Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-02-14
AMERICAN RAILWAYS.
Some Interesting Facts as to Their
 Present Condition.

|
 are from an article by Mr. Robert P
 Porter on the Condition of American
 Railways" published in a recent num-
 Der of the New York Sun:
 The latest general balance sheet of the 1 railways of the United States gives us l total valuation of railway property close | to I,200, .000, and over 1S0,000 miles of | road. Next to our farms, which aggregate 1 S,3e0 0e0 .O00, these great properties will
 form, at the close of the century, the most i valuable assets of the republic. The con structfon of the great systems of trans | portatlon has played an important, if not 1 the most important, part in the progress l of the naton during the last half century | Within the last few weeks, the ways and 1 means committee of congress have granted l hearings at Washington to those represent i ing our several industries. In reading the 1 published testimony. one is struck with the i debiofable accounts given Of the condition l of many branches of manufacture. While l not occupying the public mind to anything l like the extent of the manufacturer the i American railroad Is in as bad, if not in
 a worse plight. If congress would only ex- i tend it's hearings to railways, the stories 1 Of the recent tariff hearings would be re- i peated with emphasis on larger and even l more impressive scale. Loss of earnings
 reductions of rates below the paying point 1 actual loss in passenger traffic, deteriora-
 ton of roadbed, reduction in the number l of employees, others working half-time, re- eevershns, foreclosure sales, practically half of this enormous investment bringing no returns, and the blight of insolvency
 steadily settling down upon entire sys- i tenn.
 The losses and disasters arising from i these conditions have been widespread and far-reaching. Tn the first place, it is un- 1 doubtedly true that in no other industry 1 Is so large a business carried on upon so i banking railway m=
 paHy is a great distributor, not only Of 1 passenger and freight but of money. As
 fast as its earnings come In, they go out i again First, We have the army of direct
 employees, which reached nearly H5,000 l few years ago, but which has been reduced 1 fully 100000 With continued prosperity,
 our railway system would have to-day i furnished direct employment to at least
 i,00o,O00 employees. This, however, gives but
 an imperfect idea of the number employed
 indirectly. that Is, in car shops and loco
 motive works, and equipment shops of all i kindss blast furnaces, rail mills and
 myriad industries dependent upon the rail- ways for their prosperity As the percent l age of increase in equipment has been re-
 dueed from ten per cent. in 1890, to an
 actual decrease in 1895, it may be safely l assumed that thousands indirectly engaged 1 have been thrown out of employment. A i perusal of the statistics Of railways as 1 compiled by the United States govern
 
 isting conditions most of our railways are running behind, and the few that are ap- 1 parently holding their own are far from | hopeful for the future Economical man. agement is one thing, but forced economies
 can only result in deterioration of the property. For q few years some of our 1 older railways can thus eeenomiZe, but it
 Is only by continued and liberal expendf- 1 ture of money that track. roadbed, bridges, 1 equipment and rolling stock can be kept l YT-tO n 1 loss to labor has been enormous, and it is i important that railway employees of all 1 grades should study this side of the ques- 1 tion. With freight and passenger rates
 less than those of European countries, | where labor is paid about half the Ameri-
 can rates, how long will our railways be i able to tide along with reduced forces and | three-quarter time? Unless the decline in l receipts is stopped. wages must be re- 1 dueed, and then the trouble will begin, i Taking an army of 2O0,000 men out of active 1 employment in one occupation is a pretty
 serious business That means an annual
 loss in wages of not less than $150 000 1 Here we have the direct loss. The indirect l loss comes from the irreparable injury to l the properties by reason of not keeping them up, ultimately entailing additional ! losses.
 With the exception of 1S9i, passenger
 rates reached their lowest in 1865, while
 freight rates, save a small rally in 1922, I with foreign countries, are rates are in-
 deed low. Ii Is said that if the Pennsyl- Vania Railroad company could secure tho l same rates as the London & Northwestern l company the annual earnings would be i increased Sl2. .000 000. MT. George R. Blanch- ! ] ard, in his recent testimony before the in- terstate commerce committee of the sen
 ate, said that had our railways collected the lowest of the European charges, we would have received $370, ,000, ,000 more than i uTad 1a,fI
 on the figures of 1892. The figures of 1896, which are lower for the United States, would make a greater difference The impartial student of these data must i he struck with the necessity of commer- sial as we'll as industrial reconstruction | The census reports of 1880 and 1890 and the ] statistics of the interstate commerce com mission, all of which are uniform, together
 with the valuable reports of H. V. Poor i give us material on which to base a thor i ougk inquiry. The presidents and other
 officers who have charge of these great ! properties should be accorded the same i opportunity to be heard as the manufaetur- ng industries So far as l can learn. there i no desire on the part Of railway man 1 isers to generally raise rates There is ! however, widespread belief that rock i bottom prices have been reached, and i hat anything, even the tnerest shade lower
 will be absolutely ruinous
 | The case against the railways is a fa- i nlllaf one. ihoSe who feallze these new l conditions have no excuses or apologies i for past mismanagement, nor for the
 methods by which some of these roads
 were built, Whatever may be said of those l who built railways far in advance of popu- ! atioa, or for purposes other than legiti-
 mate trade, we have. on the other hand equally to blame. the cities and towns | md counties and individuals who were 1 ,eady to mortgage the future to help along | he work. In large measure the wind nd u-a far raH hA fro nI1d hoxr l iqueezed out of these properties In their place new and honestly acquired capital
 the shape of enforced loans from bond- | holders and forced assessment of stock l holders has been invested. Foreclosures
 the sheriff and the courts have wiped out | much Of the inflated values and new capi- l al with reorganization for business pur-
 poses has followed. Surely no one will ieny that the consolidation and changes
 ,ay of the last decade. have been bene-