The age-herald., 1900-07-16
SOME INTERESTING
 RAILROAD GOSSIP Seaboard Air Line is After the
 M. & 0. ALSO THE EAST AND WEST Advance Sheets of Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission Gives Some Very Interesting
 Statistics on Earnings
ALSO THE EAST AND WEST

solicitations or absorptions. It is rumored that the Seaboard Air Line Is after the Mobile and Ohio road and that the absorp- tion of the latter by the former is among the probabilities Not much importance is attached to this gossip by railroad men who keep posted on the railroad situation, but the rumor continues to circulate, l nevertheless
 It is almost a certainty that the Sea- board will get control of the East and West Railroad of Alabama within the next few months, and that the latter will be ex- tended to Birmingham as soon thereafter as practicable, but 1t is not believed in railroad circles that the Seaboard would l want the Mobile and Ohio With the East and West extended to Birmingham the Seaboard would be able to make close traf- fic arrangements with the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham, which road is said to be interested in the purchase of the East and West and together the two line from the grain fields of the West to the Atlantic seaboard, and would touch the leading South Atlantic coast cities. East and est Compromise
 An Age-Herald reporter has been inform ed that negotiations are now pending look ing to a settlement of the litigation over the East and West property and that if these are successful the case will be taken out of the courts at an early date It is
  calIy agreed to give the Brownings more liberal terms than the last decree of the supreme court granted them, and that these terms will be accepted. If so the Kelleys will take the property in hand, per feet the title to it, and then turn it over to the Seaboard, the purchase price having been agreed upon between the latter com pany and the Kelleys sometime ago. That the Seaboard intends coming into Brming- ham can hardly be doubted in view of the investments made by it's representatives here and elsewhere in the state along or near the line by which it purposes to reach this city
 Decreased Earnings
 For the first time in a year the Louis- vile and Nashville shows a decrease in earnings as compared with the corres- bonding week in 1899. The decrease the first week in July was $36,O6O the gross earnings for that week being $432, 4S5 The Alabama Great Southern for the same week shows decrease of $663, while the Southern Railway shows an increase of $22, ,S56.
 Railroad Earnings and Expenses
 Advance sheets of the annual report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, which is soon to be issued, give some very interesting statistics relative to the earn ings and operating expenses of the rail- roads in the United States. From the ad- vance sheets the following statistical in formation is ascertained:
 For the year ending June 30, 1899, the gross earnings from the operations of the railways in the United States, covering an operated mileage of 1S7, ,6S0 miles, were s1,31361O,11S being s66,2S4,497 more than for the preceding fiscal year The op- erating expenses were $S56,9 S999, the in crease in this item being $3S, 1895, 723. The de- tails of gross earnings were as follows: Passenger revenue, $291, liz, ,99S-increase as compared with the preceding year, $24,242,- 5o3; mail, $35 999, ,011-increase, $1390 ,659 ex- press $26, 756, ,054-increase, $S47,9E; other earnings from passenger service, S6S1, ,363- increase, S463, 363; freight revenue, $913, 73I- 155-increase, $37,00 ,436 other earnings from freight service, $4,261, ,S04-decrease, $42l, ,4O1; other earnings from operation, in- cluding unclassified items, $34055. 73S-in- crease, $2,S ,95S. Gross earnings from op- eration per mile of line were $250 more than for the year ending June 30 1888, being $7,OO5.
 The operating expenses of the railways for the year under consideration were as- signed as follows: Maintenance of way and structures, $1S0, 410, ,S06; increase, $,095,- S4S. Maintenance of equipment, 5O,919. .249; increase, $S294, ,3s7. Conducting transporta- tion $4S6 159 GOT; increase, $21, ,4S5, ,331. Gener al expenses, $3S, ,676, ,SS3 increase, $2,2 ,197; undstrbuted, $S02, ,454. The operating ex- penses for the year in question were &,570 per mile of line, or $40 moro than for the previous year. An analysis of operating expenses for the year ending June 30, 1899, according to the ffty-three accounts em- braced in the official classification, appears in the report, with a statement of the per- centage of each item in the classified op- erating expenses for the year 1895 to 1899 inclusive.
 The income from operation, or the abount of gross earnings remaining after the deduction of of operating expenses, generally designated as net earrings, was $456, ,6f1 119, an increase as compared with the year ending June 30, 1S9S of $27,2SS TIA. The average amount per mile of line for 1899 was $2,435, and for 1898, $2,325. The amount of income received from sources other than operating $14SUS,9S3. This amount covers the following items: Income from lease of road $96 352, 295; dividends on stock owned, $201O4,521; interest on bonds owned, s11 1884, 69O miscellaneous income, s2O 922, AT. The total income of the railways, s605, ,355, 102-that is the income from opera tion increased by the income from other sources-is the item from which fixed charges and analogous items are deducted in order to reach the amount available for dividends. Total deductions from income