Imperial Valley press., 1921-11-10
+ Current Business Conditions
M BY GEORGE E. ROBERTS sKg
(From the Monthly by

box car, a piece Of track or anything else.
Ii. on a given railroad. we had made our
figures on the basis of the valuation estab'
lished, say, OF June 80. 1913. we then
computed the value OF what the railroad
in since that time, added, has been computed
on its cost"
Senator Jones: 1.-THE valuation which you
have put upon the railroads is based more
largely on cost than present value, Is it
Mr.. Clark: Eyes, sir It is based on
three different values that we determined.
First. the cost OF reproduction as or the
date Of valuation, then upon the cost of
reproduction less depreciation. which repre-
sents the deprecated condition OF the prop
erty, as OF that date, and then the acfnai cost
to date" -
the best judgment of the Commission after
going through all the data that had been
gathered during all these years."
Commissioner Clark: Yes, SIR
rest the charge that there is 50 ,OO0, 100000
Of water in the railroads now
That statement should be conclusive
as to the basis OF the valuations, par
ticuarly so far as the brotherhoods
are concerned, for Mr.. Clark formerly
was head Of the Order OF Railway
Conductors, resgning to become
member of the Interstate Commerce
Commission, to which he was ap-
pointed by President Roosevelt. He
amply demonstrated his qualifications
for the position by his service on the
Board, where he rose to the Chairman
ship, which he held at the time the
valuation was adopted. Probably no
member of the body has been more
influential in recent years than Mr..
Clark. 1t does not reflect. therefore,
in any way upon the original appoint
ment to surnise that in making it
President Roosevelt was influenced in
some degree by desire to have a man
on the Board who would understand
the point OF view of the employees, and
in whom they would have confidence.
The opinion is often expressed that
employers should continue to operate
even though they are not finding sale
for their products, in order to give
employment for labor. The prac-
ticabaity of this policy may be judged
from the following figures given out
by the General Electric Company,
showing the distribution of its income
over period of three years, and those
the most prosperous years of its his
tory. The figures show the average
distribution Of each dollar of gross
receipts in the years 19l8-l9-20:
Cents
Wages and salaries (paid to an aver.
age of $4,000 employees). ........ T.7
ating charges and losses. ......... 40.6
Taxes ..................... SIS
Surplus (used for charging plants.
inventories and working capitaD ;. ~
Dividends to all stockholders (average
number. 2l,46D ................ 40
Transportation, telephone and tele-
graph 90
Interest on borrowed capital. ........ 1.2
Total 10000
This statement will show the netes-
sity for continuous inflow Of money
to keep the business in funds to oper-
ate. The costs of operation took over
81 per cent of the gross receipts as
fast as they came, and the gross
receipts aggregated hundreds of mil
lions OF dollars 1t is impossible for
such an Organization to operate long
without selling its products. The
figures also show how small is the
possibility of increasing wages at the
expense of profits, even if all of the
latter were devoted to that purpose
in the case of one of the most pros
porous companies in the country.