REFORM IN RAILROAD PASSENGER FARES.

This article focuses on reform in railroad passenger fares, as of January 1, 1891. In the last four or five years a strong agitation has been going on in Germany and Austria for a change in the system of making up railroad passenger tariffs. It has resulted in a radical departure from the old methods in the case of two great systems of railways, those in Hungary and Austria. As the movement seems destined to spread, it may be worthwhile to examine certain aspects of it which may prove of interest to Americans as well as Europeans. In a pamphlet published in 1869, it was attempted to show by statistics that the then prevailing system of making up railroad tariffs (which is the one still in force in nearly all countries) rests upon false assumptions, and that, in the railway as in the postal service, distance and weight have not the importance usually attributed to them. It was proposed to abolish all existing tariffs, and to substitute in their place a simple system, very similar to that in force in the post-office. For the passenger service it was suggested a uniform rate of five groschen for the third class, ten for the second, and sixty for the first.