The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-19


annual wear and tear with steel rails The /
general Introduction of steel rails is now
wholly commercial question i'm which the |
cost OF the increased capital required for their |
purchase becomes the chief impediment to
their general adoption,
While the business of line is small. It will |
still be economy to use iron rails at an ordi !
nary rate of interest upon canital untu tbo
cost OF producing steel is reduced to its mini
mum. When this result is Accomplished tba
general public will be materially bene6ted NV
the reduced cost of transportation which the
introduction of steel rails will enable railway
companies to afford.
The Company has also laid 500 tons Of rails
the wearing surface of which had been
''steeled" by Dodd's process. The increased
durability impaired to the rail by this pro-
cess will probably extend its life tbree-fold
while its additional cost thus prepared Is
about 70 per cent. From the result of our
experience it would seem that rails so treated
VIII prove valuable article as an interme-
date between steel and ordinary iron rails.
The Directors have given to the subject of
establishing line of steamships between tbis
port and Europe, committed to them at vour
last annual meeting, all the consideration
which its Importance required; but thew have
not yet arrived at a satisfactory conclusion as
to the best means of effecting this desirable
object. Proposals have been asked until the
first of May next, by public advertisement of
those engaged in this business, to establish such
line, under concessions, and subsidy to be
paid by this Company during the continuance
of the contract.
In their last annual report your Directors
referred to the introduction of express freight
lines upon your railway as new feature IN
the policy of the Company, and one which
had heretofore been opposed by its officers as
unnecessary to the efficient conduct of the
transportation departments of the Trunk lines.
While these views remain substantially un
changed they are quite clear that the intro
duction of these lines upon the Pennsylvania
Railroad-after every effort had been made to
secure their withdrawal from rival lines-be-
came not only necessity, but a duty which
the Board owed to the shareholders A failure
to make use of this weapon, so dexterously
and persistently used by our competitors in
various forms to promote their interests, would
have shown as little foresight as would have
been attributed to the General Government, if
it had failed to meet the preparations known
| to be in progress upon the Merrimac, by the
building of a more efficient iron-clad.
From the statistics of the Company it ap-
pears that the ordinary freight bushes of the
road has continued to grow in its usual ratio
since the introduction of these freight lines,
showing that their sustenance is abstracted
from the business of similar organizations that
exist upon rival routes, whose competition
they were introduced to meet gaining for this
Company business not heretofore enjoyed by
it, and which could not be secured by any
other means.
1t also appears from the same sources, that
the freights brought to the road by these lines
pay to the Company better net rates than is
derived from any other portion of the Com
pany's through business. The success OF
these lines, i'll collecting and distributing
freights throughout the West, has been largely
due to the inability of many of the Western
railways to supply cars sufficient to accommo-
| date the through traffic originating along their
own and connecting roads, and, in conse-
| quence, the traffic has heretofore sought rival
avenues whose equipment was sufficient to fur
nish the means for its transportation.
Under existing contracts between this Com
| pany and the freight lines, it seems that the
only point it is necessary to solve is, whether
the rates charged for this freight by the rail
| road companies are as large as the express
freight companies can pay, and preserve the
full efficiency of their organizations. As at
| present advised, the Directors are disposed tC
| believe that they are, and that the interests Of
! the Company would suffer great damage by
their withdrawal from its service, while such
lines, or other organizations to effect the same
objects, are maintained upon competing routes
The chief element of profit of these freight
|
| above the ordinary railroad rates, by mer-
chants disposed to patronize a medium OF
transportation where the responsibility is di-
| rect, immediately accessible and undivided
from the point of shipment to the point Of de-
| livery of their merchandise, rather than a
line made up of various railway corporations,
OF whose responsibility they are not familiar.
Advantages such as are afforded by these or
| CARNATIONS cannot for obvious reasons, be
fully accorded to shippers by any railway com
| pany.
That the enterprise has proved successful to
its proprietOrs, in view of the large amount Of
capital ventured in an untried field, should be
a matter of qualification to the shareholders Of
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company whose
interest it was intended to and has so largely
| promoted. This success is mainly due to the
thorough knowledge Of the freight business
possessed by those to whom the control OF
these organizations was first entrusted, and
thelr comprehension of the means required to
achleye the objects of their creation, united
10 disposition and ability to embark what
ever capital was required to secure favorable
results TO this Company and themselves. In
other hands it might have proved a failure.
| Inc Board has deemed it important to say
TINS much III explanation of their action upon
suplect which has met with considerable
aiilhadVerslon from the captious, and to assure
Ihe shareholders that under its contract it has
ehllre control of these organizations, and as
iohg as their operations conduce to your in
terest, they will be maintained if otherwise,
they will be abolished.
IL VIII be gratifying to the shareholders to
learn, from careful examination made of the
svaVistlcs OF the freighting business of the Com