The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1912-02-16
THE MATCH KING ON
THE RAILROAD GAME
Lays Bare Some of the Ubiquitous Do
ings of Railroad Managers

/ III ECDluug ICdISOA . ~ ~ OAOSAs
one OF the organizers Of the match
trust, for many years its president and
now chairman OF its board Of directors,
calls attention to some Of the evils that
grow out of the management OF our
railroads. The following extract will
be read with interest:
To the average man the national
debt is something stupendous, past all
comprehension. The secretary of the
treasury states it was 2,652, Cos, 1888
on June 80, 1910. Yet the railroad
gross earnings from transportation for
the year ending on that date were, in
round numbers, $135. 100000 greater.
('Poor's Manual OF Railroads" declares
gross earnings from transportation to
have been 50, S04, 58o,939, with $780,
800, 127 available from other sources
bringing tho total railroad revenues up
to So, 005, 480, 900; fixes the net earn
ings from all sources at 81, 116,959,
43o, and the surplus, after all disburse-
ments, at 81, 1900, 815.)
The net earnings reported by the
interstate commerce commission aggre-
gated So40,076,363; greater by $27,-
100000 than the interest bearing ma
tional debt; considerably greater than
the interest bearing national debt; con-
siderably greater than the gold certif-
cate circulation Of $862,936,S69; near
ly double the silver certificate circula-
ton of $4s9, III, 900; equal to- the en-
tire government coinage of gold; far in
excess Of the governments ordinary ex-
penses of s659,7o5,391 for the year
and likewise exceeding the 1911 ap-
propriations of $721,333,900.
According to the commissions fig
ures the railroad transportation bill last
year was $7,636,345 a day; the net
profits 50, 575,35o day. Which is
going some. Looking back into the
reports you will find that between 1888
and 1898 freight rates decreased 25
per cent, yet despite this the net earn
ings increased from $315,726,5S4 in
1888 to $426, 1884, in 'o8, or S114,-
100000 for that last ten years. Since
then rates have not decreased. And
last year the net earnings showed an
increase over 1898 of $510,724,018l
More than a million dayl
During the last ten years the railroad
earnings have increased from ten to
twenty per cent. annually. During
that period the railroads have collected
approximately $40, 100000. The ad-
mitted earnings aggregate 81 1869, $751;
229. They have paid 50, 500, 544,374
in dividends. And the Lord only
knows how much has been pocketed
surreptitiouslyl
The net earnings in 1900, in round
numbers, were approximately S525,
100000. In 1910 they were $780,
076,363, an increase OF nearly 80 per
cent. For the decade ending in 1900
the net earninge totaled 5000, 000,-
900. During the ten years ending in
1910 they jumped to $7,369, 100000,
an increase of 80 per cent. And for
the last half Of the decade ending in
1910 the increase over the correspond
ing period Of the preceding decade was
81, $50, 100000, or 81 per cent. In
the last FIVE years railroad earnings have
increased more than ever in railroad
history. Consider the possibility of this
increase being maintained another
twenty years, by no means an improb-
ability in such a rapidly developing
country. It is simply bewildering,
dwarfng the widest dreams of even
the most frenzied Of our inanciers.
Even permit present rates to prevail
and if they maintain for another twenty
years their tremendous earning showing
Of last year they will have Melted an
amount approximating their present
bloated capitalization Of $18, 800, 000,-
900.
These figures do not take into con-
sideration at all the operations of the
numerous express companies which i'm
pose upon the people burden approx
imating s12s, 100000 a year while
their actual investment for all purposes
does not exceed 100000 a year.
These companies all earn prodigiously.