Weekly national intelligencer., 1857-10-17

4
No financial ability, exercised in negotiating loans
for temporary relief, no economy of administration
can supersede the imperative necessity Of we'll
devised tollsheet 1t is from the tolls and nothing
else, that the revenues are to be extracted
will venture, therefore, to submit as briefly as
possible, some suggestions for the formation Of rail
road tariffs, where revenue, and not mere populari
ty, is the object sought by the company.
I. let each company make its oson tariff of toll
based on direct aud careful investigation of the
conditions of ats o,oR trade instead of adopting the
tariffs or classifcdtions of other companies or evea
using them as guides
By copying the toll-sheets of established lines
they necessarily copy the errors of those lines And
as rule, the older company is the longer it has
been exposed to the potent pressure of those outside
influences which, by little and little cut away the
profits of road under the plea of encouraging trade
until few officers can be found to exhibit the moral
courage necessary to face the storm of indignation
which usually follows an attempt at reformation
Besides, the toll-sheets of many old lines are for
the most part copied from those that Older with
frequent special concessions to vigorous appeals in
favor of particular interests
III. In arranging the tariff let the first step be to
ascertain the true cost of transportation upon the
particular road for rhich the tariiF is intended
The actual cost of transportation is clearly the
minimum limit of admissible reductions in favor of
those objects of transportation which are deemed,
from motives of policy, most worthy of special en-
couragement.
There may be, and ought to be, material discri-
limitations in every tariff But no article ought to
be conveyed for less than the 7ual costof its traKz
portatioT fairly made out from the proper experience
of the line
1t is not to be assumed that, however apparent
the proprety of this maxim may appear, it is gene
rally respected In fact, there are comparatively,
but few railroad companies that know what is the
actual cost of transportation upon their road. Few
companies so keep their accounts that they would
be able to approximate towards a correct estimate
of that indispensable element in the preparation of
q tariff
This datum cannot be supplied by resort to the
experience of other companies, whose accounts pro-
fess to show the cost of transportation for the
tual cost of carrying freight on one line is not un-
frequently three times aud is occasionally four times
great as it is on another
There is, in fact no reliable means of determin-
lug the cost of ransportation- hence the lowest
admissible charge for freight-but by direct and
systematic deductions from the experience of the
road itself for which the tariff is intended The
accounts of the road must be so kept to separate
the cost due to the freight item by item from that
But the cost of transportation is not fixed
quantity even on the same road. 1t varies from
year to year. and, therefore, while the conditions
of the line are changing frequently, we must use
the results derived from the experience of each
year to correct the tariff of the succeeding year
Having determined the true cost of transporta-
ton, and adopted that as minimum charge below
which the toll on no articeshall be suffered to fall
the company will be secured against one frequent
source of immense extraEasance- of carrying
freight for nothing, or less han nothing.
With this information In hand, it Is practicable
to construct tariff of erpsnses, which should, in
every case, precede the adoption of tariff of
charges.
Ill. The nert step in the process should be to
certain the highest charge aich each article aoiH
bear, its equivalent, the kast charge aohich acU
prohibit ats transportation o. the road.
By the prohibitory charge mean the least toll
which would be found sufficient to drive the COM
modify altogether to some rival work, or compel
resort for its supply altogether to some rival
market.
This prohibitory charge fixes another limit for
each article and each position which it is apparent
must never be transcribed, nor even approached
in the adjustment of the tariff.
To find this prohibitory charge, even approx
mately, in anticipation of the opening of the road
involves many doubtful quantities and much careful
investigation. But on road which has been seve-
raj years in active use under an established tariff
it presents no difficulty whatever, even though that
tariff may have been established, as most tariffs
are, by very random guesses. On such a road there
simple processes which it is unnecessary now to
discuss, which will always enable the constructor of
the tariff to ascertain with great precision, from
the facts resulting from the toll actually charged
just what toll would, on any commodity, be equiva
lent to its prohibition from the line.
Having employed these materials, we should
next construct a tariff Of prohibitory charges.
" The true charge for each article and each
position, 1t must be apparent, aoiU be found
ohere between the actual cost of transportation and
the prohi6itory charge.
In fact it can be demonstrated that, if we add
together, for each article and each position, the
tual cost of transportation and the prohibitory
charge and take the arithmetcal mean between the
two, shall have, In most cases. very nearly that
charge which will yield the maximum nett revenue
In addition, we may know-for it can be demon
strated-that the proper and most judcious charge
can never be above, but must always be somewhat
below, the arithmetical mean thus obtained.
v The next step in the construction of toll
sheet should then be to form third tariff, by add
ing tegether for each article and each position the
cost of transportation and the prohibitory charge
and taking half their sum a near approximation
to that charge which viii yield the greatest nett
revenue.
company proceeding in this way-frst, con-
structing tariff of expenses then the tariff of pro-
hibtory charges; and, thirdly, an average tariff,
representing the charges which if applied would
yield the maximum nett reyenue-would have OBJ
tanned the basis of an advantageous tariff, and
safe test of the charges which they would propose
to adopt.
The work, thus far, should be performed by a
competent engineer, other officer properly quail
fed, as the solution of purely scientific problem
This party should have no discretionary power
His province should be simply and exclusively to
construct tariff, by this process, which will pro-