Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-14

cent but at the same time the number of
passengers carried increased 80 per cent
and the freight carried increased 1854
per cent. The increase is growing larger
every year. 1t is almost incredible. The
railroads of this country carried 6o.O0O.OOO
more passengers and over 2O0.OOOOOO
more tons of freight in 1905 than in 1905.
IF the figures for 1907 were available
they would SHOW that this increase is still
rolling up.
The trackage of the country has in
creased at an average rate of a little over
. per cent a year, while the traffic has
increased at the rate of over. II per cent
a year. Last year it increased nearly 16
per cent. The average passenger locomo-
tive is doing IS per cent more work than
it did ten years ago, and the freight loco
motive is doing "a per cent more work
than it did then. The practical working
value of every mile of track in the United
States has been almost doubled in these
ten years by improving the efficiency of
operation Everything that money, skill
and hgh-priced labor can accomplish has
been done, and if anything has failed it is
not the fault of the railway managers.
Comparison With Rates Abroad.
"All this time the railways have grad
ualy and voluntarily brought the aver
age fare per mile for each passenger
down to about 2 cents per mile, and the
freight rates to an average of seven
tenths of a cent per ton per mile. These
are the lowest rates in the history of rail-
reading the lowest in the world The
saving to the shippers of the country
amounts to billions of dollars. Yet the
railroads get no credit for it, but are
commanded to reduce their rates still
lower The average freight rates in Eu-
rope are about as high again as they are
in the United States, and are as follows:
Per ton per
mile.
United States. Observation-Disclosures. O.74s cents
tIerInany. l.sSo2 cents
France. Observation-Disclosures. | .42S cents
Austria NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 1893 cents
And this is in the face of the fact that
the wages paid to railroad employees in
England and Germany are 50 per cent
lower and in France 65 per cent lower
than in the United States
THE following table will show. in round
figures. the volume of freight handled by
the railroads of four great nations, with
their average capitalization:
Tons of freight
carried Capital
one mile. per mile.
England. ......'.......... 590. GOO s2m 600
T rance .....'........ 4lo'Wo !3oVO
Germany .............. 10000 llO,O0
United States. 100000 $1,000
Thus you will see that England, whose
railroads cost four times as much per
mile as those of the United States, han
dies only about half much freight, and
hauls it within small areas where the pop
ulation is crowded. the traffic is concen-
trated, while In this country we have to
haul our freight over deserts and noun
tains and vast areas of unoccupied lands
that contribute very little business to the
road.
1.-The people of the United States are
furnished with transportation facilities at
a rate which if applied in other countries
would be as great boon to the public
as If they were relieved from all taxa
On hn hon ho rafn for
passengers and freight in force in Great
Britain were collected here the railways
could pay off at par every dollar of their
capital stock, bonded debt and other obi-
cations, amounting to more than $4,000,
100000. in less than four years
Although they cost but one-haf and
some of them only one-ffth as much as
the systems of other countries, the rail-
one-half and often one-third as much for
the service they perform for the public. |
and they pay twice the rates of wages
paid in Europe They have given the
world at the lowest charges. and at the |
same time have paid their employees the |
highest wages on record. Only ignorance |
of the truth or the malice of disturbers |
can ignore these plain and proven facts.
Return on Invested Capital.
ut is another significant fact that the |
remuneration to capital invested in rail- |
way enterprises in the United States is
actually less than in any of the other |
countries 1 have named. The percentage |
of net earnings available for dividends on
the capital of the railways of England is
31a per cent, in france and in Germany
per cent. The average of these is AZ
per cent on a much higher capitalization
per mile, amounting in England to over
four times as much. The total dividends
declared by all the railroads of the |
of the capital invested. On more than 81
per cent of outstanding stock no dividends |
whatever were paid.
THE lines of the Great Northern rail- |
way cross the backbone of the continent,
anI have been built with liberal ex-
penditure for permanence and for eco
nomical transportation by making low
grades and easy curves. 1t Is capitalized
today at $4,000 mile. The following
statistics from its records of operation
and revenue make condensed history:
Revenue tons hauled one mile in 1881
were 93.464S24; in 1907. 5.370. 157. 1872.
THE average revenue per ton per mile |
in 1881 was 2.sS cents; in 1907, O769 cents. |
THE revenue collected in 1881 was 81
691. 1924 in 1907, 81, go. 1854. Rev
enue collected for 1907 on basis of aver
age rate received in 1881 would have been
S154. 660, SAT.
rates for the year 1907 was $113,39O. 355. 46.
THE total number of revenue tons
hauled one mile from 1881 to 1907 was
46, 12l 500. 103. and revenue collected was
$434 ,s95, 1924.
The revenue on basis of the average
rate received in 1881 would have been
81 ,32S, $40, 1886. The saving to shippers
by reduction in rates was 1893, Ii, 136. g. |
SIN twenty-siX years the average freight |
charge has been reduced by almost three
fourths.
1T will be seen that in the period COW
cred by these records the saving to the |
public from this source alone amounts !
to the immense total of nearly nine hun |
dred million dollars. The road has
prosperet by this policy because it,helped |
the people to prosper. But from the |
standpoint of the public a lessening of |
transportation charges greater than dou-
BILE the total collections for freight is at |
least a fair divide. And this is the rec
ord of but one system, and therefore only |
fraction of the total saving to the peo- |
pie of the country by railway develop |
ments.''