Potosi journal. (Potosi, Mo.) 1894-1929, 1914-10-14
the greatest and soundest basic
investment in the Nation,
Where Railyoad Receipts Go.

~s~~
Investment in the Nation.
Where RAILROAD Receipts Go.
We now wish TO briefly analy;
what the railroads do with tt
money which they collect for ca
rying freight and passengers
order that the reader may realiz
what 4 tremendous factor the
are in the every day bushes
life and prosperity of the eour
try. Just as the idea has pre-
vailed in the minds of many tina
the railroads are owned by
handful of rich men, so tn
thought has also found deep roo
that they collect millions of dol
lars from the public which goe!
into the Golfers of the few ant
which is permanently removed
from the thrift and industry O.
the people.
At the end of the fiscal yea,
ending June 80, 1913, the records
at Washington show that the
railroads of the United States
had collected a gross income
from all branches Of their service
amounting to 50, 3,118, ,929,31S. OF
this sum, S1,373, ,e3O,569, was
paid out for labor-or, to put it
another way, almost so cents out
of every dollar they took in was
Immediately paid out to the hun
dreds of thousands of men and
women whom they employ in the
conduct of their business. For
maintenance of way, equipment,
depots, etc, they disbursed
1920, 167, ;, 491, ,-or almost another
billion dollars and in this vast
item the reader can grasp what
railroad prosperity means to the
great steel mills, the lumber and
coalindustry, the big car and To-
comotive building concerns and
other sources of railroad sup
plies. In taxes they paid out the
enormous sum of $129,O52, 1922,
which helped to maintain the
public schools, public highways
and other revenue expenses of
every state, county and incorp-
Grated town and city in the coun-
try. After paying their operat-
ing expenses, the interest on
their funded debt and dividends
on their stock, which averaged
only 4.2e per cent. the rail-
ways had left in 1918 a balance
Of $183, 705, ,547 with which to !
make improvements and to use
IS surplus fund for emergen-
;ies of one kind and another. In
other words, after the railways |
got through paying for their la
Dor, steel, lumber, coal, interest,
and other necessary
the above $183. .7O5, ,547
1ollars was all they had left for
themselves out of an income of
more than three billion dollars,
md this, too, upon properties
worth the gigantic sum of twen-
y billions. Thus it can be seen
hat on the basis of the present
'ates the railroads pay back to
he public in one way and ano-
her practically the operating in
ome of the railroads for the fis-
al year ending June 80, 1914,
vas $120,00C,000 less than for|
913-while expenses and taxes
we're $40, 100000 greater. It can
therefore, be seen at a glance that ,
Mess the railroads are given ,
ONE increase in rates in the
cry near future the time when
1any of them will go upon the
ocks of finarcial ruin is not farl
f-and yet the slight increase
ecessary to save them is so
mall that the average citizen
'ould not be conscious of it after
had gone into effect. In a fu-
Ire article this question will be
lore fully discussed. e
A Barometer Of Prosperity. =
It is an old saying that when a
1e railroads are prosperous ev- T
rybody is prosperous-and the q
lanner in which their income is 9
lsbursed, as above explained, 2
Ills the reason why. In short, il
n years they have been regard a
l as the great business barom- t.
;er of the Nation. No other in. q
lstry in the country EMPLOYEES I,