Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1914-10-25
SOME ROADS PAY; OTHERS DO NOT sixty-five Per Cent of Rail- road Stock Pays Dividend
 of 7.17 Per Cent. BUREAU GIVES FACTS ponort Shows Enormous Capital In- crease and Funded Debt of Rail-
 vays Since 19O0-EmplOy
 1.716,3SO.
BUREAU GIVES FACTS

f4s Washington, OCl. lf.-IH IleSe udyS
 ,rhen the threat is made that unless
 tba railroads mend their ways, they S,rill he taken over and operated by the
 oovernment, and when already there e nending a bill in congress with the
 hacking of the Democratic admins
 tration providing for the regulation by the government of the issue of se- cnrities by the railroads. the report ]. of the bureau of railway economics inst published showing what the rail- / roads in this country are doing, is of considerable interest. The bureau of railway economies is maintained by ! inc railways of the country and has it's headquarters in. Washington. The statistics given by the bureau are of fcial and are taken from the data nnblished by the interstate commerce commission and by the census bureau.
 The country has been divided by the interstate commerce commission into three important traffic areas in recent years. They are the Eastern, Western and Southern traffic dis tricts. The Eastern district includes the territory north of the Ohio river and east of the Mississippi. The western, the territory west of the Mississippi and west of the central portion of Illinois, the Southern, the territory south of the Ohio and the Potomac and east of the Mississippi. {. The vast extent of the property of the railroads in operation in tfle United States is shown in the bureaus figures on miles of track operated In 1913, the total trackage operated was 371, ,23S miles divided among the three districts as follows: astern district, ; 121, ,463; Southern district, 65,593; Western district, 1S4,1S2. More than 100000 miles of this track has been built since 1900, when the total mile age was 25S,7s4.
 The figures given for the outstand- ing securities of the railroads and showing the great increases in these securities which are constantly being made, indicates the StupendOus task which the so-called Rayburn bill pro posing that the interstate commerce commission shall pass upon all rail- road securities issued in the future, would place upon that body. In 1912 the total capital securities of the roads was $19,752, ,536, ,264 as compared { with $11 491 .034 4,960 in 19OO showing an increase of securities in that time of more than $S,000,000,000. These capital securities are subdivided as follows: Capital stock in 1912, $S,- 622 2,400,S21; funded debt, $11 ,130, 135, 449. The increase in the capital stock from 1900 to 1912 was 47.5 per cent, and in the funded debt. 97.2 per cent. At the hearings before the senate committee on interstate commerce during the consideration of the Ray burn bill, it was shown by the presi- dents of the great railroad systems of the county, that the constant issue of ne Wsecurities by railroads, to en- able them to increase their equipment or replace it, to increase their track age and for other purposes was ab- solutely necessary. They insisted that to place upon the interstate com .merce commission the task of over seeing the issue of all these securi- ties and the reasons for the issue, as proposed in the Rayburn bill, would be to swamp that already hard-worked commission.
 HOW fuDllC IS AHtcttUs
 How nearly the American public is affected by any fluctuations in the railroad securities can be readily un- derstood when it is pointed out that the capital securities of the roads out standing in 1912 in the hands of the public in the United States was $15.- 6S7,600,65O. The corrollary of this proposition, the effect of disturbances Tn Europe like the present war upon American railroads will be under stood also when it is realized that more than $4,5OO,0OO,OO0 of their se- curities are held abroad and that as soon as the war broke out the market. here was flooded with orders from Europe to sell these securities. The report of the bureau contains some interesting figures on the earning ca paclty of the roads. In 1912, the amount of stock paying dividends was $5,5S1 ,2S9,249 or 64,73 per cent of the total capital stock The average rate on dividend paying stock was 7.17 per cent per annum, and the average rate on all stocks, paying and non-paying was 4.64. It appears that 35.27 pes cent of the outstanding stock was not paying dividends in 1912.
 Revenues and Employees.
 The total operating revenue of the roads for 1912 are Sgiven as follows, $2,S42.695,3S2, divided as follows: Eastern district, SPAS, ,099,59O; South ern district, $439, ,O59, ,7S6, and Western district, $1,155, ,536,0O6. The total op- erating expenses were $1,972.415,776 and the net operating revenue was OS60, PTS, ,606.
 The taxes paid by the various roads IS no small item as a glance at the tables prepared by the bureau shows. The taxes paid in 1912 amounted to $l2O.091 ,534, which is an increase of l4s.5 per cent over the amount paid in 1900.
 The operating revenue are subdivld- The operating revenues are subdivid- 6SO; passenger service, 66O,373,l7 mail service, $50, ,935,8 express. $73,- 2O3.730. I
 The railroads of the country employ veritable army of employees. m 1912, the employees of all roaQs reached the number of 1.716,3SO.