Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1879-02-15
TIE TRICKS OF FIGURES PRAC-
TICED UPON THE PUBLIC
BY RAILWAY COM
PANIES

the said company 80 cents per cOrd Tor load
INC their cars with wood Possibly the trust
ing souls who have charge of this part of the
cOmpany's work have been imposed upon
Let US see.
Railroads do not carry freight at loss.
They had better run empty cars than do that.
The cars of the Central Pacific Railroad are
loaded with wood at Truckee city and moved
thence, fourteen miles to the Summit of the
Sierra. on an up grade of 40 feet to the
mie and thence to Sacramento, ll9 miles
distant from Truckee, where they deliver
their load. The price charged for this sery
ice is SO per car load of 10 tons.
Lumber is shipped from Truckee to Sacra-
mento at S28 per carload. A car will trans
port 10000 dry ana about 1900 feet of wet
lumber In this connection it Is stated that
Mr.. Irvine of the c. p K. K. staff stated be
fore Legislative Committee at Sacramento
tnat the wear and tear on the down grade of
railroad was greater than on an up grade
Of a railroad
At Truckee city, as we are informed by a
gentleman who is in the wood and lumber
business there the price of loading railroad
cars with wood is ~ cents per cord. This
also IS the price at and about Verdi, and this
Is the price paid at Lake View and other
wood chopping places between here and Reno,
It must be that the V. & 7. people have
been imposed upon by some designing per
SON
There is an old axiom that Figures won't
lie Both the axiom and the hyures to
which it refers have been suhorned to com
nit perjury a great many times. This fact
has been discovered quite recently by
writer in the North 1mtr,ro5 E~r,em. II
an article in the january number of that
standard periodical entitled The Mysteries OF
American Railway Accounting, we find many
statements and conclusions which are well
worth the attention of our readers at this
slime - Every well-regilated State, re-
marks this highly intelligent and instructive
writer, "verv properly Nlndertakes to control
It's public corporations, So that, through
Il perfect knowledge OF their financial condi
ZION, only To be ascertanr1 tnr'HgA r"'uplete
and enforced reports, the public "a t.rIe may
.xn~a - what extent It IS 5afe 70 jus th"'"
promises to pay, losses, interest or disidends
as the case may be.
Concerning some figures contained in a re
port OF one Of the New York railroad com
panies the writer says:
The officers swear that in that year the
company earned precisely enough money to
pay certain fixed charges, no more and no
less. If it be true that the receipts IN that
year from passengers was S6,1'6 ,092 81, and
that the odd cent was the amount needed to
make up sufficient sum to meet exactly the
1iXed charges of the road for the ye then II
may be conceded that the days If miracles
and of supernatural intervention have not
departed To speak more seriously,
c1n any sane business man believe such re
port!
As illustrating the fact that the taxpayers
New York have some cause TO sympathse
with the taxpayers OF Nevada We quote as
follows from this timely article:
Not only do the present laws fail to cal
COR such information ,as vii, demonstrate the !
financial condition of company at give
period, but the penalties provld d for non
compliance are SO ptltuily inadequate as to
almost constitute premium for disobedience |
For instance, section 81 of the general Act of
1880 reads as follows: Amy such corporation |
which shall neglect to make the report as Is
provided III the preceding section shall be |
liable to a penalty of two hundred and fifty |
dollars, to be sued for in the name of the PEG
pie, for their use. As if the amount of Hne |
were not small enough, it is provided that if |
any person expend time and money to bri
a delinquent company to book, the money re-
covered may not reimburse him, but shall 60
for the use of the people. Section 3, chapter
900 laws of 1867, amends the preceding by |
imposing an additional fine of twenty-five |
dollars for each day after the first day Of !
December on which they shall neglect to file |
said report" but this emendation is but slight |
ly less ridiculous than the original provision. |
indeed, it may be doubted if anything can be |
found in the entire railroad code to conflict !
with the suppositon that it was framed in the
interest of the roads, and under the uspra-
ton of their agents
This very interesting and Instructive essay
concludes as follows:
The law of this country, very wisely, recog-
Eizes no class or family DIS superior to all
others in the management of corporations,
ar as free from the dangers of ambition,
error aud peculation. With rare exceptions,
either in this country or in England, nave di-
rectors been found, no matter how important
their titles or their families, who could or
would safely and honestly administer the
bushes of great corporations, unchecked and
lid .lata