The age-herald., 1897-08-01
IN TIE RAILROAD WORLD
Southern Roads Are Hauling
 More Freight, but 2
EARNINGS NOT so GREAT
Condition of Alabama Railroads Matters of Interest to Stockholders and Shippers
 Are Rates Too High CT Too Low2
By FRANK WELDON.

iSi.t H iebisi Seih i}O-lll OI NAtH A4teit
 traffic signs of a business revival. They
 do not point 10 a free, unlimited ard in-
 dependent prosperity, but simp.y to better
 times Every one who predicts, gives
 the reason for the faith that is in h.m
 the fact that the farmers have fine crcss
 this year. In the vest, the wheat and
 corn fields have y.e,dad their full one hum
 dred foid. In the south the cotton crop
 will be enormous.
 Easing their, hope on these conditions,
 the interior merchants have ordered more
 goods than ever before of the merchants
 at the jobbing centers and these mer-
 chants have, Gn turn, bought heavily. or
 are preparing to buy heavily of the east
 f'',1Fss dealers and manufaetgres. 5.-. - Railway managers keep their fingers on the commercial pulse all the time. They are not like doctor, who comes cnce a
 day and feels his patients pulse and looks at his tongue and then go eff and charge him two dollars. Your railway manager keeps his fingers on the pubic 1 wrist and looks into it's trade mouth every | honr of the day every day in the year. The | fingers of railroad management the l soliciting and commercial agents. These l fingers are always outStretched. ready to close around any business which they can l hold. These fingers and eyes tell the l brains up at the general offices that the I tOuHiTy cOHlHCGCldl system IS lOiiliB up | Health and strength are coming back. The body has had a long spell of sickness It was very feeble for three or four years and 3, general collapse was imminent. It had many doctors of various schools. All Of them prescribed and the victim-I mean | the enthusiastically grew worse. But now l congress has adjourned, and the sick man | has decided to get well himself.
 There is no interest in this country which | needs a business revival more than our | railroads. The lines in the south have | just about held their own the past year. 1 They econom!zed in every way. and in l spite of decreased revenue, most of them show a small increase in net earnings. This. however, was too often made at the expense of the physical condition of the properties and where one dollar is saved in that way now two will have to be ex- pended eventually.
 The Gross Earnings
 The Southern railways gross earnings for the year ending June 30. 1897, were
 s167, 900 less than in the previous year, but the expense were cut down so that the system showed a net gal of s1SS,000 for the last year over 1896. I have not the
 Louisville and Nashvilles figures at hand, but my impression is that there was a gain in the gross as well in the net The Central of Georgia. which is partly an Alabama system, made small increase | in it's net although the gross earnings were off from the previous year. The Ala bama Great Southern lost $2S.546 in gross earnings for the year, but gained s1.624 in l its net. VI"
 So the statistics show that the trans portaton companies just about held their own. So far as I have seen, no southern rail line either made or lost much money during the past fiscal year. Now the man. agers are feeling better over the prospect of year coming in which they can partly recoup their past losses. The indications are that they will get an increased vol ume of traffic. But will they make any more money out of it? That depends part | ly on the roads themselves and partly on | the rate making powers over which they | have no control. In Georgia and the Caro- | linas agitators are trying to have the l rates reduced by the commissions. It is | significant that these movements against | the earnings spring from politicians and others who have an income contingent 1 upon warfare against the roads. In | North Carolina, the fight recently made l was notoriously prompted by the politi- cians. In South Carolina, there Is poli- | tics behind much of the agitation, and in l Georgia there is some politics and some | other things. The Georgia commission will | take up next Wednesday an application l TOT u TeuucIsOn OI zD per cent III tOliOii rates The head pushers in the agitation are neither farmers nor consumers They | are not even shippers of cotton, and so far as I know they never were. The middle | men giving the movement what back | ing it has. Last spring an application | was. made for a general reduction of all l rates in Georgia, and the hostility which developed broke off a deal which was on | for the purchase of a railroad by New | York panitaliStS who had for | ing large sum of money in the state. l They looked into the situation and became | alarmed. Later the state railroad com l mission declined to grant the petition, but l it was then too late to save the deal, which l had been called off,
 1 The New Alabama Railroad
 l w. M Mitchell is trying to raise sub | scriptions for a road to extend from At | lanta to Selma, with the hope of continuing 1 it to New Orleans Esome day. Every | where he goes he is met with the objection
 that the commissions or the legisla-
 lures are liable to do something which
 will hurt railroad investment. This has | not been the disposition of the commis-
 sions-certainly not of late-but the con-
 tnual warfare on the roads deters local | investments, and if the home people will | not subscribe for a new line through vir-
 gin territory, it cannot be expected that | NEW lOrh UT lOIciSil Sepildi Wiii tdhc Aoiu
 of such project. The people as mass | are not hostile to the roads, but there are
 always some individuals who hope to profit
 by the agitation for lower rates or greater
 restrictions on transportation lines.
 More Tonnage, Less Profits.
 They do not take into account the fact that natural competition is steadily bring | ing rates down. It is a fact that while | the railroads of the United States are
 handling larger tonnage than they did a | few years ago. they are making less money. | They are in the position of merchant
 who does one-third more business, but
 makes less money on it year after year l In 1895 the income of all the railroads in
 the United States fell loff $50, 900, GOO from
 the year before. In 1896 they lost $50, cod 0O(
 more. There was a decrease of $lOo,G0500(
 in two years. In 1888 the railroads of the
 country averaged cent per ton for mile
 for freight. A drayman would charge from
 50 cents to $1 for hauling ton a mile IT
 1895 the roads received only 8 2-5 mills fol
 hauling a ton mile For the past year
 the rates have averaged scarcely mors
 than mills. There has been fan of 2
 in, f,,,t tna