The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-09-24

last House of Representatives, would
read a review of the claims and merits OF
narrow gauge roads. Mr.. Hornish's docN
ument stated that the actual cost oftrans
| portauon by railroads is material ele-
ment IN all measures involving the ne
cessltles OF commerce aud he security OF
the money invested in thtses6ublic HIGH
! ways. Commerce should not demand
| rates below safety to the capital invested
! let at the present time the public is de.
! handing reduction of rates while captal
/ is demanding an advance. This conAici
! has been raging for the past two years
with the most disastrous and demoraliziur
| influence on all parties. Ii is held thai
the entire trouble grows out of the nature
! Of our present railroads, or, in other
words, that our standard gauge railroads
| flour feet eight and one-half inches) orc
not adapted to the conditions Of the com
merce of the country or the age. Mar
row gauge railroads three feet in width
are now proposed as the common ground
upon which all can meet The merits Of
these roads are most conspicuously pre-
scented in the report Of the Committee on
Railroads and Canals Of the House of
Representatives of the last Congress
THE NET COST OF TRANSPORTATION,
next to the cost and capacity of the roads,
is the material question and involves the
future commerce of the country and the
thrift and prosperity of our people. We
are estm ating for first-class road--frst-
class in all its equipments-witha on aver
age on the whole line of 1000 miles for
100000 tons per annum. From these
data We obtain our train miles and ton
mileage. The annual gross expesnes and
gross receipts, divided by the ton miles,
gives us the average net and gross cost
per ton mile, and the difference between
these is the profit for interest, dividends
and development. After forty-fve years
of experience and development the lowest
average net cost per ton mile on our four
first class roads, via:-the New York Cen
trail, the Erie, the Pennsylvania Central
and the Baltimore and Ohio--is eight
mills per ton mile, and the lowest average
gross tariff is twelve mills per ton mile
that IS, eight mills for expenses and four
mills tor interest and dividend. First
class single track roads exceed this aver
age, from nine to twelve mills being Sthe
net cost and from fourteen to sixteen be-
ing the average gross tariff. In 1871 the
COST PER TRAIN MILE
on the Pennsylvania Central Railroad
was ninety-fve cents. This road is en-
barrassed by ninety-five feet grades and
very sharp curves, which limit the capac-
lty Of the locomotives to ninety tons, and,
making fair allowance for grades, curves
and helpers, We will have fairly 200 ton
capacity without an increase of cost. In
1869 the cost of the train mile of the Buff
alo and Erie road which has the grades TO
admit the capacity in the locomotives,
was ninety-one cents or 4.55 mills per ton
mile, on an average Of 200 tons TO the
train. The Denver and Rio Grande road,
has seyenty-five feet grades, being con-
s'ructed up among the mountains, in
of sparse population, small devel
opments and high-priced labor Its bust
ness is limited to small train loads, and
ut this niuety-One per cent is local, irreC- |
altar and very expensive. But notwith- |
Standing all these drawbacks, its net cost, |
in 1874, did not exceed fifty per cent. Of |
lis tariff rates. The tariffs areas low as
those of the Kansas Pacific, which is a |
gauge, with the fine grades, an
average long haul and much larger bus |
mess. But the latter road has never been /
able 10 do its business for less than seven
y per cent, of its gross earnings. Here |
are two roads in the same country, almost |
extensions OF each other one, having all 1
the disadvantages, is able to do its busi
less Tor one-half the tariff rates, and the
other, having all the advantages, requires,
in expense, forty per cent. more. This
act settles the point that narrow gauge
'oad can be operated at much less cost
han n standard road, and narrow guage
,lad can make money when standard
Dad can merely exist These are log
cal facts which are selfasscrting, and
hey hold good in comparison with any
standard and narrow gauge road similarly
in any part Of the country.
Mr. n. McConaughy, an engineer of the
proposed Peoples Railroad, surveyed be.
ween New York and the Mississippi rv.
n, also made some remarks on the same
subject. The meeting, after electing eigh-
y SIX new members to membership, adj
burned.