Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/149

ment than there really is, and that there is a much greater obligation on the part of the recipient of the pass than there really is. Most passes are given to the officers of the various governments as a compliment, and not with the idea that any direct benefit is to be received,—possibly with the hope, in some cases, that any unfair action within the power of the receiver of the pass will be postponed or prevented. In the long run, however, the railroad-owner, the government officer, and the public generally would be in a better relation each to the other if this discrimination as to passenger transportation were eliminated. Such a step would go far toward making the general public feel that the railroad was not interfering improperly with politics, and that it did not have something within its power to give away to law-makers and others in authority that other people did not have. Let the officers of the Government, from the highest to the lowest, set the example of obeying the law, by paying for their railroad travel the same rates charged the general public.