The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-24
ON INTERSTATE COMMERCE.


Fifteenth Annual Report of the
Commission Has Been Prepared.
The fifteenth annual report of the In
terstate Commerce Commission has
been prepared. 1t deals with number
of important questions, among them
additional legislation, rates on packing,
house products. relative rates on eX-
port wheat and -four traffic associa-
tons complaints, decisions by the COM
mission, court decisions, railway sta
tistics. safety appliances and accident
reports.
The report of the commission includes
also an abstract of the preliminary re-
port on the income account of railways
in the United States for the year end
ing June &c. 1901, prepared by its sta
tistician in advance of the complete
statistical report for the year, from
which the more important results of
the operations of the railways for the
last fiscal year are summarized in the
following statement:
The preliminary report includes re-
turns of railways operating 1878 miles
of line. or probably SO per cent. of the
mileage that viii be covered by the
illdl IGDOll lOi lllG year hC JeNo-
senger earnings of these railways were
1926 909,2 1O, and the freight earnings ST.
114,74O.77O. The total earnings were ST.
SIS, 1854 POS or 1921 per mile of line.
The gross earnings for 1900, as shown
in the final report for that year, were
81, 4S7 044, S14. The operating expenses
for 1901 amounted to 81, 023, 156,2S1, or
S., 1923 per mile of line, the net earnings
of the. RAIDS included in this advance
report being $685., O07 1924, or 1851, 2tS in
excess of their earnings during the
fiscal year 1900. The total income of
these roads, including $65,271,244 re-
ceived from investments and other
sources, was S620279. 1853.
The total deductions from income,
not including divide nds, were $42l ,625,-
796. In this amount are included inter-
est on bonds. rents for leased lines,
betterments charged to income taxes
(which were s47,041, 21D, and other mis-
cellaneous charges The amount of div
idends declared during the year was
$121, los, 637. AS it is shown that the div
idends of corresponding roads for
1900 We're $10S,2l0,652, it appears that
the pecuniary returns of their stock
holders in 1901 were about $13, 900, 600
greater than in the year before. 1t
should, perhaps, be explained that the
dividends stated in these preliminary
| reports, which are complied from the
reports of operating roads only, do not
| represent TIE total amount of dividends
| declared on the stocks of all the rail-
ways in the United States, because the
dividends declared by those companies
that lease their property to others for
operation are paid from the rentals
they receive, and such dividends are
| necessarily omitted from reports of
this character. Returns for a series of
years indicate, however, that the total
amount of dividends paid by both
classes of companies annually includes
about $30,0O0,000 paid on the part of
leased lines.
The surplus from the operations of
the roads included in the report under
consideration for the year ending June
20, 1901 was 7,544. 795. The surplus for
1900, as shown in the final report for
that year. was $S7 657 1888.
The safety-appliance law became
fully effective on Aug. /, 1900, and the
beneficent results of it's operation are
now being realized. The greatly IN
creased security to life and limb by
which the men on freight trains and
in freight yards now perform their
work is now apparent on every hand.
Evidence of the improved conditions
resulting from the practically univer-
sal use Of automatic couplers on
freight cars appears in the records of
accidents and in the testimony of rail-
road officials and employees. Further
proof from a financial standpoint is
also found in the records of the rail-
way claim departments, as we'll as in
those of the several trainmen's asso-
Citations.
The report shows that for the year
ending June 80, 1901, the number of
employees killed i'm coupling accidents
was less than in the preceding year BY
about 50 per cent, and the number IN
jured was less by about 50 per cent.
Attention is called to the form of ac-
cident reports promulgated by the
commission under the accident law of
March 8. 1901. under which precise
definitions are given for the purpose of
these reports to the words "killed"
and injured and that this has re-
suited in uniform system of report
ing. According to the accident re-
turns for the month of July, only
employees were killed during that
month while coupling and uncoupling
cars. This warrants the expectation
that casualties due to this cause will
be less for 1902 than for 1901. For the
full year ending June 80, 1901, the num-
Der killed in coupling accidents aver
aged 2S& per month. A table show
ing the complete statistics for 1893
and 1897 to 1900, inclusive, is given
Another table shows for those years
the number of persons killed or in
jured by falling from trains and en-
gines.
Another table indicates the increased
efficiency of the men. In 1893 the num-
Der of ton miles to each trainman
was 63S,6S5, while in 1900 it was 3d.
AIS. Some damage cases brought UNI
der the safety appliance act or sim
liar provisions In the state statutes,
are mentioned. The commission rec
ommends that this act be amended
so as to specifically require the appli-
cation Of automatic .couplers to loco
motives and tenders. Although about
IS per cent. of the locomotives and
tenders have been equipped with such
couplers, the amendment is desirable
IL for no other reason than to insure
uniformity on all the roads. 1t is also
recommended that the application of
"handholds" be required on locomo-
tives. tenders and snow plows as well
as upon cars.