Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 1 (1961).pdf/52

 Operations: 1867–1872 a non-raiding agreement. Within a week the fare rose to its old level of 180 to the disgruntlement of the Jamaica citizenry.

The South Side was not only reasonable in its fare policy but rather generous with its free passes. Annual passes were handed out to all pastors living along the line of the road, and in addition, free passes were distributed to whole delegations of clergymen attending councils.

From the sparse statistics of a century ago and scattered newspaper notices, we gather a very favorable impression of passenger and freight revenues on the South Side RR:

A brief newspaper mention that appeared after the road was in operation only two months reports that receipts from passengers were about $100 a day and $35 from the express business. With the spring of 1869 glowing newspaper accounts appear for the first time of pleasure excursions over the roads to "distant points" like Babylon and Patchogue. The verdant countryside, the new and perfect track and equipment, the picturesque villages—all are eloquently extolled in a rich, rhapsodic prose that is prophetic of the lush press-agentry of a later age. The many resort hotels at Babylon and Islip, the beach at Fire Island all exerted their attraction for the city-bound folk of Williamsburgh and Brooklyn. The chief advantage of the Long Island resorts was their nearness and cheapness; the traveler had no.need to travel 100 miles and more, and the rates were not extortionate. The holidays were of course the peak days on the road: on July 4, 1869 over 3000 people were hauled in the twenty-one coaches then owned by the road.

In March 1870 we read "During the first 15 days of last month the receipts of the road from passenger traffic were $12,000 in excess of any previous winter months. The trade has