OCR Text |
Show SURCHARGE ON PULLMAN IS NEEDED - S. P. Official Declare Re-' peal Would Throw Bur-. den on Coach Patron - If th Pullman surrharg Is repealed, re-pealed, th burden of paying for ths comfort of th Pullman passenger pas-senger will b thrown on th ooaoh passenger or the freight shipper. This Is th opinion of Western railroad rail-road men, x pressed by ChareLs 8. Fee, passenger traffl manager ot th Southern Pacific railroad, in a letter to Press Bancroft, general agent of th Southern Pacific Railroad Rail-road company hare. Another danger from th movement move-ment to llmlnata th surcharge la pointed out by Mr. Fee In the threatening of tourist travel to ths Western states and Pacific coast. Tho efforts mads In some quarters to havs th aurcharg removed have caused the Interstate commerce commission to require th railroads to Justify fh practls ot making low xauratoav -fares to and front this territory. . The faros average aver-age about 41 per cent leas than th seaiilss fossa, ' EFFECT ON TOURIST. Tha Paelflo coast states." fee said, "should consider very carefully what tha homeker and tourist travel means to them before lending lend-ing their sld to fore th removal of th surcharge established during federal control. Th prosperity ot th Wee tern states has been advanced ad-vanced by th action of th transcontinental trans-continental railroad , In making very liberal passenger fares. It will be disastrous to- tho West If th proposed Investigation should lead to th elimination of transcontinental trans-continental excursion rats. RECEIVED BY ROAD. ' "Ths lurrharg on Pullman tlck-ete tlck-ete la received by th railroad and was established to avoid a deficit en passenger traffic. , "The total enrcharg revenue to tine In th Western district was approximately Ill.frOo.Oft In 1122. Th Western district earned only ighty-alx hundredth or 1 per cent from It passenger operations during dur-ing that year. Including ths revenue from ths surcharge. If the aurcharg aur-charg were removed, th Western railroads would barely make operating operat-ing expenses on passenger traffic "Durmg I'll the average uucn-paney uucn-paney of a Pullman car, weighing ISO 000 pounds, was eleven and a halt passengers During the same period ths average occupancy of a coach, weighing 100.000 pounds, was fourteen and a halt passengers. In other words, ths railroads were obliged to haul 11,000 pounds of dead weight tor each Pullman passenger pas-senger as against about 7000 pounds for ach coach passsnger. Therefore, There-fore, they ar entitled to additional revenue for that aervle. Th eur-rharge, eur-rharge, which Is leee than 10 per nesL ot the rail fare, yields It. It ths Surcharge Is removed, ths effect ef-fect will be to chargs Pullman passengers pas-sengers only the same as coach passenger pas-senger for railroad fare, and thus throw on coach passengers and shippers th- burdn of paying for th comfort of th Pullman passenger." pas-senger." Th record show that tha aurcharg aur-charg has not discouraged travel, but. on ths contrary. Pullman travel from th year 1120 has steadily stead-ily Increased Ita ratio over coach travel, which has borne no surcharge. sur-charge. The pressnt shorts of Pullman cars shows that Pulbnaa travel la still Increasing. |