Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1915-01-21

changed conditions today from those
which prevailed a few years ago. The
abuses and scandals which have been
aired before the Interstate Commerce
| Commission during recent months
were perpetrated for the most part
under the old regime dozen or SO
years ago, and can never be repealed
under the conditions which now pre-
vail. On the one hand, the Interstate
Commerce Commission and the diff
erent states, either through their
Public Utility Commissions, Legis-
latures or Railway Commissions say
what rates railroads shall charge for
service. In addition to this, pro-
posal is now pending in Congress to
give the government the right to in
vestigate all new interstate secur-
! tiles before they can b Q
placed upon the market, while
similar authority is already being ex-
ercised within the states by the
! different public service commissions.
! This means that the last vestige of
control over their finances will have
/ peen taken away from the railroads
and that henceforth their fate will
/ lie absolutely in the hollow of the
/ peoples hands. In this connection,
we wish to again remind the reader
1 that the hundreds of honest railroad
officials throughout the country
men who have managed their proper
! ties without a breath of scandal, or
! public criticism, should not be con-
/ demned because of the misdeeds of
| the few. With an aroused public
conscience on the one hand and
! scores of railroad officials throughout
the country sincerely and actively CO.
| operating with the different public
| authorities on the other, we can
safely let by-gones be by-gones-
wipe the slate. and with a square
deal for the people, the investor and
the railroads alike, start over
again"
WHERE RAILROAD RECEIPTS GO
In order that the reader may realize
what q tremendous factor the rail-
roads are in the everyday business
life of the nation and what they
! mean to its prosperity, we wish to
analyze briefly what becomes of an
/ average years railroad income. Just
as the idea has prevailed in the
! minds of many shat the railroads are
owned by few rich men, so the
thought has also found deep root
that they collect millions of dollars
from the public which go into the
Golfers of handful of millionaires,
and which are permanently with
drawn from the thrift and industry
of the people
At the close of the fiscal year end
ing June 20, 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 $3,11S,
929,31S. OF this sum $1,373,830,
| $50, was paid out for labor-or to
put it in 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 wom-
en- whom they employ in the conduct
of their business. For maintenance
of way, equipment, depots, etc, they
disbursed 1929, 167, 491-or almost
another thousand million dollars
! and in this vast item the reader can
grasp what railroad prosperity means
to the great steel mills, the lumber
and coal industry, the big car and
locomotive building concerns, and
! other sources of railroad supplies.
In taxes they paid out the enormous
sum of 9,052,922, which helped
maintain the public schools, public
highways and other revenue expen-
ses of every state, county and incor-
porated town and city in the country
After paying their operating expen-
ses, the interest on their funded
debt and dividends on their stock
which averaged only 4.2S per cent.
| the railroads had left in 1913, a bal
ance of $183.705,547 with which to
make improvements and to use as a
surplus fund for emergencies of one
kind or another. In other words, af
ter the railroads got through paying
| for their labor, steel, coal, lumber,
| interest, dividends and other necess-
airy expenses the above $183 100000
was all the surplus they had left for
themselves out of an income of more
than three billion dollars, and this,
| too, upon properties worth the gigan-
! tic sum of twenty billion dollars.
Furthermore, the lions share of this
surplus was earned by the stronger
roads while such splendid but weak
err lines as the Wabash didn't earn
enough to pay interest on its re-
ceivers certificates. Thus II can be
seen that on the basis of the pres
ent rates the railroads pay back to
the public in one way or another al
most every dollar they receive for
the services they render to the peo-
pie.
Burning Candles at Both Ends
AS a matter of fact, If every rail-
road in the country had charged off
a proper percentage of depreciation.
instead of having had surplus Of
$1S3, 100000 left in 1913 they
would have had an actual deficit run
ming into the millions. Some of the
larger systems have a fixed yearly
depreciation charge-but scores Of
the weaker lines in their frantic en-
deavor to pay the interest on their
debts and maintain the standing Of
their securities, use every dollar of
their income to this end, and hence
one of the most alarming phases Is
that this process of burning the can
die at both ends" means deterior-
alton of rolling stock and road beds
which will render the continuance of
adequate and safe service for the
public impossible. In a recent art
icle, James j. Hill, the great EN-
pire Builder of the North" points out
that the American railroads should
spend at least $500, 100000 annual
ly in improvements and betterments
land II is therefore no exaggera-
ton to say that rapidly deteriora-
ting equipment is one of the ghosts
which haunts hundreds of railroad
managers throughout the country
at the nresenf hOur