The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1917-06-21
AS PRICES RISE
HIGH COST OF LIVING
HITS THE RAILROADS
Service Will Be Crippled UA-
less Relief Comes Soon.
EXPENSES UP, RATES DOWN

Wasteful and Conflicting Regulations
Hamper Railroad Credit, While Ad-
vance In Labor and Materials Out
strips Revenue. Chairman krutt-
sehnitt Tells Congress Committee.
Unified Federal Control Will Improve
Conditions.
Washington. April 2.-The condition
In which the railroads find themselves
as a result of constant increases In
wages. prices of material, taxes and
other expenses, while their revenues
are restricted by legislation. was strik.
ingly described by julius Kruttschnitt.
Chairman Of the Executive Committee
of the Southern Pacific Company, In
his testimony during the past few days
before the Joint Congressional Com
mittee on Interstate Commerce, which
is making study OF the question OF
railroad regulation. Mr.. Kruttschnitt
urged the committee to recommend a
plan Of regulation which will center
responsibility for regulation and its
results in the federal government, so
that conditions affecting both expenses
and revenues may be made subject to
uniform policy instead of the waste
ful and often conflicting policies In
volved in the system Of combined state
and federal regulation.
Why Roads Need More Money.
Mr. Kruttschnitt's testimony also had
a bearing on the reasons for the appli-
cation of the roads to the Interstate
Commerce Commission for a general
, advance In freight rates. He showed
that while the price Of transportation
has declined in recent years, the cost
of producing transportation, like the
cost of almost everything else, has rap
idly advanced. This he illustrated by
showing that if freight and passenger
rates had increased during the past
twenty years in the same proportion as
, average commodity prices the railroads
of the United States would have re-
/ ceived 1854, 100000 more for trans
I portation in 1915 than they did receive.
/ This saving to the public was effect
ed, in spite of an increase of 93 per
cent in the cost of operation Of trains,
by a reduction in the average passen-
/ ger rate per mile from 2.O4 cents In
/ 1895 to l.9S cents in 1915, a decrease
of per cent. and by reduction In the
/ average freight rate per ton mile from
$50 mills in 1895 to 7.3 mills in 1918, or
13 per cent During the same period
! the cost of operation per train mile
rose from % cents to $1.7S almost
| doubling. AT the same time the aver
! age price Of BAG commodities enumer-
! ated in a bulletin Of the Department Of
| Agriculture increased 115 per cent.
| Transportation is practically the only
commodity in general use that has not
Increased tremendously in price during
the past twenty years, freight and pas
senger charges being lower than they
were twenty years ago
Big Saving to Public.
If rates had risen pruportionately to
! the increase in the cost of other arti
c,es Of ordinary use, Mr.. kruttschnitt
| told the committee. the average pas
scuger rate in 1919 would have been
2.91 cents IA mile. or 80 per cent higher
| than it was, and the average freight
rate would have been l21 cents, or &C
per cent higher than it was. The say.
| ing to the public in passenger fares
| through this difference was $314,00O,
coo and in freight rates $l.3lO,OOO,OOO
Universal railroad bankruptcy under
| fllis reduction i'll rates and increased
cost of operation. he said. was avoided
! only by heavy expenditures to obtain
| increased efficiency in train movement
making ii possible to haul more tons Of
| freight per locomotive. This had re
| duced the average cost OF hauling n
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 u lot of rail.
by 1918 unless some relief is afforded.
Mr.. Kruttschnitt told the committee.
Owing to the rise of commodity
prices" he said, 1.-The purchasing power
of the dollar has fallen 80 per cent and
the railroads are in the position of be
ing compelled by law to accept pay
ment for their service to the public In
currency worth 40 cents on the dollar.
nnkIsaI. NL;oE lnGanoak
"The publics greatest interest ls ip
adequate transportation facilities and
not so much in low rates. AS to most
commodities freight rates form very
small proportion of their cost, Ex
Guiding low grade commodities, the
percentage of the freight rate to the
cost is so slight as to offer no justihca.
| ton for any substantial increase In
! prices to the consumer. 1t may be
stated with little fear of contradiction
that the consumer seldom. if ever.
profits from Il lowering of freight rates
"EXtortionate charges are thing of
the past. and under the attempt to cut
| rates to their lowest possible figure
the interest OF the whole public in the
character and standard Of transporta
| ton is suhOrdinated to the interest of
that part Of the public only that profits
! by lower rates. that is to say. the ship
pers and their agents and not the gen