The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1917-04-13
AS PRICES RISE
HIGH COST Of LIVING
HITS THE RAILROADS
Services VIII Be Crippled Un-
less Relief Comes Soon.
EXPENSES UP, RATES DOWN

D
strips Revenues, Chsirman krutt.
Sehnitt Tells Congress Committee.
Unified Federal Control viii Improve
Conditions.
Washington, April 2.-The condition
iH which the railroads End themselves
as result Of constant increases In
.fdges, prices OF material, taxes and
other EXPENSES, while their revenues
are restricted by legislation, was strlk-
ingly described by Julius Krtittschuitt.
Chairman Of the Executive Committee
Of the Southern Pacific Company, in
his testimony during the past few days
before the Joint Congressional Com.
hiiltee OH interstate Commerce. which
Is making d study Of the question OF
railroad regulation MI Hruttscbnitt
Urged the committee to recommend
plan Of regulation which will center
responsibility for regulation ana its
results I'm the federal government ~
that conditions Affecting both expenses
aid revenues may be made subject to
a uniform policy instead Of the waste
full and orten conflicting policies in
volved in the system OF combined state
and federal regulation.
Why Reads Need More Money.
Mr. kruttsclihittu testimony also had
bearing on the reasons for the Hppli
cation OF the roads to the Interstate
Commerce Commission for general
advance in freight rates. lie showed
that while the price Of transportation
has declined iii recent years, the cost
81 producing transportation, like the
cost OF almost everything else, has rap
idly advanced. This he illustrated Ivy
showing that II freight and passenger
f, rates. bad increased during the past
twenty years In the same proportion az
average commodity prices the railroads
dE the United States would have re
ceiy6d $i,654r000,OOO more for trans
portation i'm 1918 than they did receive
This saving to the public was effect
ed, in spite Of an increase OF SO per
cent in the cost OF operation of trains
bS 4 feductiUn In the average passen-
ger rate per mile from 2.O4 cents in
1895 to los cents in 1915, d decrease
of per cent, and by reduction in the
average freight rate per ton mile from
500 mills In 1895 to 73 mills I'm 1915, or
10 per cent. During the same period
the cost Of operation per train nile
rose from 90 cents to $i.1S, almost
doubling. At the same time the aver
dSe price Of 340 commodities enumer
T., Inff In % fha NJ Af
Agriculture increased 116 per cent
Transportation is practically the only
commodity in general use that has moi
incfeased tremendously in price during
the past twenty yeats, freight and pas
senger charges being lower thSt they
were twenty years ago.
Big Saving to Public.
If rates had risen proportionately to,
the increase in the cost Of other srti-
cles OF ordinary use Mr.. Kruttschnitt
told the committee, the average pas
senger rdte in 1915 would baVe been
205 cents a mile, or so per cent higher
than it was, and the average freight
rate would have been 1.21 cents, or 66
per cent higher than it was. The saw
ing to the public in passenger fares
through this difference vas S914, 00O,-
600 and in freight rates 81, $40, 100000.
Universal railroad bankruptcy under
this reduction in rates and increased
cost of operation, he said, was avoided
only by heavy expenditures to obtain
increased efficiency in train movement,
making it possible to haul more tons OF
freight per locomotive. This had re-
dnced the average cost OF hauling a
ton of freight, but the decline in the
average freight rate had reduced the
net revenue Of the roads from each ton
hauled. If the operating costs OF the
railroads Including the prices OF coal,
labor and material, continue to ad.
vance at the present rate a lot OF rail-
roads will be in the hands OF receivers
by 1918 unless come relief Is Afforded,
Mr.. Kruttschnitt told the committee.
lowing to the rise of commodity
prices" he said, 1.-THE purchasing power
Of the dollar has fallen So per cent and
the railroads are in the position OF be-
Ing compelled by law TO accept pay
ihent for their service to the public IN
currency worth As cents on the dollar.
Publies Chief interest.
1.-The publle's greatest interest Is in