The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-01-17

President Roosevelt, Professor Had
ley, and other men of high authority
that the railroads of America are not
over-ca pitalized.
The net returns are what remains
of the gross receipts after the pay
ment of all expenses. The ratio of
these gross returns and expenditures
to capital is shown in the following
tables:
Gross returns per $1,000 of capital:
1906. 1900.
Manufactures -. ......S1,21 6 s1.324
Railroads ....... $50 12S
Agriculture $4,000 ---.----. 19l lS7
The excessive amount in the case
of manufactures is because the manu-
facturer has to be REIN burSed for the
cost of all the elements that enter in
to his product; and often these ele-
mentS, although raw material to the
final manufacturer, really are the fin
ished products of intermediate man
ufacturers.
Total expenses per $1,000 of capital:
Manufactures .......- 1900. .s1.o65 s1,19o
Railroads -.- .-.--.....-... 106 "
Agriculture -....- ..-....,-. 10 a
In the case os manufactures, these
expenditures are SS per cent of the
gross returns, and this high ratio is
caused by the high value of the raw
material, as has been explained
In the case of agriculture, these ex-
pendftures are only 80 per cent of the
gross returns. This is because farmers
pay little for raw material and moth
ing for the sun and rain except nominal
sums for moisture in irrigated areas,
and which are the most effective aids
of agriculture.
The expenditures of the railroads are
II per cent of their gross returns. This
is thirty-two points more than the ex-
penditures of agriculture. 1t is only
seventeen points less than the expen-
ditures of the manufacturer, although
the expense accounts of the railroads
for material contain no item similar to
the manufactured products. which are
raw material in the processes of the
final manufacturer.
Although the cost of labor is not the
total expense of any industry, 1t Is
most important factor. On nearly every
farm, the farmer himself is an active
hand" and the most useful man on
the place, but the census returns do not
show separately the farmers from the
farm laborers. Therefore. the labor
cost of agriculture is omitted from the
following tables:
Total salary-wage per $1,000 Of capital:
Manufactures ...... S61 $H7
Railroads .--.....- ..-.-.-.-.-... oil oV
In the case Of manufactures. labor
received 73 per cent greater returns
than the capital, and in the case of
railroads So per cent. The ratio of labor
cost to capital for the railroads was
only % per cent of that of manufactures,
while the labor charge for the railroads
per dollar of net returns was only IS
per cent of that for manufactures. The
work of the railroads is performed by
machinery to a much greater extent
than the work of either manufactures
or agriculture. The horsepower Of the
machinery of the railroads exceeds the
horsepower of manufactures and agri-
culture combined. Moreover, 1t is dis
closed by the first of these compare
tive statements that the capital of man
ufactures received a net return of LOT
points higher, or 243 per cent greater,
than that of the railroad. That is, 1t
required to produce one dollar of net
returns 1852 of capital in the case of
manufactures, and 1914 In the case of
agriculture, while 1t required $22.4O in
the case of the railroads.