DISCRIMINATION IN RAILWAY RATES. 499 



as much fare as another ? " The highest of these fares — a cent and a 

 half a mile — is much lower than the average rate of fare charged in 

 the United States or on the remaining portions of the same road. It is 

 certainly not, then, unreasonably high. But the reason it is lower 

 than in the average of cases is that the ordinary traffic between the 

 points in question, excluding that at special rates, and the possibilities 

 of its development, are sufficient to warrant it. As to the traffic car- 

 ried at the special rates, it could not be obtained without the special 

 concessions. And, the road being built and the trains running, the 

 extra traffic may be carried at a fraction of the average rate of cost 

 for the whole. There is thus a profit under the circumstances on this 

 traffic at the special rates ; and, as it is developed and increased by 

 the concessions made in its favor, it helps to pay more and more of the 

 fixed expenses which were in force before its existence, and so by re- 

 lieving the regular traffic of a portion of its burden of expense makes 

 possible also a reduction in its rates. The reason for the discrimina- 

 tion, then, results from its necessity to secure the traffic ; the common 

 reason in all cases of lawful and fair discrimination. If, by an equali- 

 zation of these rates, their averages were established as the rate for 

 the whole, the daily passenger who now pays ten cents a day for his 

 fare from his home to his place of business in the city and return 

 would then be compelled to pay twenty-two cents. It is certain that 

 in the greater number of cases he would not do this. Now, with this 

 suburban traffic, as with all other traffic, the rates decrease as the vol- 

 ume increases — other things being equal — and, as the rate of expenses 

 per passenger also decreases under the same conditions, the differen- 

 tial rates are justified on the ground of the cost of the service, as well as 

 from the necessity of the traffic. The very much greater portion of the 

 suburban traffic is from the passengers who travel daily, a much smaller 

 portion from those who purchase round-trip tickets, and the remainder 

 from those who make an occasional single trip. The rates are thus 

 inversely to the volume of the traffic. The highest rate is paid by 

 those who pay very few fares, and the lowest by those who pay the 

 largest number. This is a distribution of the burden of the expense 

 which causes it to be felt the least ; and it results in giving the 

 benefit in the fares to those who by increasing the traffic cause the 

 reduction in the rate of expense. 



That the suburban passenger traffic throughout the United States 

 is carried at lower rates than any other is a familiar fact, explained 

 by the possibility of development and justified by its much greater 

 volume, which is accompanied by a lower rate of cost per passenger. 

 Where the volume of the traffic is less, the rate and the cost per pas- 

 senger are alike greater. This rule holds good throughout, other 

 things of course being equal. In the minority report of the Railroad 

 Commission of California for 1883 (pp. 137-140), which is extremely 

 hostile to the railroads of that State, it appears that the lowest pas- 



