The age-herald., 1898-08-25
OUR EAST AND
 WEST LINE

From New York Commercial Advertiser.
 Southern Railway. as such, is four years old. It was the first of the bankrupts to be reorganized, and it started on it's early career in pretty bad times. This is the first year that it has approached, so far as earnings are concerned, the business of years that were considered fairly good, namely, those prior to 1S93 It is worth noting, however, that even last year. and with the company operating 4SO miles mora than in 1S9l the gross earnings fell below 1881 figures by about $6O0,OOO.
 The Southern railway report is not of fts self very interesting document. The road Is poor but honest It is, to speak figure atiVely, patient plodder, with no large hopes or lofty ambitions. It is not possi4 Die Tor railroad located as the Southern Is to look for any phenomenal growth in a snort time. The Southern serves district into which there is not great deal of inns migration from year to year. large part Of It's mileage is unproductive and never hkely to be particularly profitable. It is true that in many respects the road is am important artery of travel, but, taking the system as whole, it's growth must be- slow Then the Southern can have few am- bftions, because of its large capitalization. Last year was favorable, and yet the result Is only round million dollars of profit available for dividends on the preferred stock. As the company has over fifty- seven million dollars of preferred stock out standing, this sum is equal to less than 8 per cent. for the year No doubt next wins ter, however, dividend of 1 per cent. or better will be declared on this preferred stock. The company has so far distributed 2 per cent.
 When we have said this much we hava said perhaps enough in the way of criti- cism of the property. When we come to look over the report we are constrained to praise the method adopted in setting forth the company's figures. and to praise, more- over, with a whole heart. The Southern report Is, in point of fact as lucid and withal complete an annual report as one could reasonably ask for. There is noth- ing obscure in it from end to end It is a well-considered well-planned, orderly state- ment of the facts concerning the company's affairs during the twelve months. A stock holder can take up the statement and read it through, and at the end he will have a very fair idea of what has been done Who- ever is responsible for the arrangement of the company's figures deserves commenda- ton for good piece of work
 As regards the operating department, there is something more to be said. Last year the company's ton mileage was the largest in it's history, increasing SR per cent. on the previous year. We notice, however, that there is no gain at all in the aVerageetrainload. It appears in fact that for the last four years the trainload has been in the neighborhood of 145 to 149 tons, showing hardly any variation at all. This. of course, refers to revenue freight alone. Last year, moreover, while there was an in- crease of one loaded freight car in each train, the average carload of revenue freight declined by nearly even-eighths of a ton. The company ran less empty freight car mileage than in the previous year, but did not load its cars nearly so well. It is not easy to find a clear explanation for this. Of course, the best way of increasing a trainload is by the heavier loading of cars, as car mileage is saved in this way.
 One explanation might be found in larger proportion of high class and bulky freight but the company's statement of classified tonnage does not show any such change. The percentages of the whole borne by the various articles have not appreciably altered during the year. It s true that the percentage of agricultural products and annual products is smaller, but on the other hand the percentage of minerals, and forest products is larger, and the percentage of manufactures and mis- cellaneous is a shade smaller. The lowest grades of freight bore thus last year a larger proportion of the total tonnage than they did in the preceding year. Conse- quently the explanation suggested above does not explain.
 The company gives an excellent table showing the various kinds of locomotive mileage during the year. We notice from this that light and helping mileage is very small by comparison with the total. It is evident, therefore, that the train load and the engine road, are very much one and the same thing. We wish every company would follow the Southerns example and give just such a table, Indeed, as we have said the form of the Southern's report Is excellent in practically every way, and If we could get the same kind of report from every company we should ask for nothing better. It is pity that the companys capital and other disadvantages prevent it from having greater prosperity to report.