Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1914-10-08
WHAT RAILROADS DO
WITH THEIR INCOME
The Largest Employers of Labor,
Buyers of Steel, Coal, Taxpayers
in The Country
si,s7s.SsO,5Ss FOR LABOR
Railroads Are Very Closely Connect.
ed With Other Industries and
Farming Interests.


states, either through their Public Ser
vice Commissions or Legislatures say |
what rates the railroads shall charge |
for service. On the other hand, the |
proposal made in the present Cong |
ress that the Interstate Commerce |
Commsson be empowered to pass up
on all new railroad securities before |
they can be placed upon the market
and like powers having already been |
conferred within the states upon the /
different Public Service Commits
sions, means that the last vestige of /
control over their finances will have |
been taken away from the railroads,
and that henceforth their fate lies |
absolutely in the hollow of the peo-
pies hands.
Furthermore it must be said for the |
stockholders and the managers of the |
roads that they have no protest to Of
fer against this stringent govern
mental regulation. The only plea they
make is that the value of their secur-
tiles be not destroyed and that they be
permitted to receive living rates so
/ they may continue to render efficient |
and adequate service to the people. |
The proposal to submit all new secur-
tiles to official investigation before |
they are placed upon the market, If |
fairly interpreted and exercised, will
have the approval of nine out Of ten
railroad officials throughout the Coun
/ try. In view of these changed condi-
tions therefore and the fact that the
people have taken over the entire
control and regulation of the rail-
roads, why should they not be as fair
to them as they are to all other great
National industries? That they will
be, once they come to understand the
true situation, is the confident be-
lief of those entrusted with the respon
sibility of railroad management and
those who have put their money into
these huge properties. The attempt
upon che part of certain political OPP
portunists to create the impression in
the public mind that the railroads rep
resent some great sinister influence
in the Nation is utterly absurd. With
several million investors, large and
small, owning the transportation
companies, with nearly two million
employees working for them and with
scores of millions travelling and ship
ping freight over them, the railroads
constitute the most Democratic as
well as gigantic institution in the
Country today-an industry owned by
by the people operated by the people,
and controlled and regulated by the
people and intensely essential to the
comfort, convenience and prosperity
of our entire population.
In last weeks article the grave cri-
sis which confronts the railroads be-
cause of the European War which has
indefinitely closed the foreign money
) markets to them was briefly explain
J ed. The fact was also cited that Amer
lean railroads are not owned by few
rich men as many have thoughtlessly
come to believe-that on the con-
trary, 95 per cent of their ownership
is in the hands of hundreds of thous-
Z ands of stockholders large and small;
Furthermore, that all the old line life
insurance companies, hundreds OF saw
I ings and other banks, benevolent in
: stitutions, ETC., have many millions OF
f their assets invested in railroad bonds,
/, and that therefore millions of holders
of life insurance policies and bank de-
i positors are vitally concerned in pres
S erving the full value of these securi-
t ties which have always been regarded
r as the greatest and soundest basic IN
= vestment in the Nation.
Where Railroad Receipts Go.
g We now wish to briefly analyze
n what the railroads do with the money
,, which they collect for carrying freight
. and passengers in order that the
. reader may realize what tremend-
% Gus factor they are in the every day
1t business life and prosperity Of the
'e Country. Just as the idea has pre-
If vailed in the minds of many that the
railroads ares sowned by a handful OF
rich men, so the thought has alsS
found deep root that they collect mil
lions of dollars from the public which
goes into the Golfers of the few ant
which is permanently removed from
q the thrift and industry Of the people,
B. At the end of the fiscal year end
ing June 30 1913, the records a
= Washington show that the railroad
- of the United States had collected
gross income from all branches 0
their service amounting to S3,llo,
929,318. Of this sum, S1,373,83O,5o
was paid out for labor-or, to put
in another way, almost 80 cents out o
every dollar they took in was immedl
atelv paid out to the hundreds o
thousands of men and women whor
they employ in the conduct OF tnei
business. For maintenance OF wa!
equipment, depots, etc, they dlsours
ed 1929, ,167 ,491-or almost anothe
billion dollars and in this vast itel
the reader can grasp what rallroa
prosperity means to the great ste'
mills. the lumber and coal industr,
the bie car and locomotive bulldin
concerns and other sources OF fal
road supplies. In taxes they PAID OF
the enormous sum of $129,O52,9l
which helped to maintain the publ
schools, public highways and oth'
revenue expenses of every state, cou
ty and Incorporated town and city
the country. After paying their ope
ating expenses, the interest on the
funded debt and dividends on the
stock. which averaged only AIS p
cent the railways had left in 1913
balance of $1S3, ,7O5,547 with which
make improvements and to use as
surplus fund for emergencies for o
kind and another. In other words,
ter the railways got through payl
for their labor, steel, lumber, coal,
terest, dividends and other necessa
expenses the above S1S3, 3,7O5,547 "
ali the surplus they had left for the
selves out of an income of more tn
three billion dollars, and this, too,
on properties worth the gigantic 81
of twenty billions. Thus it can be Sc
that on the basis of the present ra
the railroads pay back to the put
in one way and another practice
every dollar they receive for serv
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