Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-12-15
RAILROADRATES
/ WILL NOT CHANGE
UNTIL MARCH Is
Utility Board Refuses Request
for Higher Passenger Fares
at Once.
special tie the Evening star.

4
beginning today Instead, they must
wait at least until March 10. the
date originally set by the Utility
Board.
The decision followed the hearing
osked for by the railroads in the
hope that they might make the pro-
posed new schedules effective last
|. midnight and continue them until
final disposition of the case after a
public hearing in this city on jan
uary 1e.
In announcing its decision the
board said: 1.-THE board concludes
that the order of suspension should
not be vacated, as the proofs sub
mitted should not convince US that
the statutes should be changed. The
application is dismissed with leave
to the applicants IL they so desire
to renew their application upon COM
pletion of proofs at the final hear
4 ing"
Dire need of additional revenue
4 prompted the railroads to revise their
passenger tariff rates upward. ac-
cording to statement made before
the commissioners today by r. j.,
Delong, assistant general passenger
agent of the Pennsylvania railroad.
1t is impossible, Mr.. Delong SAID,
for the railroads to reduce their OPP
Grating expenses, and the American
public will not tolerate poor service
+ ON the contrary, he asserted the
public is constantly demanding bet
ter service, greater speed and added
comfort. In short Mr.. Delong said
the people will not stand for cheap
ening the service In any particular,
and the few attempts which have
beent made in that direction by the
railroads have been followed by
storms of protest.
In anticipation of the new sched-
ule being put into operation today all
of the railroads involved did heavy
business yesterday IN communication
Z tickets. which ii is proposed to abol-
ish, Many commuters laid in q year .
supply of the 1o0-trip annual tickets.
The Bell Telephone Company alone
bought $4,000 worth of mileage
tickets.
Commuters Win Points.
The railroads asked that the sus-
nension order be revoked in accor1-
ance with the decision handed down
by the Pennsylvania Board of Public
/ Utility Commissioners last Saturday,
which was regarded as partiai
! victory for the commuters
This decision was in effect that the
railroads should continue to issue
100 trip tickets at a maximum price
Of Ia cents a mile, as against the
present average of about l cent, the
use 'of the tickets being limited 10 SIX
months instead of year. The Penn
sylvania board also permitted a pro-
posed twenty-five cent increase on
monthly or sixty-trip tickets and .
/ twenty cent increase on Torty-six-
trip school tickets. Hereafter, how
ever, such tickets are to be good Tor
one month from the date OF issue,
instead of for the calendar month IN
which they are issued.
THE testimony of Mr., Defone fol-
lowed the examination of F. J. Fell,
s,atistician for the Pennsylvania
railroad, who presented figures show
ing Yhat the returns to the railroad
during the year ended June 80 last
were lower than in any OF the pre-
ceding fourteen years. The net oper-
ating income In 1914 was the lowest
since 1905. in spite OF the ract tnat
since 1906 the company has invested
s2s5. ooi1. 900 in property betterments
tnz net corporate income was the
lowest IN the last five years.
Smallest in Fifteen Years.
The surplus after the payment OF
dividends, or margin OF safety. IN
1914 was s5.s0o.o00, and was the
smallest in fifteen years, being equai
10 only 7-10 of l per cent. on the total
capital obligations
All of this, said Mr.. Fell, means an
Increase in the cost of doing business
without the natural result in the IN
crease in the charge for transporta-
ton. TRANSFORMATION expenses. which
include the actual cost of moving the
traffic without regard to the mainte-
nance of track or equipment, IN
creased 81, soc. 900. This was due TO
Increased rates of wages. extra crew
laws and other legislation placing ad-
ditional burdens upon the railroads;
1t was also shown that the
operating ratio, excluding the taxes,
steadily increased, In 1908 1t was
ass per cent. and in 1904 it was
1857 per cent In other words, as ex-
pressed by Mr.. Fell. it now takes
more than seventy-six cents out or
every dollar to pay the operating ex-
penses, notwithstanding that large
amounts have been expended TO re-
duce this total.
At a conservative estimate, Mfr. Fell
asserted, wages had increased be-
tween 1902 and 1918 by 80 per cent.
%
east of Pittsburgh for the year ended
December 81, 1913. was $123, ,257. If
the rates of wages in effect prior to
1902 had been operative in 1913, he
said, this payroll would have been
only $91, 519 450.
He showed that legislation affect
. ing railway operation upon the same
lines had imposed total continuing
costs of 81, 100, $685. The extra crew
laws passed in New York. New Jer-
say, Pennsylvania and Maryland i'm
pose a continuing cost of 1912. us.
Aggregate costs imposed by legisla-
don were placed at upwards of
SO, SOC. 900, made up as follows: Semi
monthly pay law additional pay
ears), $4,000; safety appliance law,
S2,984, 472; ash can law, 1888, $40; JIM
Crow law, 1912 709.
Probable Returns Estimated.
Mr.. Delong submitted to the board a
revised estimate of probable returns
to the Pennsylvania railroad. on the
basis of the decision of the Pennsyl-
vania commission. On the entire
Pennsyl rania system the increase was
placed at $1,725,500 a year. He showed
that in 1918 sales of excursion tickets
on the system amounted to S15,S59, 800,
about one-half of which would be at
fected to the extent of approximately
20 per cent. by the new rates. This,
he said, should yield additional rev.
enue of 81 100000.
During the same year the Pennsyl
vania sold 100000 monthly tickets,
which, if increased by twenty-five
cents each would yield SIS, 900 increase.
Likewise 10000 forty six "trip school
tickets increased by twenty cents
each would yield additional revenue