Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-01-17
INTERSTATE COMMERCE CoMMIs SION SHOWS THAT ROADS
 MADE FAIR MONEY
FILE THEIR ANNUAL REPORT
INSIST HARTMAN SHOULD HAVE REPORTED PROFITS MADE
 IN STOCK DEAL
Number of miles of rail

ItNtnut coo,VVp,iVS Revenue from transporta-
 tion and other sources. l92, ,561 ,727 Total operating revenues. 2,424 ,640,6 Revenue per mile of line. l0,722 Total operating expenses l,695, ,101 ,S79 Taxes ...... ....................... S3,S60, ,560 Total cost of operating the
 railroads ,..... ................. 1,77s,962, 1895 Net profit of the railroads
 for the year...-........-..... 645,e7s,2
 road ..... ........................... 2,s55 The rate of operating expenses to earning, as shown by this report was 69.9l per cent.
 WASHINGTON, January l4.-The in terstate commerce commission. in its twenty annual report says:
 "The temporary financial depression resulted in the diminution or railway revenues considerably below the high point reached in 1907, the banner year in American railroad history, and in several instances the necessity for plac- ing railroad properties in the hands of receivers was wholly or partially due to the serious and unexpected decrease in earnings.
 "In view, however, of the widely cir culated reports that the loss inflicted upon the railroads, was so severe as to warrant universal advances in rates or reduction in wages, or both, it is inter esting to note that the gross earnings of all railroads for 1908, although $l64,, 464,94l less than the gross earnings for 1907, were sos, s,s75,470 in excess of the gross earnings for 1906 and $342, l5S,2 in excess of those for 1905, and that the net earnings for 1908, although sill ,05l ,006 less than for 1907 and $59, 349,l3S less than for 1906, were $37, 65S,5 ,504 in excess of those for 1905. "These figures indicate that what ever may have been the fact in individ ual cases, the railroads of the country as a whole, did not suffer so severely in comparison with years of normal traf fic and business conditions as may have been generally supposed.
 cit is pointed out that a continuing business depression could not be held to justify the maintenance of particu lar rates which are unreasonable in themselves or unduly discriminatory since the right to equal treatment al reasonable rates does not depend upon the financial condition of the carrier.
 Hartman Case
 l The report reviewed the case against E. II. Hartman, in which the suprcm, tell the commission what price he paid for certain stock and what price he re ceived from the Union Pacific for that stock In this connection the report says:
 "The Union Pacific railroad is mol a private enterprise-it is a public ser want, discharging as the agent of tho government public function. It' stocks are worthless except as they de rive value from the charges which ar, imposed upon the public tor the render ing of this public service. In the opin ion of this commission, when Mir Harri man assumes control of the Union Pa cific railroad he ceases to be a private individual to that extent and can nc longer claim protection, which as a pri vate person engaged in a strictly pri vate pursuit, he might insist upon.
 "It was our opinion that he nigh properly be required to state whether as an individual he had sold to the Un I 4a ho atn L., belonging to himself, and if so, that s' should further be required to state wha profit he had individually made out O this transaction If this gentleman il allowed to accumulate from the manipu lation of these public agencies vas sums of money which must finally conn from the body of the people, We thinl he is so far a trustee of the people tha he cannot object to stating the name in which these accumulations have beel made.
 "The supreme court, however, is O the contrary opinion, and the commis sion can of course only suggest to con gross that if there is to be any full in vestigation by the federal authorities O these financial dealings some aetiol must be taken by the congress. ''
 Complaints
 The commission received 5.194 com plaints relating to the rebates and file , gal practices from substantially all tn railroads in the United States. Nor than two-thirds were satisfactorily ad , justed without the necessity of an ir vestigation. There were 573 investiga tions of alleged violations. The con mission is now practically abreast wit its work. The report says that before July 1908, only one suit had been filed t set aside the nrdcr nf tha commission