The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-16
SOUTHERN PROGRESS STATEMENTS OF THE RAILROAD
 COMPANIES. In Nearly Every Instance Gains are Shown for February Over the Corresponding Month
 of Last Year.
on-thu-sat

Baltimore. April 5.--(SpeciaI. )-Analyz- ing the statements of a number of South ern and Southwestern railroad companies for February and for the past eight months, The Manufacturers Record finds that in nearly every instance substantial gains are shown for February in com parison with the corresponding month of last year and continuous record of pro- gress and Improvement since last July, some of the gains being remarkably large. It says:
 For February 1904 the following in- creases are reported: Southern Railway, gross earnings over Il per cent. net earn ings 2S.9 per cent: Atlantic Coast Line, gross earnings 10.7 per cent, net earnings 26S per cent; Louisville and Nashville Railroad, gross 12.1 per cent. net 20 per cent; St. Louis and San Francisco Rail- road. gros 16.3 per cent, net 10.1 per cent. i; St. Louis Southwestern Railway, gross l6.S per cent, net SIP per cent; Kansas City Southern Railroad, gross 9.5 per cent. net 3S.6 per cent; Central of Georgia Railway, gross, decrease of a trifie over per cent, net, an increase of very nearly BPS per cent, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, gross GA per cent, and net l.2 per cent, both being in creases; Norfolk and Western Railway gross. an increase of 53 per cent. and net, decrease of less than 1 per cent Thus for the mid-winter month these nine roads show an average gain in gross earnings of 9.S per cent. and in net earn 1ngS of very nearly per cent The large gain in net earnings as compared with the increase in gross earnings is due generally to growth of business without proportionate increase in the cost of conducting 1t.
 For the period of eight months, July to February inclusive, the following in creases are reported: Southern Railway, gross earnings S.1 per cent, net earnings 10.S per cent; Atlantic Coast Line, gross 5.6 per cent. net H per cent: Louisville and Nashville Railroad gross 7.S per cent, net 3.6 per cent. St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad. gross H.5 per cent, net 5.7 per cent. ; cent; St. Louis Southwestern Railway gross 7.7 per cent, net 27 per cent. Kan sas City Southern Railroad, gross per cent, net 9.S per cent; Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, gross 20.6 per cent, net POS per cent; Norfolk and Western Rail- cent; Central of Georgia Railway. gross 3.2 per cent, but in the net earnings there was a decrease of nearly 5.2 per cent This shows for the period an average gain by the nine roads In gross earnings of 9.5 per cent. and in net earnings of 10.4 per cent.
 "Considered as a whole this display of the results of operations by Southern railroads is exceedingly gratifying, and Is in thorough harmony with the reports of success and progress that are coming from other lines of business in the South and Southwest.
 'Forty-nine new railroad projects re- ported since the first of the year for the South and Southwest contemplate d mileage of 4.1S6. West Virginia heads the list of March incorporation with five companies; Georgia Is next with four; then come Alabama and Mississippi with three each; they are followed by Vir- ginia, Arkansas and Oklahoma with two each, while North Carolina, South Caro- lima, Kentucky. Tennessee, Florida and Missouri are represented by one each. All of these companies are separate incor- porations, not being connected with any of the large systems. Probably the most important Is the Tidewater Railway. in- corporated in Virginia to build the new coal road from the West Virginia bitumineus fields to tidewater, the new lucky and Tennessee. in fact, being prin- cipally for the purpose of developing coal and timber lands, although they will act as common carriers. There are also several other projects of magnitude one of them being the St. Louis Littlo Rock and Gulf haIIroad, which proposes to build about 700 miles of line from St. Louis to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana with a branch to Beaumont, Texas. An other Is the Oklahoma, Roswell and White Mountain Railway projected from Mangum. O: T.. to White Mountain. N. Nj. about 400 miles. The Seabord Trac- tion Company of Norfolk, Va, is another. with a plan to build about 300 miles of electric railway through the trucking dis trict in that State, including a main line from Norfolk to Petersburg and Rich mond. The Atlantic and Western Rail- road Is a fourth enterprise that is pro- Jected from Cumberland. Md to Hunt ington, w. Va, about 225 miles,"