The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-17

or Bradstroet's, there is no more com plete organization in the country than the trafic organization of the railways. The information as to the business conditions ie obtained not only from the trafflc representatives stationed at | the large commercial centers, but the status of trade in the smaller places ic ascertained through travelling rep resentatives. while immediately upon the railroad itself the actual business offering for shipment day by day. the requests for cars and the detailed op- eration of the road constitute barom- eter which Is invaluable.
 As have said before. in the atteyap- ted regulation of railroad rates through Legislative action. the mistake is made in assuming that there is always avail able a large volume of trafic ready to move. Of course. large Commercial centers constantly produce freight of one kind or another. but this freight may not move in the direction of every railroad except in limited quantities. The so-called local traffic of a rail- road Is that which originates at or is destined to a strictly local station. For the transportation of freight and for passenger accommodations these local stations necessarily depend upon the railroad.
 It is the constant effort of every rail- road. through its freight and passen. ger departments and through It's in- dustrial department, to locate indus tries at these local stations which will either ship a large amount of material or manufactured articles or will afford means of developing the passenger traffic. but it should be clearly under stood that the development of local traffic of this kind is matter of show growth. Very frequently the comn1uni- ties are residential communities only and
 neither produce nor consume large amount of freight. The quantity Of freight is so small that no reduction in rate can have any appreciate effect | towards increasing the volume nor, as Ia matter of fact. would an increase in the freight charges. unless such in crease is extremely unreasonable. have much effect in decreasing the volume. A small flour mill, for instance. op- erating at country point draws it's supply of wheat from tha surrounding country by wagons. manufactures the wh eat into flour. and either sells it To- cally to a wagon trade or ships a few barrels at a time to points within fifty or a hundred miles The flour mills employ only two or three men, some of the small mills being operated by | a man and a boy, and therefore, this industry is neither a producer of freight or passenger revenue except to very limited extent. It can be clear ly seen that no reduction in the pas senger fares will result in increasing the amount of travel indulged In by these two or three men, and again. no reduction in freight rates will induce 6 larger movement of flour from this mill than the capacity will turn out.
 The same condition is true as to | ~-.FV l. wN.--m It is for this reason that the earnings of railroad on strictly local traffic, and which Is. frequently limited to the boundaries of one state, are absolutely inadequate to pay the expense of oper- ating the trains to say nothing of the cost of maintaining the roadbed, bridges, trestles and station buildings It may be safely stated then that, the strictly local business of railroad is not sufficient to pay the cost of main taining the railroad. and that a large proportion of the cost of maintaining and operating a railroad must be paid out Of the proceeds on through traffic and on interstate traffic.
 Not only does a railroad frequently have an industrial agent whose duty 1t is to locate new industries. but the operating and trafdc departments are constantly working toward the deyel- opment of local points, with the hopc that in the future the combined earn ngs on local. through and interstate trafio will cover the cost oe maintain- ing freight and passenger service to and from such local stations Self interest. therefore. induces a railroad to render as satisfactory service to pat rons at local points as at competitive points. and to enable the manufactur. ing industries at 1ocaf points to develop to the fullest extent 1t Is the usual rule to establish the same rates from these local points on manufactured ar. ticies as from nearby competitive points Tn this way the manufacturer at the local point has the benefit of con- petition between railroads,
 It Is perfectly manifest that re- auction in the rate of freight does not reduce the cost of operationt but if the revenue of the road decreases. the op- eratings department ris-foFced into eco nomies. resulting In unsatisfactory sta ton buildings and unsatisfactory ssrv- Ice. +eA, This is the condition from which the carriers of this country are suffering at the present time. believe it to bo 1 true that the rates of freight generally throughout the country are unneces- sartly low, but while wa were handling a large voluJns of traflc it was impossi- ble to properly analyZe these figures. The profits made by the shippers and manufacturers generally were so large that they were able to absorb the freight charges and perhaps in somA cases invade other territories with their products, in which. under normal con ditions. they could not expect to com pete.
 Now that the volume of traffic has decreased to what may be assumed to be only the necessary tonnage, we find after eight or nine months of ex- perience that the revenue derived from the amount of trafic available under these circumstances Is not sufficient to safely cover the minimum amount of expenses.
 No railroad can operate without a roadbed. and this roadbed requires a certain expense to maintain 1t. Every railroad must have repair shops either owned outright in which to make re- pairs to locomotives and cars. or must. by contract, provide for these repairs in some other shop. -'-
 road. no matter how small. must have a certain organization. A road
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