Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1915-01-09

less true, that in times past the peO-
pie of the average state have not re-
garded their railroads as an indus
try''-and yet, next TO agriculture.
there is not a single Central or West
ern state in which the railroads do
not pay out more money for labor and
supplies than does any other single
enterprise. however large. We brag
about our fertile farm lands and re-
joice that our cities are filled wi h
big factories with big pay rolls which
create market for farm products
but we forget that more working
mems families depend upon the rail-
roads for a living than upon any 9TH
er industry in either the average
state or the nation and that their
welfare is therefore closely linked to
that of the farmer and the merchant
not merely because they furnish
him freight and passenger service,
but because they furnish him
the millions they disburse in one way
and another contribute tremendously
to the prosperity of the state in
which we live.
Thus, for instance, the railroads are
the largest taxpayers in the state of
Kansas. While the returns are not
entirely complete for 1914, the rail-
road taxes of the year just closed
can safely be estimated at So, $50, 600
and this tidy sum did its full share to
support every public school, highway,
and to help meet every other revenue
expense of the state
The railroads of Kansas were taxed
in 1914 on properties valued at $751;
9O4, 955-money which in years gone
by was invested in these great arter-
les of commerce by thousands of men
and women who live all over the
United States and in Europe, and
without whose financial assistance
the wonderful progress of our proud
commonwealth would have been i'm
possible.
During the year ending June 30,
1914, the railroads of Kansas employ
ed 1893 men and paid out to them
in salaries S29, $50. 150-and these mil
lions did their full share to create a
market for Kansas farm products
and to uphold the volume of business
of Kansas grocers, clothiers, dry
goods men, and others who depend
upon public patronage.
During the year 1914. the railroads
of Kansas paid out nearly $1,000, 900
for coal-ani the lions share OF this
went to Kansas miners, of whom the
railroads are by far the largest pat
rons So, too in an average year they
consume more than forty million
gallons of oil.
In other words, when the people of
Kansas look at their railroads in the
light of an industry-when they look
at the figures on the other side of the
| ledger-they will find that not only
do the railroads return to them In
one way or another practically every
| dollar they collect within the state
| for freight and passenger service. but
that number of lines are actually
doing this business at a loss. while
with others the margin of profit is so
small that it doesn't begin TO pay a
fair return upon the invested capital.
upon which they pay higher rate OF
taxation to the state than does any
other form of private property.
/ In this connection. we wish TO oil
gress for a moment to quote some
statistics which should have had a
place in a former article. IL costs an
average of mills per mile to haul a
4 ton of freight in the United States
where as in England it costs 2.3s
cents, in Germany LAP cents, and In
France 141 cents. In the United
States the average wages paid to rail
road employees are 81. % per day, il
England SI.15 and in Germany ane
France not over sl.O0 per day Th'
7 English railroads are capitalized a
s265, 900 per mile, in France at sl37
600 per mile, in Germany atsl14, 1876
while in the United States the stool
and bond capitalization averages onl.
$50, 900 per mile. In view of this re
markable comparison. do American
railroads deserve the wholesale de
nunciation which has been heape'
upon thems
Losses ON Passenger Traffic
In the application recently filed b
the Kansas lines before the Stat
Public Utilities Commission for
restoration of the three-cent passer
ger fare, tie Missouri Pacific file
data showing that it had sustaine
\ a loss on its Kansas passenger tram
: during the fiscal year ending June 3