New-York tribune., 1877-06-25
RAILWdY STATIS1ICS.

Messrs. Poor's annual statement of railway
operations, of which advance sheets are FUR
nished for publication, will probably DC
accepted, as preceding statements have been'
as the best information attainabe. Yet the
summary proves nothing else so clearly as the
utter lack of Trustworthy information regard
| inc American railways. Real credit is due to
this firm that its reports have been made as
complete AZ they are for the ingenious mac
curacy of many official statements and the
| stubborn refusal of information by many ROADS
render the task of collecting railway statistics
ore of great difficulty. Yet nearly 1000 miles
! of railway are in operation OF which no reports
| are given in the forthcoming volume, ana SAD
experience has prepared US to find that oficia
| faisehoods and errors, however gross, nave
been comfortably accepted and included I'D
the summary. We can only compare the state
ment with Others preceding, and even Tor
such comparison the data are insufficient.
( For example. the Manual is said to be "for
/ .I677-1S7Sr while the reports included are
for the year 1876, or for fiscal years ending
( :, ntou, her 30 or June 80 or at other dates.
Tv,e fiscal years included may or may not cor
respend with those included i'll former publ
| c,tions. The roads of which operations are
given embrace 73,50S miles, against |I''o9
miles in "1S75,n an apparent gam OF I|f'
| miles, but it does not appear To what extent
the roads now included for the fifst time
change the aggregates, nor what Ioahs are no"
emitted which formerly reported. There is an
apparent decrease of 5,S07, ,546 in gross earn
| inrs. notwithstanding the increase OF mileage,
and an apparent decrease of S623l,04o III
dividends paid moi outstanding an apparent
increase of S946.314 in net earnings. True,
tho apparent increase of capital stock and debt
has been nearly $53, 3,000,0 900, but this does
not account for decrease of more than
S3. 2OO. 900 in dividends, if "net earnings"
mean Inc same that they did in the year
preceding. The natural explanation Is t'iat
"net earnings" do not mean the same; that
favorable balances have been forced IN many
cases by the mysteries OF railway b0okkeep-
| ing; and that the actual increase OF captai
stock and debt is much greater than the appa-
rent Increase, with respect to the ROADS tiiat
pay any dividends whatever.
| Until the full statement of railways III de-
| tail has been published, it will not be possible
| To draw conclusions of much value from the
| comparison of latest with prior returns. 1t
NAV be noticed, for example, that some roads,
reported as dividend-paying in 1875, are now
reorponized. and the stock has been entirely
| Wiped out. and that others, winch nave palo
martial dividends within the year which the
! Manual reports, have since passed INTO the
| hands of receivers or ceased to pay dividends
| Some time ago we gave a detailed statement
of the latest dividends paid, and of the an
nual ratio of such dividends to stock, from
which it appeared that roads were paying
| d,ring the last half year at the rate OF only
| $57. .S72, 900. But the statement by Messrs.
Poor is that during years ending at various
dates in 1876 the amount paid was $6S.o39,-
668. Though many companies, operating
| thousands of miles of railway, arc row in
! cludpd for the first time in tie diyidend-pay-
ing list by Poor, the difference is mainly due
TO the reduction or discontinuanee OF divI-
dends since the year reported by MN, OF dur-
| inc the last half Of that year.
| The other comparisons made in the pub
lisbed summary are limited in value for SIM
liar reasons A real service to the railway
world would be rendered by one who could
present careful comparison OF the expenses
of railways, showing how far the apparent
economy in expenditure had been due (1) to
decline of traffic on some roads, ~ to Use OF
| steel rails or other actual economies, or (3)
to neglect OF repairs or mysteries OF account
ing But for such comparison the reports pub
lshed do not give necessary data. From these
reports it can only he said that roads op-
erating 1,749 more miles, and carrying
! 6OOO. 900 tons more of freight, besides all
the increase of passenger business incident to
the centennial year, nevertheless PAID Tor
"operating expenses" only 10,80O,OOO
against $317,56O,O 900 during the preceding
wear. That there has been great saving oy
the Use of over 100000 tons of steel rail laid
during the year 1876 alone, no one doubts.
But it does not yet appear how far That
| saving was balanced by Increased cost OF
moving q larger traffic, or has been supple
mented By changes n accounts which do not
represent real economies.
Almost the only item in the summary upon
which instructive comparisons can be made Is
the aggregate of gross earnings. This shows
a decrease of nearly ID per cent notwitil-
standing the increased number ana mileage OF
roads included and the increased trailic. The
decline, nominally small, therefore indicates a
very considerable decrease in the rate of re-
muneratlOn received per ton or per passenger
per mile. The roads have been doing more
work, and getting less pay for it.
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CROSSING THK DANUBE.
The Russians began their forward movement
| All thp