The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-10

Washington Dec. 9.--The Interstate
commerce commassicE has just issueS
a preliminary report on the income ant
expenditures Of railways in the Unitef
States for the year ending June 80
1884. prepared by its suatistician.
The report contains the returns from
$40 operating compares, whose reports
were filed on or befors Nov. %. 1894
and covers the overaEinns of 14s,55s. q
miles of line. or about IS per cent. Of
the total operated mileage in ths
United States. The gross earnings
from the operation Of the 1882
miles OF line represented were s949, 639,
s7h, Of which $500, 49,. i42 were from pas
senger service, $751;, 1855, 49S was from
freight service and S22. 42e, 2ss was fol
earnings from operation, covering re.
cetptS from telegraph, use of cars
switching charges etc.
The operating expenses were $685..
as, 81, leaving net earnings of $685.
210, 754, reduced to a. mileage basis, the
earnings from passenger service were
Sz,uof per mile of line; from freight ser
vice S4.lS2; total gross earnings S., $50
operating expenses, S4,S02: and mel
earnings s2,04S.
A, comparison of these items witt
similar receipts from the complete re
port or previous years show a decrease
per mile of line in earnings from pas
senger service of S53: in earnings frcm
freight service, STA; in total gross
earnings of $40; in operating expenses
or 1874 and in net earnings of $685.
The total number of passengers car.
RED We're sos, 2S5, 446; passengers car
ried one mile 1855, $685. 7S; number OF
tons carried, ST., S55. 942; tons carried
one mile, 20. 426, pa. 965.
order. 10 s7r,xxr f,s, xr.,1,~y-,r,
nc for ali the railways, these figures
should be increased IA or is Der cent.
10 compare the density of the traffic
with the previous years, these figures
are reduced to a mileage basis, which
shows The number of passengers car
RED one mile, per mile OF line to be
cb,253 as compared with So 500 in 1893
That there has been an increase on
passenger traffic regardless of the COM
merclal depression is due to the un-
usual amount of travel in July, Au-
gust and October, 1888 on account of
the Worlds fair. The nur.ber of tons
carried one mile per mile of line was
4l0S9S, as compared with SOL, 232 for
1898. These figures show the decrease
tn the volume of freight traffic occa-
stoned by the decentralization of bust
ness throughout the country
The net earnings available for the
payment of fixed charges and dividends
was SoUo,zlU, IA, as against S550, 766, 601
for the same roads for the previous
year, a decrease of S44, 555, &c., Tt is
probable thai the decrease in net earn
sngs of all the railroads will exceed
S50,ooo,00o. The dividends paid were
s62, 1854, 961, as compared with $50. 464, $50
for 1893. After the deduction of divi-
dends, it is found that all of the group
except groups VI and group X show
s deficit instead OF a surplus from the
operations of the year, the aggregate
amount Of such deficit being SIS, 032, 621
This fact shows that a part of the divi-
dends were either paid out of the ac-
cunlulated surplus of past years OF
that their payment necessitated an in
crease in the current indebtedness.
The report also shows the average
receipt per passenger per mile for the
year ending June so, 1894, covering the
mileage represented. Regardless Of the
decrease in traffic. there has been a de-
cline in rates during the year, the-av-
erage receipts per passenger per mile
being 1876 cents as compared with 2.1S
cents in 1888, and the average receipts
per ton per mile $50 cents, as compared
with SIS cents in 1893.