The San Francisco call., 1913-08-10
RAILROADS FATE
I HANGS IN NBALANCE
Watsonville r. and N. Com
pany Declared to Be in
Bad Tangle

San Francisco creditors allege that
the fate of the Watsonville Railway
and Navigation company Is hanging In
the balance. 1t is declared that the
only reason bankruptcy proceedings
are not instituted is the fear that after
the bond holders have been paid there
will be nothing left for the creditors.
The San Francisco Bridge company
holds $4,000 of the bonds as security
for work done to the amount of $685.
600. while $21, 900 of the bonds were
sold for actual cost. This 100000 is
first lien on all the property of the
company There Is also q arst lien
of $500 on certain property of the
company and about $4,000 in labor
claims. After these claims have been
satisfied there are about $50 additional
creditors whose claims aggregate about
$4,000
President Kinds Of the San Fran
cisco Bridge company and Attorney
Burke Corbet held a conference In
Watsonville few days ago with some
of the local creditors and E. p Stoltz.
who Is trustee for the company. but
no basis of settlement was arrived at.
x y X
Onicial announcement comes from
Denver of the appointment of A. s.
Hughes as general traffic manager, f..
A. Wadleigh as passenger trafflc man
ager and E. L. Lomax as assistant pas
senger traffic manager OF the Denver
and Rio Grande and Western Pacific
railways. These appointments, which
became effective August /, already have
been noted in The Call
X X
The California f1sh commission deIiv-
cred a car of live trout to the North
western Pacific railway at Shellvllls
yesterday. This was taken down to
Sausalito and transferred to the mar
row guage cars for planting In the
To demonstrate how California Is han
ding the food question moving pic
lures were taken OF the fish from the
time they left the hatchery until the
last Of them was planted in the noun
tain streams.
Because Of alleged excessive freight
rates on canned cherries out OF Cali
fornia eastern dealers are obtaining
canned cherries elsewhere and parti-
cu1arly from Italy. Appeals have been
made to the Interstate commerce COM
mission to have the rate reduced from
IS cents to So cents per 100 pounds.
The Board of Trade of Jacksonville,
Fla, has complained to the interstate
commerce commission that the rate Of
from California is excessive. and has
asked for a reduction. An investiga-
tion made here In the interests OF local
railroads shows that the rate by rail
and steamer to Jacksonville is IS cents
per 100 pounds.
The Santa F'e railway has applied for
authority to discontinue service be-
tween Barnweil and Ivanpah. San Ber-
nardino county.
The ferry boat which will carry the
Oakland, Antioch and Eastern trains
across Suisun bay from Bay Point to
Chips island has made a number of
test voyages. 1t transported the first
freight train and construction crew
over the bay last week.
= "
The railroad commission has called
a hearing for Tuesday upon the appli-
cation Of the Santa Fe railway for a
modification of the order providing for
an undergrade crossing or the Oakland,
Antioch and Eastern railway beneath
the tracks of the Southern Pacific and
the Santa Fe near McAvoy, Contra
Costa county.
President Bush says: CONSTRUCTION
work on the Soldiers Summit detour
track Of the Denver and Rio Grande
is progressing in most satisfactory
manner. The new line will be ready
for operation not later than October /.
1913. 1t will mean much In saving OF
time and expense. We are going ahead
with other improvements planned as
fast as we can, including the double
tracking OF the main line from Salt
Lake to Denver
X
During the month of May the rail-
ways of the United States received for
their services to the public an average
of $6,280,000 day, it cost to run their
trains and for other expenses OF opera
tion $5,S20,000 a day: their taxes were
$341.50o a day; their operating income
$1,972.322 day for the 220.S97 miles OF
line reporting, or at the rate of $S93
for each mile of line for each day. Thus
for every Sc of their earnings which
remained available for rentals, interest
on bonds, appropriations for better
ments, improvements and new constrac-
tion. and for dividends, the railways
had to pay more than 81 in taxea