The Louisiana populist., 1897-04-23
OUR RAILROADS,
Figures That Figure for the Railroads
Only,

Figures That Figure for the Railroad
Only.
NO fact stands out more clearly Will
reference to the railroads of the coun
try than that their reports do not re
port. The law requires the railroads
to make yearly returns of their opera
tions in order that the people may OBJ
tain some idea of what these corpora
tions are doing and whether they are
adhering to the terms of their char
ters. But the railroads obey the let.
ter and not the spirit of the law. Ev.
cry year they favor congress and the
public departments with long arrays OF
ngures that mean absolutely nothing
only the expert can make anything
out OF the statements presented, and
even he is left totally in the dark un-
less he happens to possess inside in
formation to give him a key to the
puzzle.
Consequently, we cannot hope to
make much of the just issued annua!
report of the interstate commerce COM
mission. The document Is quite
lengthy. 1t informs us that existing
laws for controlling the railroads are
inadequate, because they lack provis-
IONS to secure their enforcement. The
statutes are very definite concerning
"nat the corporations shall and shall
not 40, but there is as yet no way of
furnishing them when they disobey the
law. The decisions are openly defeds
and when the commissioners protest
the corporation lawyers laugh in their
faces or threaten to annul the author
ity or the commission by appeals to
the federal judiciary. In considering
the information embodied in the report
made public on Friday, we must bear
all these things in mind. The docu-
ment includes ten groups of systems
aggregating 652 roads, with a mileage
OF l72,369 miles of line. The total earn
ings for the fiscal year reached the
enormous sum of $1,123,64s,562. One
third. roughly speaking, represents
passenger receipts, and the remainder
freight charges. The operating ex-
penses amounted to $754,971,515, which
sum includes 100000 salaries to presi-
dents and $4,000 to general managers,
besides interest on watered stocks and
bonds. In other words, the true oper-
ating expenses amounted to $3.50, ,O00,-
900, and, the rest was swallowed up in
plumber But even after the deduction
OF the plunder, the railroads wrung a
profit of over $36O,OOO,0O from the peo-
pie. The yearly profit per mile was
Sl,S77 on one item alone, or, after de-
Quoting every possible item, We per-
ceiye a clear gain of s2,139 per mile.
On the other hand, the dividends de-
clared for dividends a year ago. This
81, ,9S3,7S2, almost TIE same sum de-
clared for dividends year ago. This
requires word of explanation. The
railroads of the land are required by
law to reduce their tariffs when the
dividends exceed a certain sum. Con-
sequently, the railroads make every
possible effort to keep down dividends.
At the same time, they must not let
the dividends sink too low, or the man
who invests in railway stock will be
away. The corporations
solve the problem by keeping the divi-
dends up to a certain limit and never
letting them sink below or rise above
1t. The fayorite way is to create spur
ious mortgage bonds. The Vanderbilts,
for example, mortgage their own roads
to themselves to pay themselves inter-
est on these dummy mortgages. 1t is
an ancient trick, but it enables them
to charge up heavy sums against the
interest account and thus show mod
crate profit on the face of the report.
Another plan is to lease lines at
heavy annual rate to a subdivision of
the same road. The trunk lines are
thus split in two, three and four ficti-
tious systems, one leased to the other.
The rents are all charged to the expense
account. 1t is very much as If man
owning his home went to raise the
rent Of it against himself and then COM
plain to his neighbor that the landlord
had doubled the rent. There is, in fact,
no end to the tricks that can be played
for the sake Of bringing deceptive fig
lres into an annual report. The inter-
state commerce commission complains
that it cannot afford the people any
'emedy against these things until con-
gress gives it some power to punish
The violators of the law.-Twentieth
Century.
Lost, Strayed or Stolen.