Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1888-03-01

turn our money quicker ana Oitener. tive
MS time, quicker time y Is heard ON all sides.
These two things, safety and quicker time,
are growing demands In the whole country.
The very largest revenues your railroads
can obtain are required TO put them In
proper condition TO meet these necessities.
speak from thlrty-one years experience in
the practical departments OF railroad, from
boyhood up, when l assert that there Is not
to-day one railroad in the State of Iowa In
the proper physical condition that Il ought to
be, My first years were spent rs an appren-
tice In a railway machine shop, and under
stand, and say II without egotism, under
stand. gentlemen, the mechanical details and
the other practical details of the working of u
railroad.
Mr.. Chairman, the problem Is 10 SEQ how.
without undue burden upon the people of
Iowa, these demands of the public Cor time,
for safety, for greater accommodations, can
be provided by these corporations aud they
be not driven into bankruptcy In meeting the
requirements. | tell you II cannot be done
II you take of any of the revenues of those
lines to-day. Tho revenues may be sacrl-
feed, the revenues may be cut down, IL you
are satisfied with railroads In less safe, In q
poorer physical condition than the Iowa
roads are now, The Illinois roads-and |
have made this depression 10 get there-the
Illinois roads have tried these things. They
have tried TO maintain themselves In good
condition with depleted treasures and they
have sgnally failed, The Chatsworth acct
dent in Illinois is a striking example of what
Is likely TO happen at any time upon any
railroad that is not In iirst-class physical CON
diton. You gentlemen, presume. are ia
miliar with that catastrophe. Nearly u
hundred lives lost--a wooden bridge sixteen
feet long the cnuse of II. You must have
heavier rails and ballasted track; you must
have iron or steel bridges resting on stone
masonry; YOU must have stone culyerts !;
you must have broad roadways so that IL
ears get oil the track they will not roll down
entertainments, You must have larger open
lngs for your bridges whore there are dang
ors of oyerilows and Hoods; you must have
more powerful locomotives; You must have
better and larger freight equipments, A
crying demand In this state to-day is, "Gve
us more earsln These things demand mil
lions of money. On the Dubuque Il Sioux
City railroad and Iowa Falls n Sioux City
railroad, aggrcgatlng three hundred and
twenty-seven miles, Ia put In iron bridges,
stone culyerts, ballast, steel rails, provide
proper equipment tosmcct the requirements
Of the public, II would take an expenditure
of four and one-half millions of dollars.
made these estimates when the company
that | represented thought of buying those
Iowa properties, before there was any ques-
ton OF Iowa legislation, before there was
any thought as 10 what the results of lcgis-
latlon might be- -Four and Onc-half mil
lions of dollars Gentlemen, ut five per
cent that represents an annual charge of two
hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars
| Can that be provided for out OF the earnings
| that now show loss when the operation OK
| penses, taxes and interest on bonded debt Is
| charged up against them?
Chairman Mr.. lottery, In estimating the
| income Of these Iowa lines you credit them
| with pro rata part Of tho earnings all the
| way TO Chicagop
Mr.. Jelfery: Yes
Chairman; Is that the manner In which
| feeders belonging 10 other corporations,
| feeders of your main lines, receive their pro-
| portion Of the earningsp Don't short lines
| receive the larger proportion
Mr.. Jeilery: In some cases they do.
Chairman: Ii II not the ruler
Mr.. JeiTery: The rule Is this ON our
Chairman: IL does not appear 10 mo II Is
| fair way of charging up loss TO Iowa lines
and baslng II on pro rata and mileage
| basis.
Mr.. Jeffrey: will explain II fully. We
| have constructed branch from Cherokee TO
| Sioux Falls, ninoty-sx miles, The business
| TO and from that branch Is pro rated proyld-
| ing tho pro rata does not give the Cherokee
| Il Dakota Rallroad-that is the Sioux Falls
| branch--less than twenty-five per cent. II
| the pro rata would yield only ten or fifteen
per cent of the total revenue 10 the Cherokee
| ~ Dakota branch IL then receives twenty
| five per cent. If the pro rata yields twenty
| five per cent or more II receives the pro rata.
| In ha,r mi Ia nxn hat hrnn mol
| lines shall receive less than twenty-five per
| cent on business TO and from them.
In reference 10 the Iowa Falls Il Sioux
| City and Dubuque Il Sioux City Railroads,
| they are, as | explained when commenced
| my remarks, independent corporations. The
| stock Is owned by the Illinois Central, but
! they are independent corporations, operated
| under Iowa laws rs Iowa corporations, hay-
| ing separate Boards of Directors and sepa-
rate officers. ! received my appointment rs
| General Manager Of the Dubuque Il Sioux
| City company from the Dubuque IL Sioux
| City Board of Directors, and received my
| appointment as General Manager OF the
| Iowa Falls ~ Sioux City from It's Board OF
| Directors. The Illinois Central has no lega
| right under its charter 10 take from its cor
porate earnings In Illinois moneys TO pay The
loss of the Dubuque IL Sioux City or OF the
| Iowa Falls u Sioux City road. In Other
words, what the Dubuque IL Sioux City road
must do, backed up rs II would be by The
| credit of the Illinois Central. Is TO borrow
the money 10 meet the losses In its opera
| ton, and the Iowa Falls Il Sioux City would
| have 10 do the same thing. An Illinois Cen
trail bond cannot be lien on the Iowa FALL
a. Sioux City or the Dubuque q Sioux City,
because they are separate corporations
| They have their separate stock and separate
| shareholders, and be they Iowa citizens OF
| be they one or two or three Illinois corpora
| tons owning tho shares, they must hold
| themselves as Independent Iowa corporations
| Therefore, the earnings OF the Dubuque 4
| Sioux City and the Iowa Falls IL Sioux City
| must be kept separate.
The Iowa Falls & Sioux City road, by q
contract made between the Iowa Falls a
| Sioux City directors and the Dubuque &
| Sioux City directors, receives a drawback Of
| ten per cent, from the Dubuque a. Sioux
| City upon all business to and from the lows
| Falls Il Sioux City railroad. The Iowa Falls
| Il Sioux City road owns no equipment what
| ever. Ii ownes no engines or cars but lease,
| all it uses The rental charge for the use Of
| that equipment Is six per cent upon Its fab
| valuation, and its equipment Is valued every
| year. The same Is true of the equipment
| required by the Dubuque & Sioux City In
| excess Of that which II actually owns
| which is seventeen locomotives and two
| hundred and six freight cars Its require
ments are twenty-seyen locomotives and some
| eight hundred freight ears.
| Chairman: My understanding Is that The
basis upon which the Iowa lines OF the
Illinois Central are created Is not the basis
| that Is usually accorded to feeders of line;
where they are owned by other corporations
| as for instance the case cited by Mr., SagC
| Of the delivery at Des MOlnes from feeders
/ Of the Rock Island road. The proportion
of the Chicago rate that was created there
4 L Ln..n fLr..citarl Illn nxnnI nnlIIna hnL