Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1922-12-14

adding the sos, 000, 900 put into the
property between that time and the
end Of 1921, we would have had a
valuation at the end of 1921 that
totaled close to $4SO,000. 600, or more
than s9O,000, 900 in excess Of the ILL
nois Central Systems capital stock
and funded debt in the hands of the
public. A margin of 590,000,0O0 on
a valuation of $3.50, 100000 is pretty
safe argin--certaintly safe enough
to prove that you won't find water
in the securities of the Illinois Cen
trail System.
O"Now, ! speak about the Illinois
Central System because that is the
railway property with which / am
best acquainted, but | believe you
will find, by comparison of other
valuation and capitalizations as an
nounced from time to time, that the
Interstate Commerce Commission did
not over-value the railroads when in
1920 it placed a tentative valuation
upon them that was $2,Q00,000,00O in
excess of the outstanding capitaliza-
ton.
cit is easy to show the reasonable
ness of our Illinois Central capitaliza-
ton. The Illinois Central System ope-
rates about 5000 miles of line; but
when we count up second, third and
and fourth tracks, side tracks, passing
tracks, yard tracks and the like, we
have more than 10000 miles of track.
Our capitalization is about 1887 ,000,-
600. That is $62, 400 for each mile
of line or $38,7O0 for each mile Of
track. But capitalization covers much
more than just the right-of-way, the
ballast, the ties and the rails. On
the Illinois Central System we have
$4,000 freight cars, 1900 locomotives
and 1,700 passenger cars. Take our
freight cars at a value of $1,000 each
which is half what new car costs
today; it is not an unjust value of our
cars, because our equipment was &C.
quired largely in recent years and it
has been kept in first-class condition.
Take our locomotives at 100000 each,
which is nearly half what we are pay
ing now. Take our passenger cars
at $4,000 each; we paid $4,000 each
for the last steel cars we purchased;
most of our passenger cars are mod
ern steel cars, and they have been
kept in good condition. These esti-
mates would give us $75,000,000
worth of freight cars, $54,000,000
worth of locomotives and about $685.
100000 worth of passenger cars. This
is value of S154, 100000 for rolling
equipment alone, nearly half of the
total capitalization of the system.
When we subtract this from the pre-
vious capitalized value we had for a
mile of track-$38 ,700-we have left
a capitalized value of $23,250 a mile.
And this does not take into conside-
ration the cost of bridges, signals,
telephone and telegraph lines which
are closely connected with the track
or of the buildings, land, roundhouses,
shops, and stations. The value of
our terminal properties at Chicago,
Memphis, New Orleans. Louisville,
and other cities runs into large figures
$50 we see that even the low, esti-
mate of S23,250 is much too high to
the actual capitalization of
a mile of track on the Illinois Cen
trail System. A good comparison to
make, in order to bring this figure
home, is to think of the cost of a
mile of hard-surfaced highway. ]
don't believe you will find that many
hard roads are being built for $685.
500 mile. A good estimate for
Kentucky hard roads, understand, is
5000 a mile. Bearing this COM
parison in mind, | do not belive that
you will find anything to criticise in
the Capitalization of railroad that
does not exceed this comparatively
ow amount.
''In this connection, you might b
interested in learnig what it is cost
ing the Illinois Centeral to expand
It's facilities in Kentucky today. The
of our new line from
Central City to Dawson Springs-a
distance of slightly more than twenty
five miles-will cost US very close to
100000 mile. The construction of
! second track from Princeton to Scot
,sburg, three miles and half, cost
is $4,000 mile, from Paducah to
Clarks, nearly three miles, $4,000 "a
nile. A spur from Sturgis to Bell
Nine, three miles and half, cost
$4,000 q mile, even when we used
rails in its constructions"