it will be found that if
it was benevolence, then it was of so
straight-laced a character that it was
benevolence run mad, and that this
