Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-04-23
BURLINGTON FILES REPORT
Earnings in Nebraska show Large Inorsaie
DURING Past Year.
OVER THREE THOUSAND PER NILE NET
Secretary of state Junkin Refuses to
CountersiEn vouchers for Claims
After the warrants Are
Iraued.
CFrom a stan Correspondent.)

4
LINCOLN, April 22-(special. )-Notwith-
standing the howl Of the railroads In Ne
braska about being hampered by legisla-
ton. the gross earnings Of the Burlington,
according to the report filed today with
. the State Board Of Assessment. shows an
increase In the last year over the previous
year Of almost $3,O00,OO0 and the net earn
inEs are increased almost $4,000. The
Burlington managed to exc out only il9. =
l66, g8T during the last year, which. after
deducting the operating expenses, left this
road only s., 456, $3.50 to the good. This
means that the road. after paying all ex-
penses. including the taxes. carried out Of
Nebraska for every mile Of road It has
in this state. main line and branches. the
sum Of S3,O5l. and it has 2.61L23 miles. In
the report the net earnings are considerably
smaller than lie set forth in the above fig
ures, because the company did little jug
Cling by including In Its taxes paid in
1907 the sum Of tSs2. SeOA. but this sum
represents the taxes due during the last
three years when IT refused to pay up
like other taxpayers, the board will not
consider Il as chalked up against the earn
ings Of this year. One thing the road did
not do this year. and that is 1t did not
deduct an arbitrary OF 40 Of 1 mill al
lowed lines west OF the river. The board.
Il is understood, last year refused to take
this into consideration and It is left out
Of the return this year. The amount de-
Quoted last year amounted to &1,176, 662 70.
This left net earnings last year OF S2.O66,
compared with a net earning of 1901 per
mile this year The following is a com
parison Of the figures of this year and last:
Gross earnings. 1s,16s,SsF SIS. s65 $50 q
Operating expenses. 1o,7os, 5OOd s,224,O4s go
Increase ....""..s S44SssessSgsllSO ,,.,-
Net earnings. -. Ise2,477u 7172,4SoS
Earnings per mile.
not counting back
taxes paid.......... S,Ool.OO
The railroad counted net earnings at
S.57s51667.
Collecting Freight Schedules.
The state Railway commission Is getting
in lot of freight schedules from various
railroads and expects to be in good shape
to do business on May Z, when the mem
bers meet with the railroad men and fix
up a schedule of rates to be put into effect.
Some OF the newspapers have been printing
that Member Clarke is headed for Iowa
TO discuss matters with the Iowa COM
mission, but this is a mistake. Mr.. Clarke
has his hands full here without devoting
any time to the Iowa commission.
New Deal on Vouchers.
Secretary of State Junkin will hereafter
sign no vouchers upon which warrants
have already been issued. but instead he
will insist on approving vouchers be-
fore the warrant is drawn he will re-
fuse to become Jointly responsible with
the auditor. Auditor searle hereafter will
issue no warrant upon a voucher signed
with a stamp by the secretary OF state,
but will insist that the endorsement OF
the secretary shall be written with pen and
ink. Mr.. Searle recently had his attention
called 60 vouchers upon which the name
Of the seoFetaFy-of state had been stamped
and he promptly gave notice that he would
not recognize such a signature in the
future. The secretary OF state has ordered
the practice stopped in his office and also
served notice that he would not sign
voucher after the warrant had been Issued
4 has been custom in the past, probably
hnce Nebraska became a state. for the
auditor TO be a good fellow and get out
he warrants for routine claims before
ne secretary OF state signed the voucher,
merely to help along the fellow who had