Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-10-01
CONDITIONS
ON SANTA f

ihN aN'seEN AffN'6N W. N'N '
Fe operated during the past fiscal
years was S,l79,59, au increase Of
2970l, of which 19i.9 were completed
on the eastern Oklahoma line. the re-
naming being made up by the Gull,
Beaumont & Kansas City and the
Gulf, Beaumont & Great Northern
roads. In addition, the company con-
trolls, through ownership Of stocks
and bonds, various subsidiary lines Of
an aggregate length OF 96S,2S miles.
The funded debt of the company Is
1896, $50, 500, an increase Of S. 500 900
during the year. The cap',al stock
outstanding is 1871, iS6,o0o preferred
and $1O2, 900 900 common.
In the operating expenses were
6l.94 per cent Of the gross earnings,
while in 1908 they were Gl,G5 per
cent. The average revenue per freight
train mile increased frcm $2.65 to
$2.75, or 9T7 per cent, The average
revenue oer passenger ram r;le in.
creased finn s1,29 to sl4i, or 1l.G3
per cent.
A strike of coal miners in Colorado
and New Mexico cost the railway
company in loss of traffic and higher
price of coal, not less than $4,000 600
Heavy losses were also caused by
floods in Kansas.
Discussing future capital require
menus, President Ripley says to the
stockholders:
'Tbe large Increase in the system
co nings ~reflecie; the raDd growth Of
the territory served by your lines In
population and wealth, and this
e.tN,h Is .iksiy to continue. Many
miles of your main line are fed but
by few branches, and extensive terri
tory that should furnish profitable
traffic to the system still remains, in
a great measure, undeveloped for
want of adequate railroad facilities.
The construction of additional branch
es and feeders will be desirable in the
near future in order to increase the
earnings of the system and strength
en- its position, and in order to furnish
additional transportation facilities to
the growing territory through which
the system extends.
Furthermore. the traffic or your
main lines has become SO dense that
the construction of second tracks and
provision for additional equipment
win soon be imperative. Since the
year 1896 more than thirty million
dollars of surplus net income has
been applied to the development and
enlargement of your properties, and
it is expected that a considerable
amount of surplus net income will be
applied in like name hereafter; but
it is the opinion of your directors that
additional capital should be obtained
during the next few years for the
above referred to, and it is
believed that the expenditure of this
capital will result in a substantial in
crease Of the surplus net income Of
the company"
Regarding the various reports from
Wall street of change in financial
control of the Santa Fe system-one
being that Rockefeller had bought
a controlling interest, and another
that the Pennsylvania was buying for
control-President Ripley said yester-
day:
There have been heavy purchases
of Santa Fe securities through Kuhn,
Loeb & Co, but at least three times
as much stock would have TO be sold
as has been reported before the con-
troll of the road would be changed.
The stock recently sold undoubtedly
Is going into good hands. and its
change will not be liable to affect the
future of the road except to better it.
There is no reason to suppose chat
Pennsylvania interests have been the
recent purchasers of Santa Fee stock"
a
The United States court may 500
be asked to pass upon some of the
transactions which are said to have
been made recently by western rail-
roads 1t was said this morning that a
movement was on foot to cite certain
western and southwestern roads befor
Judge Grosscup on charges of having
violated injunctions issued a long
time ago restraining the granting OF
cut rates. preferences to shippers or
the payment of rebates.
The decentralization in western ter
ritory since the falling off of bust
ness has become so great that some
v0uOc Clnk