The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-07-22
GIVEN RATE RAISE,
Reported Railways win Re-
ceive 81, 900, 900 Increase.
Twenty-Five Per Cent Of
Freight win Be Affected.
WILL BUILD up BUSINESS
Gain VIII Put New Blood In
Railway Arteries.
Purchase Departments Show
Immense Waste.
WILL BUILD UP BUSINESS

up hope Of the Eastern roads getting
anything worth while from the inter-
roads got should therefore prove an
agreeable surprise.
Six class rates are granted an ad-
vance. One commodity rate Is posi-
lively raised, and two are provision
ally scheduled for a rise. Put
freight carried by Eastern systems il
assured Of higher charge, q percent
age that may be lifted to q.
The lines petitioned for an increase
that would have enhanced their earn
ings by $50. 100000. The allowance OF
ST OOO, 600 and SIS, 900, 900, and they show
the carriers how SIS. 900 more may
be gained by changing the charging
system Of their service.
Commodities Remain Unchanged.
Save sugar. and perhaps sand and
gravel, the commodities schedule re-
mains unchanged. The commissioners
were fearful of the responsibility of be-
ing the indirect cause OF increasing to
the ultimate consumer the cost OF flour
otherwise grain-coal, oil, ice. brick,
lumber, coke, cement stone-among the
Observation-Disclosures no increase was
permitted.
But on less basic essentials the adj
vances granted range from 1 to more
than 20 per cent, or an average Of above
6 per cent. The ''flat rate" therefore.
was rejected offhand, as every intelll-
gent student of railway economies ex-
pected 1t would be.
Commission Is Good.
But, taken by and large, what the in
terstate commerce commission allowed
was Unexpectedly liberal, considered in
the light of their recent sectional de-
cisions, their severe criticism of the
roads managements-mark In the
case Of the New Haven. 1t develops
that the commissioners bark savagely.
but in the crucial instance. instead OF
biting they lap beneficially.
They the commissioners = plainly
have not been sure OF themselves.
"Feelers' have been put out by them on
this momentous matter. The foregoing
statistics, although authentic, are not
marked Official because of the tenta-
tive attitude Of the commission.
The complete data will be signed and
given out n a day or two. Manifestly
the gentlemen nave feared to .'compro-
mise the prestige Of the administra-
ton, and yet felt that something must
be done to accelerate the circulation In
the arteries of commerce-the railways.
Satisfy the Presidents?
Railway presidents may deem the
grant insufficient. They can submit
figures in support Of the insufhciency.
been increased 10 per cent in the last
two decades. Since 1902, when 1t was
reported that the pay roll on Ameri-
can railroads amounted to $676,02S,-
500, there has been an increase Of
wages more than double that figure,
while the number Of employees has
increased only from 1,1S9,315 to
I,72s. 900, which means 100 per cent
increase in pay, with 43 per cent in
crease in the number Of employees.
During eleven years the average pay
of employees has advanced from 1868
a year to an average Of nearly $500.
In 1894 the wages paid to employees
gross revenue; today it is 1920 per
cent. This increase Of per cent
| means per cent on $4,000. 000, 900 of
gross income, or $15O,0O0.O00 a year
| in wages above the rate that was paid
| in 1894.
Increase in Materials.
There has been an increase also in
Ties used to cost SO or so cents apiece;
| now they are Is cents. The railroads
Of the country use about 100000
ties a year. This difference amounts
to about $30,000,0O0.
| AS late as ten years ago coal cost
| it is now $1.12. Taxes during the
twenty-year period have increased 254
per cent, while the net capitalization
has increased during the same time
rs per cent Twenty years ago the
railroads paid taxes Of $34,053.495; al
present they pay $12o, s7s,472.
| The interstate commerce commits
sion however. has abundant counterac-
| tive material. Roads no longer are
subject to ruinous rate wars. Dead
railroad management has progressed
to a degree ever more profitable to the
companies. More powerful engines are
built; cars are larger; trains are long
er; crews are more efficient.
The efficiency is highest on the
eastern systems, including what are
known as the coal carriers These
quite conformably will benefit the
least by what the commissioners have
decided. Reading, the Lehigh Valley
/ the Lackawanna, the Delaware &
Hudson, the Norfolk 4 Western will
benefit less than the Pennsylvania OF
the Baltimore & Ohio. which have 9
more diversified traffic; while these IL
turn will be further superseded in the
new rate beneficence by the Erie and
the New York Central, the Wabash
and the New Haven, and such lines a
the Pere Marquette. which do largs
should increase their revenues hand
somely by needing the recpmmenda
tons of the commissioners on tho
questions Of ughterage, termina
E6cS, tOd0lu& anu uutO3Q1uX, IEee
collections, deliveries, wharfage. dock
age. switching of cars, ETC., etc.
EAtravagance and Waste Charged.
An enormously important criticism
also Is that involving the purchasing
department of the railroads. The com
missioners call It extravagance and
waste in purchaser
Contrariwise, the roads may justl,
contend that to confer the strict super
vision Of $4,000 miles Of railways upol
! seven men (the Interstate commerce.
which cannot be fairly exercised. and
In censuring the Rock Island, thu
Frisco and the New Haven manage