Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1911-05-11
SAVING OF BILLIONS
SEEN BY RAlLROADERi

iod b.sween 1894 and 1909 as a
resul, nf forces that prevented
failrc "a rates from following
the u ward trend of prices is
the Contention of Julius Krutt-
schni L, director of the main
tenance and operation of the
Union Pacific system and the
Southern Pacific company.
| Some conception of this
amount, he points out, may be
formed by considering that it
vas "a average saving each
lay throughout the entire per-
iod of a little over $l,3OO,OOO
and that for the year 1909 it
means a saving to the public of
I$2, 100000 every twenty-four
hours.
In a discussion on efficiency
of Public Service Of American
Railways" published in the cur
rent issue Of the Railway Age
Gazette, Mr. Kruttschnitt in
cludes am ,ng the factors that
brought about this saving a re-
,,ductiou in transportation cost
resulting from an increase in
the volume of business and
more efficient operation, made
possible by reducing curves and
grades, adopting larger, heav-
Ter and better designed locomo-
tives and freight equipment,
the building of more main and
side tracks, yards and termin-
ais and the adoption of more
refined methods of operation.
ALL AVENUES EXPLORED
Guided by the light of sta
tistics," says Mr.. Kauttschnitt,
call the dark holes and corners
of American railway operation
have been explored. The life
of timber in cross ties and
trestles has been increased
from two to four fold and
equipment has been improved
in design and wonderfully in
creased in capacity. New loco
motives designed to burn the
lowest grades of cheap fuels
have been perfected; hot boxes,
so annoying and productive of
delays in past years, have been
reduced so that they are practi-
cally a thing of the past, and
the wasteful haul of empty cars
has been largely reduced by
pooling freight equipment.
"Do you fully appreciate
what the present average rates
of l 90 cents per passenger and
|O.76 cents per ton mile mean?
The former is a little less than
the value of a two-cent postage
stamp, yet for the cost of this
small stamp the railwas trans
ports a passenger and liz lug
gag one mile and in addition,
5000 pounds of vehicle to seat
him, $50 rounds of vehicle for
his luggage aud 1000 pounds
of sleeping, dining and parlor
equipment for increasing his
comfort.
FREIGHT AND NAIL COSTS
"For the same tiny stamp
The railway carries two and
three-fourths tons of freight
one mile for the shipper and
provides and hauls on its pas
senger trains for the postofice
department. the equivalent of a
fully equipped postof1ice on
wheels weighing forty-fve to
fifty tons a distance of about
three fourths of q mile.
statistics Indicating the
ratio of passengers killed to
passengers hauled Gre mile
demonstrate that OH the aver
age in 1909 a passenger could
travel 1000 times the distance
around the Garth without being
killed, or, to state the matter in
another way. he could ride at
the rate Of sixty miles an hour
for 220 years without having a
fatal accident.
Similarly the figures giving
the ratio of the number of en-
ployes in service to the number
killed show that on the average
an employ could work for 637
years before being killed.
Record Herald.
Swat The Fly.
1