Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-01-13

an arriving 1t the cost OF carrying
one passenger one mile. as above given,
nothing is charged on account of the
expense of the railroads for interest,
rents, taxes and miscellaneous fixed
charges and, of course. nothing for
dividends on stock. The passenger
traffic should, of course, bear its proper
ton of these expenses, which consti-
tute part of the cost of doing the bust
ness. For the year ending June 30th,
1898, in group VI, these fixed charges
amounted to S74,53o, 564. Under the
rule of apportionment adopted by the
Interstate Commerce Commission, S23,-
6S7, 402 Of this expense should be charg
ed to passenger traffic, which would
make the entire cost in accordance with
their figures of carrying one passenger
one mile in this group of railroads 1911
cents. 1t would be proper to offset
against this the earnings on account of
mail, express and excess baggage which
are carried by passenger trains. These
earnings for group VI for the year
ending June 3Oth, 1893, amounted to
S11 1925, $50, so that from the statistics
compiled by the Interstate Commerce
Commission it appears that to charge
the passenger business of the railroads
with it's proportionate share of fixed
charges, not including anything. how
ever, on account of dividends and cred
iting it with mail and express earnings,
would give us as the actual cost 2.57
cents.
"The foregoing statements which are
based upon the most accurate statistics
| ohtainable at this time would indicate:
First: That the average fare at the
present time charged in Iowa is not
above the actual cost of transporting
the passengers.
Second: That within the last three
or four years passenger earnings have
decreased without corresponding de-
crease in the cost of doing the busi-
ness
Let me interrupt here to say that /
am quoting exactly the words of the
Iowa Commission. The document from
which 1 quote is on record. The Com
mission then proceeds:
| "Some of the considerations tending
to throw light upon this subject are the
rates of fare elsewhere.
"Unless changes have recently been
made that have not come to the notice
of the Commission the following are
the rates prevailing in the countries
named:
ENGLAND.
First class. AZ cents
Second class. ................ 81 cents
Third class ............... 30 cents
FRANCE.
E1rsI class 4.O cents
Second class 80 cents
Third class. 20 cents
ITALY.
E1rSJ claSS. DO cenUs
Second class ... 90 cents
Third class Observation-Disclosures. 1.S cent:
HOLLAND.
| First class. 81 cent:
Second class. ... 2.6 cent.
Third class. ..........-...... 1.6 cent:
BELGIUM.
Flrst class "a cents
Second class ................. 1.S cent:
Third class. 1.2 cents
Except in England no baggage il
I carried free and the accommodation:
in the smaller foreign countries are il
every respect much inferior to thos'
furnished in America. Often in foreign
countries excursion rates are M adj
higher than the regular rates on &C
count of the additional risk and Ok
pense.
"The density of the population ais
effects the volume Of p passenger traffic
Where the population is dense Their
will, as a matter Of course, be NOR
travel than in more sparsely settle,
districts. In Iowa the population pc
: square mile is about 80, Belgium 81
England about SAL, Holland $50, Ital
: 26S, France 1877, New Y rk 139, Ohio %
New England SO, Illinois 75, Missouri
43, Nebraska 10, Kansas IL, South Da
kota 5.
"The population per mile of railroa
: in Iowa is about 247, in Illinois it i
about 395, New York S13, New Ems
land 719. Missouri 447, Wisconsin 3Ot
Nebraska 209, Kansas 108, South De
kots 129. These figures are compute
from advance sheets Of the last repoI
, of the Interstate Commerce Con