New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-09-04
Means of Learning What
Is Going On in Manage
ment Under Present Con-
ditions Well Worth While

n inside stories of what is really
going on behind the scene in the
management of railroads under
present conditions are intensely in
teresting and probably would be
listened to with more or less bated
breath by the average railroad stock
holder. 1t would be rather funny to
tell New York, New Haven &
Hartford stakeholder the inside
story of the New Haven and watch
his expression when you concluded
the narrative with the statement
that you believed the whole thing to
be absolutely true because it was
told to you by the president of the
New Haven himself and incidentally
that the whole story was contained
in letter of the presidents sent
out to reach New Haven stockhold-
ers some time ago.
A railroads annual report to the
orally sent to each stakeholder and is
always obtainable by stockholders and
generally by any person who cares to
ask for it, contains letter signed by
the president or the chairman of the
board OF directors giving an account Of
the operation of the property for the
year just passed. Sometimes this let
ter is couched in formal, stilted and
more or less technical language, but it
states the main facts in the cases Ac-
companying this letter are an income
account for the year and general bal
ance sheet and tables showing various
statistics of operation of property.
The Interstate Commerce Commits
sion prescribes elaborate rules for the
keeping of railroad companies ac-
counts, and it is now almost univer-
sally the practice to make up the an
nual report to stockholders from the
accounts and statistics prepared for
the commission. 1t is customary to in
clude in the report to stockholders, be-
sides the income account an ESoalance
sheet, tables showing the number Of
tons of freight carried and the average
length of haul, the number of passen-
gers carried and the average length of
passenger journey, the character of
freight carried, and such further in
formation as the number of miles run
by locomotives, the car mileage run,
the fuel consumed, the cost of fuel,
the traffic originating on the home line
and that received from other carriers,
etc. All of these figures are required
by the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion, and are certified to under oath in
the report made to the commission
Any person can go to the commissions
pany's annual report.
Old Excuse
A few companies still send meager
and unenlightening comment on the
years work, with a condensed income
and balance sheet, to their stockholders,
under the prejudices of an earlier gen
Grafton when the excuse could be urged
with at least shadow of the truth
that the publication of details of traf-
fc statistics would be giving competi-
tors an advantage. 1t is doubtful
whether this was ever a valid excuse
and it is without any standing now.
The great majority of railroad COM
panies' annual reports contain ample
material by means of which any fairly
judgment of the main facts in regard
to the management of a property.
Assume that you have recently be-
come stakeholder in the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe and that the rail
road is nothing but name to you
The last available annual report for
the calendar year ended December 81,
1920, but in addition to this you can get,
either through the columns of The
Tribune or otherwise, a statement Of
the monthly earnings of the property
up to and including July, 1921. You
send for the annual report and the
first thing you study is the character
istics of the property. Many roads
discontinued publishing a map with
their annual report during the period
of government operation, but this prac-
tice presumably will be resumed
If there is no map accompanying the
report it is a compare lively simple