Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-18
RAIL WAY STATISTICS
Annual Report of the Inter-
state Commerce Commission.
DIFFICULTIES FACED
GROWTH OF CHARGES A MENACE
TO INTERNAL TRADE.
Lines of the Country Show General
Prosperity-Abuses Being Care
fully Investigated.
FACED

year ending June ~, 1908, shows railway
returns for 2O1 ,457 miles of line, which IS
approximately 90 per cent of the entire
mileage In the United States. Gross earn
ings for that year amounted to 81, 800. $780,
679. or $9.3S2 per mile of line Operating
expenses aggregated 81 ,24s, $40, 4s3. or $6,197
per mile, leaving net earnings Of $641, $780,,
1913. or s., 1855 per mile. Fifty-three million
dollars in taxes are not included in this
statement of operating expenses. Com
pared with the previous year the net earn
ings are greater by some thirty-four mill
lions and stock dividends are greater by
nearly ten millions. In 1897 the gross
earnings averaged only Sc, 100 and operat-
ing expenses s4,1O6 per mile of line.
The Elkins Law.
The legislation passed by the last Con-
gress, commonly known as the Eikins law,
is discussed. The commission says that
the original law. the act to regulate COM
merce, embraces two distinct objects, or
seeks to correct two kinds Of railroad
abuses: First, to secure the publication of
tariff rates which shall be just and rea-
Sonable and free from Determinations; and,
second, to compel carriers to observe the
tariffs SO published without variation or
exception.
The commission further points out that
the effect of the Elkins amendment has
been to bring about in many cases an in
crease of railroad charges, and, as a re-
suit of the mainter ance Of rates, has ope-
rated to intensity whatever was wrong in
the tariffs themselves This Is doubtless
one explanation of the marked increase in
the number of formal complaints made to
the commission during the present year.
which are more tran double those Of the
previous year, and more than four times
the number of those received the year be-
fore; The fact that such complaints multi
ply Is highly significant. Yet the authority
Oh the COMMISSION in respect to these mat
ttrs has not beel enlarged in the least by
the amendment In question. However plain
a given case may appear, or however clear
~ injustice may be established by peril
rent proof, the only order which the COM
mission has power to make is the limited
and 1nconcluSive order to cease and de-
s.st from charging the rates or doing the
things found to be unlawful; yet even that
order has no binding force upon the carrier
but can be dtsregarded with impunity until
compliance is decreed by the courts at the
end of tedious and expensive litigation
Advances in Freight Rates.
One of the most significant things in
railway operations for the past three
years has been the marked and general
advance in rates. Six years ago railroad
witnesses often insisted that railway
rates could not be advanced but the his
tory of the last three years has dis
credited these predictions.
Ihere is now no way in which these
advances can be prevented. If they are
just and reasonable they ought not to
be prevented In cases where the rea-
sonableness of charges is fairly in doubt
the benefit of that doubt should he given
to the railways; but it is Impossible to
contemplate with indifference the fact
that the result Of all the recent i'm
provements in transportation facilities is
an increase in the TRANSFORMATION charee
remember
thls species OF property now possesses
the power to tax unjustly every other
species or property. If these charges are
unreasonable they are a most insidious
means of taking unjustly from the een
eral body of the public for the benefit of
the rev, and some means should he de-
Vised by which this can be prevented.
Inc commission further points out that
some interstate carriers have refused to
furnish in their annual reports Informs
ton required by the commission, and
says that as information of this kind be-
comes more and more important there is
an inevitable tendency to refuse its nro-
auction. The commission recommends
that penalty be provided for failure to
NE such reports or furnish information
therein as required by the commission,
Accident Record.
In the year ending June 80, 1903. the num-
Der of passengers killed In train accidents
was 164. and of injured 4,424; of emploves
Killed, s9o; injured, 6,44O. Casualties from
other causes, added to these, make totals
OF 81 passengers and q, 233 EMPLOYEES killed
ana 6,973 passengers and 39OO4 emploves
injured. THESE numbers are larger by a
considerable percentage than the CORE
spending numbers of the year last preced-
ing.
The most prominent fact in this years
record OF train accidents is the appalling
loss or life and property In collisions The
showing cannot be called materially worca
nor materially better than that made a
year ago, and the total number of passen
gers Killed and injured does not differ from
the record Of the preceding year to such
extent as to call for comment: but the mera
continuance of the record, though it be no
worse than in former years, is a disgrace TO
the American people, painful to every care
full observer.
passengers are killed in the United States
In the course of year In a single class Of
accidents indicates a condition which should
not pass without serious attention These
tatahties are due to causes which have
never been adequately considered by any
department Of the government, either of
the United States or of any of the states
and there Is crying need for such con-
sideration. Railroad accidents, their causes
and their results, have been considered in
judicial decisions, and in the delihera tiona
and yerdicts of coroners and coroners'
1uries, and to very limited extent by state
railroad commissions, but none of these
have dealt comprehensively with the sub
ject, and apparently no improvements in
railroad service nor reformatory measures
of any kind have resulted from such ac-
ton.
Earnings Of Railways.
The gross earnings of the railways for the
year ending June 80. 1903. were 81, 800. 15O.-
$40. The gross earnings for the previous
year. on 200, 154 miles. as shown in the final
report. were $1.7263s0 267. Passenger earn
ings amounted to sos. 6S3 ,0O9 and freight
earnings to s1.335. 76S5S1 Miscellaneous
earnings connected with operation were
$45, 699,0s9. Gross earnings from operation
averaged $685. per mile Of line This aver
age is S737 larger than the average as
shown In the complete report for 1902 OF
the gross earnings per mile of line. 81 525
were assignable to the passenger service
and $3.50 to the freight service. The operat-
ing expenses OF the road totalized 81 PAS $40
4S3. This aggregate is equivalent to an ex-
penditure of SO, 1877 per mile, or of $500 more
per mile than was shown in the complete
returns for 1902. The net earnings thus
shown for the year 1903 were S641, $50 1856.
Those of essentially the same lines for the
year 1902 were s607, SAT ,026. On the same
mileage basis the net earnings averaged
$3.50 more per mile for 1903 than for the
previous year.
The total net income of the roads included
in this advance report was 1874, 709, 435.
This amount includes 1913 .O79, 239 received as
income from cOrpOrata Investments and