The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-05-25
RAILROAD NEWS.
Railway Fuel a Great Problem
in This Country.
r. Emerson of Topeka Speaks
Before International Meeting.
MUCH CAN BE SAVED.
Ex-Santa Fe Man Says 20 Per
Cent. Available.
other Items of General Interest
in Traffic World.

''The railway fuel problem is one OF
GREAT magnitude and Importance, as
our locomotives now burn about one
fourth of the production of this coun-
+rv and one-tenth of the production OF
the world" said Raffe Emerson, 1orm-
erly engineer track economies, "A. L. q
S. F. Ry., Topeka, Kan, before the IN
ternational Railway Fuel assoclduoIl'
Chattanooga, Tenn, May II. AS mucn
is burned in the 10000 locomotives Of
the United States and Canada as In the
100000 of all of the rest of the Worlc.
OF the gross earnings OF America rail-
ways (nearly three billion dollars pee
year, some or 9 per cent Is consumed
in fuel equivalent to a tax OF ) cents d
d1v or per cent of his wages, for
every able bodied man on the conu-
nent Economy or waste in locomotive
fuel eventually touches everybody, ana
particularly railroad owners (the stock
holders), every dollar saved in fuel be-
ing equivalent to over seven collars IN
crease in gross earnings in producing a
net available for dividends. Let me
put this matter in concrete form. AL
least 20 per cent can be saved net as Il
whole in the railway fuel expense IN
this country. This amount saved would
mean the distribution of forty million
dollars yearly in dividends, or an addi-
tional "A per cent and indirect or direct
contribution of 81 to the income or
every family in the Union.
1T has been stated that at least 70
per cent can be saved in the cost OF
railway fuel. My personal conviction
after some illuminating experiences in
the practical application of methods to
bring about reduction in cost is that
the complete introduction of a compre-
hensive and efficient fuel supervision
on almost any individual railroad will,
in less than five years, result in a re-
duction of between 80 and 40 per cent
In other words a properly directed fuel
org AniZation on a road spending five
million dollars year for fuel can from
the beginning show an immediate and
gradually increasing reduction in the
fuel expense resulting, in the course of
q few years, in over one million, prob
ably two million dollars, net per year.
This much is possible, is demon
strably securable. It is not a question
of fact or condition, whether general or
local; it is almost wholly a question Of
effective organization. My present pur-
pose is confined to presenting to you a
summary of what, in dollars and cents,
or in per cent, you may reasonably ex-
pect to accomplish by the use of an eff
fective organization, and how the &C
tivities of the fuel departments may as
sist and not hinder the operation of the
railroad as a whole.
Speaking generally, the railroads of
the country pay about 81 ton for fuel
uenNeTSu On COHlpdIy his item,
and a small charge of or 10 cents for
loading the coal on the locomotives, Is
about all that is charged up in the pri-
mary transportation expense accounts
as fuel for locomotives But another
50 or so per ton is usually spent before
that coal goes up in smoke, only, like
the overcoat in that personal expense
statement, you can't see it, but it Is
there just the same
This other 81 that I speak about be-
comes less mysterious when it is ex.
planned that it consists of such items
as cost of moving coal upon company:
lines. per diem for use of foreign cars
and loss of earning power for com