The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-07-21

"'A Hio'itiS stuCy or the facts of this
case, that the Justice bin will vieIa
far more than S per cent 10 the south
ern, net upon its intra-freight busi
ness His opinion is entitled II
weight- Mr.. Creighton, another ex-
pert railroad man, now ira ffic man
aser OF the Charlotte Shippers and
Fanasers Association, furnishes the
conlihission by way of compromise
chly, a schedule Of rates based on
the Justice bill and slightly hi.s.r
ana sustains the principles Of the
Justice Dill throughout-and saws lint
MS compromise rates Will yield the
Southern 10 per cen on a capital al
$e,535,641. and the Justice bill Itseie
on Mr.. ~CreightOn's figures will weld
d return OF more than 6 per cent on a
capital of $5,470.0e0, this being. as
we snail see, the arbitrary values Sc
lecteO. In to the question.
ltave you come to any conclusion as
10 what scale of rates will produce a
reasonable profit to the -
Mr.. Creighton says:
before answering that question 1
want 10 say that the whole testimony
OF carriers lacks a good deal Of hay-
ing gained my complete confidence
Tor the reason that l think there are
items or cost included in Mr.. Plants
testimony for doing intra-state bus
ness in North Carolina which should
not be there. For instance l do not
think the item of Hire Of Eouipm.,t
amounting to $12,472.62 in his general
summary for April, 1913, has any
place IN that cost. If the North Caro-
ma lntra-state business is to be call
ed upon TO pay a reasonable return
upon the capital invested, which in
cludeS equipment, certainly we are
entitled to use the equipment or to
share in it's earnings. Neither do
l tnlnR thai tho a6juCtnoon on p1a-+rc
exhibit No. 3, at bottom Of page 2.
are proper items of debit for doing
North Carolina intra-State business.
My opinion is that the cost of doing
the southern Railways North Caro-
Ina intra-state business is overstated
TO the full extent of $4,000 for the
month of April, 1913, or approx
mately $4,000 per annum. Ny be
lief is that the people of North Caro-
lima have been liberal with the South
ern Railway and all other railroads in
North Carolina and that they are will
ing to continue that liberality, provid-
ed they can get a clean show dowr
once in a while.
In that spirit and accepting at face
value a part of the testimony Of the
main carriers of the State, I am will.
ing to suggest the adoption Of a stand
ard scale of rates, to be used on al
roads over rs miles in length, usins
the relation Of classes as provided il
the bill under consideration, begin
ming at frst-class as per line indicated
on drawing covered by exhibit mark
hibit marked Creighton No. 29) here
with.
!, Upon the basis of such shown;
as made upon this record, what will
those rates yield the Southern Rail
! way?
! More than ten per cent upon basi
2 of $6,535, 647.41 of invested capital"
] Carriers Case Lacking in Candor.
: 1t is not to be wondered at thai tn,
: whole case Of the carriers lacks a goo
y = deal of having gained ones complet
confidence when we lind the two rail
roads which undertook to divide u
| the expense Of doing Interstate an
intra-state freight business. differin!
so radically, the one from the other
Thus, in dividing unassigned expenses
as between freight and passenger tn
Seaboard Air Line used car and en-
e CINE miles, while the Southern, j
making the same division, used a trail
n mile basiS+with the material resul
d that the ratio on the All
t Line was 76 per cent and on tn
T Southern only rs per cent a vast dit
s ference-arising simply because on
railroad adopted n method and tn
v OCn6r announcer. IL Is ldII 10 dSSOIIl
IS thu if possible they would hav
brought their two tails together an
d failing to do this. we must conclud
It tina the Southern tried the Seaboar
e Air Line method and found it woul
not work and changed to the train
6 mile basis-While the SeabOard A
Line found that better results coul
be obtained for itself from the use {
the car and engine mile basis.
The fine use to which the Seaboar
Air Line puts it's heavy expenses
reducing net dividends may be undel
stood better when we consider thu
4 though the gross earnings Of the Sea
board Air Lin each year per mile Q
intra-freight is greater than h A
though the gross earnings of the Sc;
- board Air Lines net earnings shown
less.
In 1918 the Seaboard Air Line carr
p ed on intra-freight per mile .$1,56O.t
The Atlantic Coast Lin earne
. I S20 on