The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1921-07-23


sponsible for any stoppage of work if
they refuse to renew agreements.
r. r. VALUATIONS SHOW FRAUD.
The Cummins-Esch bill commanded
the interstate commerce commission to
fix rates on freight and passengers car
ried by railroads at figure sufficient
to return profit Of not less than 515
per cent on the valuation of the roads.
That does not mean the actual valu-
alton of each road fixes the rates that
road shall charge, but the roads are
to be considered as one property and
valued as such.
When the rates were raised last year
the I. C. c. claimed it was compelled
to accept the figure, $18,900,000, 900,
which is practically the Ebook' value
placed upon the roads by the man
ayers thereof-as the valuation upon
which to base rates and fix freight
and passenger rates sufficiently high
to bring in an estimated profit Of 6
per cent upon that valuation.
For years the commission has had
its agents making valuation Of the
roads according to provisions of law,
and those valuations in a majority Of
cases prove the charge that the So
called ''property investment accounts
are swollen with fictitious claims.
Eighteen roads which have been
valued, the commissions engineers
find, could have been reproduced new,
even at the relatively high costs of
labor and materials prevailing in 1917,
for just half what the carriers claim
they are worth, if a proper Geprecia-
ton charge is included in the calcu-
lation.
While the books Of these is roads
show as an investment in road and
equipment the sum Of $lo4 1884, 031.S2,
the engineers declare that only
$50, 1854, $4,000 would be required to out
| fit their entire properties with new
equipment. This includes land at its
market value when the appraising was
made, in 1917.
The most fragrant r-capitaIzacioh
is revealed in the accounts Of the New
Orleans, Texas & Mexico railroad,
which claims to have invested $35,171, )
019 in road and equipment. The com-
mission reports that this property can
be reproduced new for not more than
$s,5 94,019, with the necessary depre-
citation allowance. The actual value of
the road is, therefore, less than one'
! third of the claimed value, upon which
the public is compelled to pay exorb-
liant freight charges that dividends
may be guaranteed under the Cummins-
Esch act.
The railroad lobby put over the
Cummins-E sch bill before valuation
of the roads could be made and COM
PEELED the I. G. c. to accept a valua-
ton that it is now proving to be away
above actual figures. Because Of that
valuation freight and passenger rates
are about 100 per cent higher than
they would be under a fair valuation,
which means that the railroad wreckers
have been sandbagging the people out
of twice as much as they are legally
entitled to by the Cummins-Esch act.
Money comes so easy to them that
they've become hungry for more and
are appealing to the president to take
snap judgment on their claims for
losses alleged to have been suffered
by them during and because. Of fed
eral control, feeling certain that as
they have gotten away with the money
robbed from the people through In
flated valuation, they will be able tt
hold on to what they get on thei1
present claims even if such claims are
later on proven false.