The San Francisco call., 1910-02-19
Defends MAIL
SERVICE GIVEN
SAN FRANCISCO
Julius Kruttschnitt Replies to
Criticism of the S. p. and
L. P. Schedules
On Witness Contends That
Merger Brought About Great
Railroad improvements

NEW YORK. Feb. lS-when he re-
sumed the witness stand today at the
hearing in tic governments suit to dis
solve the Southern PacIhc-Union Pacific
merger Julius Hruttschnitt replied 10
the criticisms Of the mail service men
toned on the lines of the combined svs-
TEN TO san Francisco. He said that
Notwithstanding criticisms of the serv-
ice the present schedule. though longer
in hours. brings the mail into san Fran
cisco early. admitting Of its delivery
rhat day. which was not possible under
me original schedule
The witness further testified that tI,a
railroads had to revise The mail scbed-
, les on account Of the difficulties OF
s-al hldinlnS them. and the large fines
imposed as consequence by the gov
ernment- In one year on TWO mail
routes the hnes aggregated $50. $50. or
Y per cent of the entire revenue for
carrying the mails.
some nSures were given showing that
The taxes on the Union Pacific mad in
creased from 1925 per mile in 1901 to
Ss-f IN 1903. or So per cent aud uDon
The Southern Pacific from sz0l per mile
~ 1901 10 1898 per mile in 1909, or 81
per cent
krultschnitt declared that the whole
condition Of the system was much bet
ter tAan before the merger and the
credit of the company greatly i'm
proved He noted that the Union Pa
-iGc earnings per mile had, since 1901,
Increased from $1,000 to sI2,65I and
on The Southern Pacific from SS 455 TO
Slll.5I5
ABOUT SUNSET ROUTE
the sunset route 10 san Francisco by
way of Galveston. The terminal was
changed from New Orleans TO Calves
tom. he said to provide better transfer
facilities from boat 10 train than were
available at Algiers, across the river
from New Orleans. Whatever length
euiug OF the schedule had been made
was TO provide for 4 more efficient
loading Of trains and cars.
Efforts 10 improve the Union and
southern Pacific systems since the
merger were related by Kruttschnitt.
on the Union Pacific he said that in
the eight years ending IN 1909 there
had been provided 55z locomotives.
2.5N6 passenger cars, 1884 freight
cars. T0I work cars. 2.42S miles Of new
steel rails SS256 feet of wooden
bridges replaced and 5.sl9 feet of iron
and concrete bridges constructed.
ON the Southern Pacific i'm the same
.
motives SIS passenger cars. 26,471 new
freight cars 2.4S9 work cars, 1910
miles of new steel rails l36,41i feet Of
wooden bridges replaced and 1926 feet
of iron or concrete bridges constructed. /
another item showed that during the
y -riod named 17.2lo.o0o feet Of new
Y .r0Ssties were laid on the Union Pa
cifc and 243IS.0o0 on the Southern
Pacific.
rosT az, L .RoR HIGHER
Kruttschuitt explained that since the
old schedules had been superseded the
company had Increased its trainlOad
greatly and had taken every possible
means to expedite the movement of
traffic which had expanded remarkably
in volume The schedule Of recent
years. the iVytness declared, was the best
POSSIBLE that could be given under con-
di7fons which precluded an increase of
rates i'm the face Of an Increase of the
price of labor and materials.
The witness submitted tables to show
that the cost Of labor had increased 20
per cent on the Union Pacific and p
per cent on the Southern Pacific be-
tween 1897 and 1908. Yet rates had not
been raised TO Offset this increase.
He was asked If the Union Pacific
lad not been paying a 10 per cent divi-
dend since 1906. He replied that it had,
and added.
Il don't think that 10 per cent is an
excessive dividend Tor a railroad COM
uany when national banks pay Is TO -
per cent. farm values - and Is per cent
and commercial businesses so much that
they are ashamed 10 state them
Burlington Under Fire
BILLINGS. Mont. Feb. 1S-A new
element was injected into the inter
state commerce hearing Of the COM
plant Of Billings shippers today with
The receipt Of an application from the
sheridan. Wyo- chamber of commerce
10 file complaint against rates now
in erect from that city to outside
points.
George H. Crosby. traffic manager of
the Burlington, was on the stand to-
dav. He submitted tables of rates on
carload lots from Omaha and Chicago
to wyoming points, showing certain
sdrantages to Billings jObbers. He
denied the charge that the Burlington
had parceleJ territory with the North
orn Pacific.
The freight earnings Of the Bur
1frpton system for the last year, said
crosby. were s5,7Ss.69 per mile for the
system.
crosby stated that he knew nothing
MA traffic agreement between the Bur
1frgtop and Northern Pacific, but
little later admitted that a saving could
ba made By routing goods from the
east or west via Minnesota transfer at
Minneapolis over the Northern Pacific
WOMAN CONVICTED OF