The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1915-02-26
MARGIN OF PROFIT" GONE
Climax TO Lean Years Following 1907
Reduction of Passenger Fares
Brings Forth Pressing
Emergency.

the per centage of return on the prop
erty investment has shrunk to 1.O4Gt
has been prepared by the steam rail
roads of Indiana for submission to tn
Public Service Commission of Indian
in support of the movement for q
cent fare in Indiana.
The statistics go into detail as t
revenues and expenses from 1908 t.
1914, covering the period followin,
the enactment of the law fixing tn
passenger rate In Indiana at 2 cent
a mile, and reach a climax in the los
of $12,227,369 suffered by the Indian;
steam railroads in the fiscal year end
ing June 80, 1914. The figures giver
are based on reports made by seven
teen Indiana lines.
+ 1t is shown that only in one year
1910, was there margin of profit
Every other year showed a deficit il
1.-THE margin of profit, column, the
net deficit, after deducting the profit
shown in 1910, being $16,791 ,905.
increase in Mileage.
These seventeen steam railroads
operate, at present, 1912 miles of
track, which is an increase of 400
miles since 1910, and an increase of
101 miles from 1913 to 1914.
The investment in these seventeen
railroad properties has grown steadily
from $775,985,742 in 190S to $685.
,609,73 in 1913, an increase of $685.
623,991 The increase from 1913 to
1914 was sd; 3S4,646.
= The total operating revenues, in
GLIDING revenues from every source,
were S4,605,668 less for the year 1914
than for 1913. And to emphasize this
great loss in revenue, the expenses of
operation increased $6,35O,7O during
the same period.
Revenues from 1910 to 1914 showed
an increase of $17,422,696. During
the same period expenses were in
creased by $32,S31 ,634-almost two
dollars of extra expense for every dol
lar of added revenue. -.
Along with the steady increase in
the property investment, came cor
respondingly higher taxes for the rail
roads, the increase exceeding a half
million dollars even for the one year
from 1913 to 1914 Railroad taxes
for Indiana lines are shown toshaVe
grown from $4,922, 054 in 1910 to So
'588,962 in 1914, an increase during
theptsiod of $1,66O,90S for hesseyert
teensscads. The exact Increase from
1913 to 1914 was $569,2Ss. -.
=: s'Higher Operating Cost: 20.
The tables of statistics prepared by
the railroads then show total made
up of their total operating expenses
plus their taxes, and upon this total
they figure the ratio. of expense to
their operating revenue.
In 1910 the total Of operating ex-
pense plus taxes was $107,S94,232
which was 754fe of their operating
revenue. In 1914 the joint total of
expense and taxes had increased to
$142, 3S6,774, which was S8.7fe of the
total revenue, or ar increase of 1880
since 1910 The increase from 1913
to 1914 was 6.7fo.
1t is shown next, that in addition
to the expenses of actual operation,
there were other charges, constantly
growing, which cut into the revenues
of the railroads. There were the ex-
penses for joint facilities, hire of
equipment, etc. which increased from
S4,974,356 in 1910 tos $S,923,659 in
1914, an increase of $3,949,303 These
charges reduced the net operating i'm
come Of the railroads, which decreased
from $30,1l6,fl9 in 1910 to $9097, 270 |
in 1914. a falling-oh of $2l,0l9,149.
OF this large loss, $l4,0S2,s46 is
to the period from 1913
TO 1914.
With these figures on net operating
income as basis, the per centage Of |
return on the property Investment is
shown to have shrunk from 3.77Gs in
1910 to 1.04eo in 1911, loss during
The period OF 2.l3to and loss during /
Inc year from 1913 TO 1914 of 1850. I
Thus, when the column of met cor
oorate income" is reached thore Is an
abrupt decline from the high-tlde in
1910 to the dark days of 1914. In 1910
he net corporate income was $lO,369,-
I25. In 1911, it was $3,915,161-a
tremendous slump... In 1912 it fell
further, to- S2,249,5s4. Another de-
line brought it to $1,9s5,355 And in
1914 came the staggering loss of S12,-
,27,369. There was no net corporate
income at all. On TIE contrary. the
railroads were more han twelve nil
ion dollars in "tH, &c A. ms
rom this constantly diminishing net
income" that the seventeen
railroads hoped TO pay dividends to
hair many stockholders.