The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-31
R|PLEYS VIEWS
. ARE PESS|M|ST
Thinks Earnings of Santa Fe
May Shrink Considerably
Next Year.
SUCH is THE STATEMENT
IN RATE CASE HEARING
Auditor Bailey and Statistician
Peabody Are Also on
The Stand.

| CHICAGO, Aug. 30,-President d. T.
Ripley, of the Santa Fe system, on the
witness stand today before Special Elk
aminer G. NJ Brown Of the interstate
commerce commi ssion, in support OF the
contention of the railroads that baSher
rates are just and right, declared that
wages paid by the railroads have IN
creased largely, making operating ex-
penscs greater burden
President Ripley also declared that
the outlook for next year is not good,
and that general conditions are SO con,
sidered in the judgment of merchants
and those familiar with the trend OF
events Mr. Ripley said he thought II
not improbable that next year the earn
inps of the road may shrink so that
thew would no more than pay the dlVl'
dends.
The pessimistic views of the presi-
dent of the road came III the direct ex-
animation by Attorney Frank Lyon,
counsel for the interstate commerce
commission, and followed questions con
cerning what proportion of each dollar
earned by the road was returned to tho
public in the shape of wages for labor
and In operating expenses.
Pessimistic Views.
owe are likely to see Il decrease In
our gross earnings IN the next twelve
months" said Mr.. Ripley. -,
'fWhat do you attribute that toF"
asked Mr.. Lyon.
81 attribute 1T to general conditions
of business,' was the reply.
care the general conditions OF busi-
ness bad2"
.'I would not say they are bad; they
are not as good as they were year
ago, said Mr. Ripley.
What is the trouble7 Have you
any idea7n "a.
"Well, am not a professor Of politl-
cal economy and / do not care to ven
ture an opinion,' was the response. "l
do not care TO venture an opinion as
to what the trouble is, but ] think the
consensus among the merchants and
others in this room is that the condI.
lions are not as good as they were
year ago, and | do not expect to sec as
large earnings az we saw last year"
Reverting to the subject later in the
hearing under cross.cxamlnatlon by AT
torneY Clifford Thorne, representing
livestock shippers in Iowa, Mr. Ripley
admitted that for ten years the Santa
Fe had paid dividends.
81 have nothing to prove that they
VIII not he paid next year, or that we
shall default on our interest," said the
president of the road "This last year,
which was the largest in gross earnings
we ever had. We kept up the property
and earned SS per cent on our capital
stock, but ! can see expenses ahead of
me for this coming year enough to war
rant me in the belief that we will not
any more than earn our dividends; we
might possibly earn our per cent divi-
dends. In other words, ! think it is
not improbable that our earnings may
shrink to IL point where we Will not
earn any more than our dividends, -
Refers to Increased Expenses,
Mr.. Ripley explained that by in
creased expenses he re.;erred to i'm
provemcnts, and Mr. lhorne com
mented:
$50, reduced TO its ultimate analysis,
YOU think you arc entitled to increased
rates in order to build up these facill-
ties, is that correct?"
SIN order to keep up with the times
and do what the public expects of us,
replied Mr. Ripley,
"And make improvements above
what you did last year!'' asked the
cross-examlncr.
"Certaiuly. any railroad that fails to
do that is bound for the slide.H
Mr.. Thorne: 'FYou think that ought
to he paid out of the operating eX-
penscs?
Mr. Ripley: Most certainly / do. -
Special Examiner Brown shut of
questions touching the bond issue for the
Kansas City depot by saying: "The
question of the Kansas City depot has
nothing to do with this general propo-
sitiou.
In the course of the hearing. The rail
road introduced a tabulation of the IN"
terest on the stock after the payment
of bond interest for the years 1896 to
1910.
On cross examination, Attorney John
H. Atwood. of Kansas City, represent
ing n group of shippers. took up the
discussion of some of the exhibits of
fcrcd by the railroads, and called at
tcntion to an item of 100000 appro-
priated for fuel reserve in 1905. Mr..
Atwood compared the amount with
much smaller figures for a similar
charge in other years.
Mr.. Atwood: ''Let me ask YOU if