American Transportation Question (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The American Transportation Question The transportation problem has three vitally important factors: rates, service and financial return. Neither can be intelligently or equitably considered except with reference to the other two. The railway has a right to exact, and the public to require, fair and reasonable rates; but what are such rates depends largely on the service given for them and on the financial return received by the owners of the railway. The public has a right to demand safe, convenient and adequate service; but how safe, convenient and adequate a railway can make its service depends largely on its financial return, and this on what rates it can charge. The owners of the railways are legally entitled to a "fair return"; but this right is not absolute; it is conditioned on what kind of service is given and at what rates. The fact that rates, service and return are thus related and interdependent is sometimes overlooked or disregarded. I have read articles and books on the "transportation problem" dealing exclusively with rates. This is like discussing whether the price of a suit of clothes or an automobile is reasonable regardless of how good a suit or automobile it is. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.