Facsimile PDF - Online Library of Liberty

370 METHODS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
lose degree, to telegraphy. It requires but little, if any, more
time to send n message a longer than a shorter distance. The
terminal charges for collection, the time of the operator, and
that of the delivering messenger still form a large part of the
whole cost; but the varying extent of the wires employed, and
the number of times the message has to be re-transmitted,
create some differencs between the cost of different telegrams.
In railway conveyance totally different conditions exist.
The larger part of the cost of conveyance is proportional to
the distance travelled, arising from the consumption of fuel,
the wear and tear of the rolling stock and permanent way,
the wages of the engine-drivers, stokers, guards, and other
persons whose time is occupied, together with the interest
upon the capital invested in the property which is employed.
It is only the terminal cost of station accommodation, clerks,
porters, superintendence, etc., which are the same for a long
and a short journey, and even these mould not be the same if
the passenger on a long journey had to change carriages often,
requiring additional station accommodation, re-booking, assistance
of porters, etc. It is quite absurd, then, to apply to
railway passengers, each weighing perhaps, on an average,
fivo thousand times RS much as a letter, any arguments founded
on Post 0500 economy.
Schemes of uniform charges are almost equally impracticable,
whether the uniformity is to extend over the whole
kingdom, or only over defined distances. In the former case
tho uniform rate must either be so high as to constitute a
huge tax on locomotion over short distances, or so low as to
form a great premium on long journeys, producing a vast
financial loss, which would have to be borne by the people
through general taxation. If the charge is to be uniform only
between limits, one charge for distances under ten miles,
mother for all distances under fifty miles, and so on, the
absurdity of the proposal is much less obvious, but the practiwl
di0iculties wodd be found to be insuperable. Arbitrary
boundaries would have to bo drawn round every large town,
on passing which the fare would become much greater.