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The Railroad Side

The Railroad Side image
Parent Issue
Day
18
Month
February
Year
1898
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

In presenting the railroad's side of the case to the congressional eommittee having charge of the "anti-scalping' legislation now in congress Mr. George H. Daniels, general passenger agent of the New York Central railroad, made a very elabórate and adroit plea for his clients, placing hio contention upon the high plane of public morality and laying much stress upon scriptural and judicial injunctions as to the literal performance of contracts, etc. But when his carefully prepared argument is sifted it will be found to contain no allusion to the vital principie lnvolved- the right of every one to dispose of property which has been purchased and paid for, to dispose of that property as best suits his convenience, and the corresponding obligation of the company selling a ticket for railroad transportaron to relieem the same. Mr. Daniels very deftly weaves his troubles into the web of the interstate commerce law. and pleads for legislation against the ticket brokers on the ground that it is needed to supplement and enforce the provisions of thal act. He contends that the sale of a railroad ticket between two points at a reduced rate by a broker is a viola don of the spirit of the long and short haul clause of that act. But the intention of the Interstate commerce law is to prevent unjust discrimination between places. The broker who offers reduced rates to any point of the compass does not discrimínate, and, if the ticket which he sells has been paid for at the Tegular rate, he has committed no injury to the railroad. If it has not been thus paid for the selling company is a partlceps criminus with the broker although it will be difflcult to convince the general public that it is a very grave crime to ride at a reduced rate of fare when the majority of people who uphold the exactions of railways rirte on free passes. The interstate commerce law does not fix a maximum or minimum rate of fare. It simply provldes that the rate shall not be greater on the same road for a shorter than it is for a longer distance. It is not the law but the traffic assoclations of trusts, which ;ire formed for the purpose of controlling rates which necessitates the road which wishes to make a general reduction placing its tickets with the brokers. On this score Mr. Daniels' grievance is against his fellow passenger agents and not against the brokers. And when the public reflects upon the great ease with which railroad managers break agreements which do not meet their ends, and the equal facility with which they avoid the operation of laws intended for their regulation, it will hardly approve of a law which, when shorn of all of its false sentiment, is intended to give an added cinch upon the traveling public at the expense of some of the most clearly defined rights of private property.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Democrat