The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-06-30
PRESENT TARIFFS ARE HELD TO BE
BOTH UNJUST AND UNREASONABLE
Reductions in Both Freight and Passenger from
Utah Points to the West Ordered; Roads
Must Submit Accounting on
Eastern Traffic

laTeS between oalU LAKE SlJy duQ liOo
Angeles, Salt Lake City and San Fran
cisco. and between Ogden and Provo,
and San Francisco, are found unreason-
able
The complaint alleges that the defcn-
dant g pool traffic from the cast to Utah
common points, but the record contains
no. proof of this allegation and the
point was not pressed in the argument.
The rate ordered to be acted on cit
rus fruits and deciduous fruits in car
load lots from producing points in Cali
fornia TO Salt Lake, Ogden and Provo,
81 hundred. The maximum passenger
fares ordered established after October
l are as follows: Between Salt Laqe
City aud Provo, Utah, and Los Angeles,
$25; Ogden, Utah, and Los Angeles,
$26.10; Ogden, Utah, and San Fran
cisco, $23.5S; Salt Lake City, Utah,
and San Francisco, $24.69; Provo, Utah,
and San Francisco, $26.0d.
The two lines mainly affected by the
decision are the Denver G. Rio Grande
and the Union Pacific fsThey both
claim, says the commission, ''that the
reductions asked for would so impair
their revenues as TO work, if not the alb
solute confiscation of their property,
against which the constitution protects
them, at least such an impairment of IN
come as would deprive them of Just
and reasonable return upon the value
of that property
After considering the reported earn
ings of the Union Pacific, the opinion
says. tho last statistical report OF that
company to this commission shows a
main line mileage Of 1893 miles. with
branches of l4l5 miles, Il total of 330S
miles.
In round numbers its funded debt
was $226,000,000 and its capital stock
100000, 900, total of 1925 100000, or
Sl50,000 per mile. In The year 1909
it paid its taxes, the interest upon its
funded debt, a dividend of 4 per cent
upon its preferred stock. dividend of
10 per cent upon its common stock. and
had remaining S7,T4S,000,
Where Road Profted.
"The Union Pacific company has is.
sued large amounts of securities for in
vestment purposes, and those invest
mentS have, in the main, proved fortu-
nate, so that the income above referred
to is not derived wholly from the opera
tion OF It's property, but for this
same year it earned net from opera
tions, after the payment of taxes, $22,-
816,000 or about $4,000 per mile for
both main line and branches. These
earnings exceed those of any group in
the United States, except. group No, .,
which they nearly equal, -
The commission says; "The financial
nothing like as favorable AZ that of the
Union Pacific.
''The Denver e. Rio Grande handles
about 40 per cent of this Utah business
from the east at the present time While
this traffic is important 10 the Denver
& Rio Grande, its revenues from this
source is but a small part of its entire
income. and we certainly could not per
nit the maintenance of nnfavorable
rates simply because the entire result
of operations of this company might
not be as favorable as would otherwise
be proper.
sEIt is we'll understood that in recent
years there has been n continuous adj
vance in the price of most materials
and supplies used in construction and
operating a railroad; that there has
been a constant tendency 10 advance
wages. and that all this has tended TO
increase the cost of operating.
"Upon the other hand there has been
n steady improvement in the method
of handling freight; trains are longer,
cars are larger. and more heavily load
ed; grades are easier, the amount
hauled by given engine is greater;
the density of traffic is much greater.
All this tends to reduce the expenses
of transportation. These two sets of
cases work in opposite directions and
tend to balance one another. 1t is not
W
at any time past or today, 1t is not
that Mt the outset, the econ
omies of operation more than out
weighed the increased cost of labor
and supplies. but that of lato the re-
verse has been true.
Careful Investigation
"We have examined with great care
all of the evidence aud argument ad
duced by the defendants bearing upon
these matters; the value of their prop
critics; the cost Of operation; tho fnan
cial results from operation. Our con-
clusion is that there is nothing 10
Justify the maintenance of abnormal
rates Rates of transportation may
be somewhat higher west of
the Missouri river than east, but there
is no reason why such rates upon the
lines of the Union Pacific between
the Missouri river and Utah points
should greatly exceed similar rates
upon railroads in other portions of the
where the density of traihc
Continued on Page Three.