New-York tribune., 1921-04-20
Delaware & Hudson
Earns $11.61 Share,
Increase for Year
Advance i'm Coal Prices Aids
Roads Revenue, Although
Boosting Operating Ex.
penses; Annual Report

pCASCSe fAIAAudA 1NCnOIt
The Delaware & Hudson Company
is both a coal-producing company and
q railroad company. The income avail
able for the payment Of interest on its
funded debt and the payment of div
idends on its stock is the result of
profits from railroad operation and
from coal mining operations In 1920,
during which year the corporation op-
Grated the railroad property on its
own responsibility for only four
months, the total income available for
interest charges, dividends, rental,
etc, was s1O,431 OFT, decrease of a
few thousand dollars from the 1919
figure.
Net income available for dividends
on the $42,503,000 stock Call of one
class) was $4,933,f6S in 1920, and
$4,eo5,oo4 in 1919. This was equiva
to s10.S3 a share in 1919.
Increased cost of coal affects the
Delaware & Hudson in two ways-it
increases tha fuel bill, as it does for
all railroads, but it also increases the
revenue of the coal department. In
1920 fuel for train locomotives cost
S5,0b8,l22, as against S3,433,033 in
1919. In the test period July 1, 1914,
to June 80, 1917, fuel for train loco
motives cost s2,155,3Oo; in other
words, the increase was nearly $50
per cent. Dividend income, which is
the way in which most of the net in
come from the operation of the coal
department of the company is carried
into its income account, showed re-
| ceipts of 81 ,038, ,041 in 1920, an increase
of S103,773 over 1919.
Operating Revenues
Total operating revenues of the rail
road, disregaring who operated the
property, amounted to s45 1854 ,299 in
1920, an increase of $1,000 $50 over
1919 and an increase of S19,8SO,0S5
over the test period, yearly average
operating income of the year shows
but a slight increase over 1919 and a
heavy decrease as compared with the
average for the test period, this de-
crease amounting to 59.17 per cent
This result was occasioned by the ex-
cesslve Increase. in operating expenses
resulting from advances in wages, the
changes in the conditions of employ
ment as compared with the pre-war
period and the continued high cost of
materials and supplies
The Railroad Labor Board of the
United States, created by the trans
portation act of 1920, granted increases
by an order issued on July 20. 1920.
and retroactive to May of that year,
which required an increase in monthly
pay rolls of approximately 81 per cent.
AS compared with 1919, the expenses
tor maintenance of way and structures
of 1920 increased S937 ,045, or 22.43 per
cent, and the increase over the av-
erage of the test period was $3,062, 1888,
or 1927 per cent. Expenses for main
tenance of equipment increased S2,756,-
9le, or 27.62 per cent, over 1919. and
$7,S2s,111, or 159.47 per cent, over the
average of the test period Trans
o9o. or 1885 per cent, over 1919, and
81, ,445,12s, or 13491 per cent, over the
test period. Traffic expenses show an
Increase of s149,4 ,41S, or 63 40 per cent,
over 1919, principally on account of the
reestabishment of traffic agencies for
the development of business which
were abolished during Federal control
Question of Maintenance
The general question of the ade-
quacy of maintenance is one which has
been discussed by labor leaders and
representatives of the railroads and
the railroad administration, which
f1xes on the amount of rental to finally
be paid the railroad companies for the
government operation of the property
from 1918 to February 28, 1920 1t is
also an important question in the fix
Ing OF the guarantee for the six months
from March to September, 1920.
Furthermore, it is of great import
ance in the Interpretation of the trans
portation act by the Interstate Com
merce Commission. If the railroads
now operated without government aid
have to make up a large amount of
maintenance, which was deferred by
the government, rates will have TO be
fixed accordingly. l.. F. Loree, in mis-
annual report to the board Of manarers
and stockholders of the Delawar. &
hudson, discusses this question fully.
The management of the Delawars &
Hudson IN the preparation of the COM
pany's annual report devotes a great
deal of time and thought to preparing
for the benefit of stockholders a dis
cussion of general economic conditions
and the bearing which they have on
the profitable operation of the prop
erty. The. 1920 report concludes with
the following paragraph:
THE business Of the United St. tes'
is encountering a serious period Of
depression. Taxation remains at ~he
war level and it's burden is increas-
ingly felt as the artificial conditiAns
resulting from war activities dis.p-
pear Incomplete financing of the war
in the form of heavy floating govern
mental debt continues to interfere
with normal financial operations.
frlces in general seem to be tending
toward more normal levels and WAGES
are tending in the same direction, Fat
more sluggishly, in spite of extensj re
unemp pl0ymeut These factors noin+ to
adjustments that must precede as,y
return to satisfactory conditions Basic
conditions are essentially sound. IA
large degree the people of the couu
try have become the owners of thei.
own industrial enterprises, formerly
heavily mortgaged to foreign investors,
while they have invested largely in
foreign securities. and on the inter
national balance sheet the nation has
become creditor where but lately it
was a debtor. If men exercising legis-
lative and other authority will build
soundly upon these foundations gen
erai prosperity should soon be real
lied"