The Cairo bulletin., 1905-11-03
ILLINOIS CENTRAL AND THE
STATE.

Whether The opinion Of the Attor
ney General--that The Illinois Central
Railroad Company owes the state
many mill ons back taXes-is worth
the paper il is written on, or will
result in a transfer OF large part
of the railroads surplus to the state
exchequer is dubious question
which may safely he left 10 the dc
cision Of the courts But that the
4 charter under which The railroad was
4 built and has grown TO he the pros
percus institution it has proyed-a
profitable investment for the peopla of
Illinois and for the railroad company
does not admit Of any question says
the Chicago Post OF recent date
Under that charter since 1855 The
Illinois Central has paid in 10 the
state treasury $22,73o.529 Beginning
with $29.75l in 1855 the payments rose
rapidly to Si9G, $50 in 1868, from which
time they gradually shrank with the
decline in the roads earnings TO S316- /
357 in 1871 Then the tide turned /
until in 1904 the railroad contributed 4
s1,oG2.s7l under IFS charter and 23G, /
454 in other taxes, to the state treas /
ury making s1.299,025 in all
AS the local taxes paid in Illinois +
by an HE railroads amounted to $i,-
9i5, 98S il appears that the Illinois
Central paid 70 per cent of the whole.
while its mileage IN the state coco
milcsl was less than Is per cent Of The
aggrcgate mileage Of the state
How good bargain the charter was
for the state is shown by the fact
hat while all the railways of the
United States pay 3.12 per cent Of
heir gross earnings IN taxes Illinois
-eceiyes Z per cent of the gross earn
ngs of the Illinois Central from its I
business under that charter. As 3.12
'er cent on gross earnings is a high
r rate than Is paid BY the average
,us ness concern, it is evidsnt that the
hrewd lawmakers of 1851 huilded ,
veil. if not better than they knew. Ii
We. their successors, have profited by
heir foresight.
That its contributions to the state
rave not crippled the railroad is
proved by the figures submitted by
President Fish TO its stockholders last
Wednesday
Between 1876 and 1905 the miles
# ROAD operated for the whole Inc
from 1,107 70 373. or near
" ur Zines
The gross earning of the whole
line increas d from s70l0,9G9 TO SO
j0SG49, or seven times, and the OK
pcnscs Of operation including taxes.
rose from Sf,270 205 to S35,1ll,70G. or
over eight fold.
In view Of the pres nj hue and cry
against all railroads. it is a signif-
cant fact that, while the per cent Of
gross receipts paid to employees adj
ranced from 5619 in 1876 to 1922 In
1905. the percentage of interest. rent ,
md sinking fund 10 the same receipts /
ell from 1865 10 1919. while the per
centage of dividends actually paid TO
gross receipts fell from 1926 to 1874. F.,
These figures mean that labor's
share in the gross earnings of Ameri. ..
aan railroads is increasing. while CAPT ,
al has TO be content with decreased
returns on its inv stment The aver. ,
age yearly wages cn the Illinois Cen I,
rial in 1876 were s557: in 1905 they
were 1868
President Fish's statement also ,
showed that the number Of passengers
carried enc mile had increased n fold ,
and the ton mileage q times. In
other words. the combined units of =
passenger and freight rvice had s
'isen from 3l5 m lions to Gle mil
ionc, or nearly twenty times. As the q
gross revenue from carrying these c
lnits increased only Z times IL is an
'areni that thu rate must have dc.
'lined IN an average almost go per
'ent
In brief The Illinois Central is now .
eceiy ne only a litllc more than ono. q
bird the rates IL did thirty years AGO 1 +
Ne gov mmcut maic rates in any d
'lace in the world have shown re-. s.
Iuctions approaching these. n