The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-05-01

Line Disappears Rapidly-Bauk-
rupr Roade-Other Items.


In q short time redaced rates 10 the
Worlds FAR viii De taken CT.
Electric headlights are giving satisfaction
20 the company and engineers.
hsior Emmett will take charge OF the
tickets OF the C., n. and /. TO day.
The j., b. and l. people making ex-
fsnsive improvements in the the park 1T
North Vernon.
Mr.. Dowd is taking a deeper interest in
the affair If the Monon than any President
the road b ever had.
The reports of ell the Indianapolis roads
for the month inst ra~sed will show heavy
increase over those for March.
IL is learned from one of the friends of
Mr.. E B. Thomas, General Manager Of the
Bee Line. that that gentleman has no in
tenfion whatever Of TesIgning about June .
rs IS been heretofore stated.
Yesterday was the last day OF the first half
OF the fiscal year Of the Vsndala ending Octo-
Der 81, 1885 The Saperintsndents of Motive
Power AID Stationary Department commence
to cay the work of making az invoice of
TIER entire stock This invoice Is made
substantially. IL will require a week or
two before reports will be fled.
The Bloomfield and Bedford Road prOba.
bly, hauls more stone than any other Indiana
road, large portion OF which it brings to
this city by way OF tie L., y. a and G.
This stone, which Is the hnet. quality, is
procured IA the Bedford qnarrfes, which are
now being worked for all they are worth.
Hundreds OF carloads have been used in
building the Stale house.
The value of feeders to main line disap-
pears very rapidly as the main line rates de-
cline. On The WABASH much, aud perhaps
mcst. OF the through traffic, at least west of
the Mississippi, pegs trunk line rates. There
was very little profit in these for any BODY
last year. and least for the western sections
Of the routes on which these rates are made.
because their traffic is relatively thin. This
year 1t IL even less profitable for the Wabash
lit may very likely yield no profit at all.
Under such circumstances branches are of
no advantage unies their cwn earnings are
greater than ihsir EXPENSES, however much
tathc they may conIr. bate TO the main line.
We have now fairly entered upon "a period
Of reorganization. some taing like that which
occurred from about 1876 to 1879, when bank
rups railroads built before 1874 were reorgan-
lied CT formed into new systems. This
perlcc wH8 then and is now a trying
one Despe rate efforts are made to get as
mitch as possible for the roads that have
failed, and this may be done sometimes by
rDO"tHr INV tuNC0 nnILu . eau ID
It's ntiekbors. as well AS by making il earn a
profit for its owners; for st such times the
ovItre o. q railroad msy get more foT it by
selling lt 10 = solvent company than by any
possinle success ia operating it. After 1873
thin doubtless Was much more the case than
nov. for then the bankrupt roads were,
many of them, shors lines, which
would be much more profitable directly
ss J. arts OF system than they oould %
otherwise. Daring the late period OF rail-
road construction comparatively few short
roads were built by independent companies,
and the larger part Of the mileage nov IN
receivers hands consists of considerable sys-
te :, az the Denver and Rio Grande, the
Wsbesh snd tire East Tennessee, which more
over are not all new and even such lines ss
the West Shore, the Nickel Plste, and the
Texas and ST. Louis are fitted to be trunks
rather than branches though doubtless they
night be worth more to come other railroad
company than 20 their own stockholders
Nevertheless, it is desirable that the present
period OF reorganization should be also
period OF redistribution, the old one was
and il is probable that 1t will be so.--Rail-
uau Eezoffa