Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-02-12
SOME Low TEMPER ATURES IN
VERMONT YESTERDAY.

| of these facts, that is the actual val
| uation viii necessarily lag somewhat
behind the obtaining of the facts
| themselves. The commission will in
| the near future have all the data with
| respect to some railroads. but whether
! n valuation will be at once announced
| in such cases must depend upon the
method which the commission selects
| for determining the various questions
which will arise and to which refer
| ence has been made
WILL COST MILLIONS.
ANY estimate of the expense must
be even more unreliable than that Of
the time. Railroads have been valued
both by public authority and by them
selves, and the cost of these valua-
tions has run all the way from two
dollars to seventy five dollars per mile.
Knowing what must be done, the meth
ods which must be followed, the rate
of accomplishment which has been at
tainable in other places, / should say,
Ibasing my estimate upon the exper-
ience of State commissions, that fif-
teen dollars per mile would be suf-
}ficient to cover the engineering part
of the work and ten dollarse per mile
the accounting and other features
This would aggregate for the entire
l250000 miles between six and seven
million dollars.
! Evidently, before it can be deter
mined what 1T would cost to build a
particular railroad as it to-day exists
we must know exactly where and what
that railroad is. This means that as a
preliminary to the work of valuation
every railroad must furnish the COM
mission with maps and plans which
Will Identify it's property. When this
work is completed, there will be found
in the office of the commission at
Washington an accurate map and in
ventory of the property of every rail
road engaged in interstate business as
of June 80, 1914, together with other
maps and plans showing all subse-
quent additions to the property. This
of itself is a work of great magnitude
which must be done by the carriers
as a part of the general undertaking.
MUST SURVEY EvEl.Y MILE.
when the commission has been fur
| nished with this complete inventory by
a railroad it must proceed to verify It;
|
facts stated in the inventory are true.
| 1t must determine the numbe of yards
! of earthwork the number of yards of
! rocks, the culverts, the tunnels, the
bridges, together with the character and
cost Of construction. 1t has been decided
that this information cannot properly be
obtained without sending surveying
party over every mile of the railroad.
This work is often referred to as a
physical valuation" of railways. and
most people probably understand that
this cost of reproduction, with or with
out depreciation, determines the value
of the railway so that, having ascer-
tained and reported these facts. the duty
of the commission has been discharged.
But this is by no means true. Up to the
present the holding of the Supreme Court
of the United States Is that cost of re-
production new, or cost of reproduction
less depreciation, are only factors enter
ing into the final question of value. Many
| other things have been enumerated by
that court as bearing upon the value
of the porperty The valuation act IT.
| self requires the commission to ascer-
tain and report the cost of construction
the amount of money which has been in
vested in the property, and the sources
from which that money has been derived
to give, In short, n complete corporate
and financial history of these properties
to take note of the earnings of the prop
crty, and having all these facts before
IT to determine from just consideration
what is the value of the property itself
, ! am not saying that it may not finally
come to pass that the cost OF reproduc'
, ton will be the controlling factor; many
, people insist. Others urge with equa
, earnestness that the true test or value
so far as it can be ascertained, is the
money invested in the property.
WESTERr, ROAD FIRST.
8 THE first railroad which the com
I mission is proceeding to survey ir
0 what is known as the Pacific district
Il is the San Pedro Los Angeles & Salt
t Lake, extending from San Pedro, Cali
fornia, to Salt Lake CITY, Utah, some
eight hundred miles. The course o.
the road is for the most part through
an arid desert. A certain section o.
it., when built, was located where nt
u man thought it could ever be disturbed
h by floods, yet shortly after 1t was
i opened for operation the floods came
and carried out this portion 1t Wds
y at once reconstructed upon n new To-
cation supposed to be beyond all pos
y sible danger from a recurrence of the
y previous disaster nevertheless the
waters again came ana washed away
this same section; whereupon it was
rebuilt upon third location, beyond
9 | all possible reach of future trouble
=. from this source. Now in deter
:, mining the value of this property
:, what if any allowance is to be made
for this experimental outlay?
:, "The Northern Pacific railroad run
" through the city of Spokane. When tn
:, road was built that city was of small
account but 1t has come to be of mucI
account, and in the process of develop
= ment it has grown up on both sides o
= this railroad. The Northern Paciti
claimed, and It may very we'll have beel
true that the cost of acquiring Its righ
of way through the heart of the city o
Spokane at the time of the hearing woul
u" be at least five million dollars The orig
, inal cost to the railroad was nothing, tn
. right Of way having been entirely donat
" ed either by the government or by pr
vate benefaction. Now to whom belong
10 this five million dollars? Has the North
= ern Pacific the right to FAX the publ
THE FINAL BENEFIT.
q what finally" asked -ir. Prouty, 81
IL. ,,fa and hn IN hn az