The New York herald., 1922-01-03

these twenty-four railroads OF S32,Il1.
Then applying this figure to the 100000
miles OF line Of all the railways of the
United States you arrive at an estimate
value for all the railroads Of $3.50
0o0. 600. which is $10,290, 900, 600 less
than the tentative valuation Of $751;
900. 900. 900 fixed by the Interstate Com
merce Commission IN 1920 for rate max
Ing purposes.
Figures Are Erroneous.
"The rnerest amateur In railway
matters can see at glance that your
method of using your own ngures IS
entirely erroneous. Since you use the
miles of track in arriving at your esti-
mated value per mile of these twenty
four railroads, of course. you should
also have used miles or track instead
Of miles OF line In making your esti-
nate Of the value of all the railroads.
The two things are not the same. A
railroad may have two or three or four
or even more tracks for each mile or
line.
",rhe railroads OF the United States
have approximately 405,000 miles of
track, and only 265.000 miles of line.
/ If you had used these figures OF track
age. as you should have. since your
estimate of the average valuation per
mile was based on trackage. then your
! estimate of the total valuation OF all
| the railroads of the United States would
have been $500. .00o.0 more than the
estimate you actually made. or over
Il so per cent. greater.
/, Gould any better evidence of the
campaign OF instrumentation being
| ca rried on by certain labor leaders be
! afforded than your own use OF these
| nsures?
/ but your Misrepresentation of the
| facts Is even worse that the figures
have given would indicate. The rail-
ways whose tentative valuations you
and Mr.. Plumb cite have only about
| Z per cent of the total trackage in the
\ country. and only two OF them have
more than /. 900 miles of line. Only one
! half of the number own as many as 500
miles of line. These are not represent
ative roads and therefore the statistics
regarding their valuations are not rep
resentative OF the valuations Of all the
railroads. The valuation of all the rail-
roads cannot be fairly or intelligently
| estimated upon any such unrepresent-
atve basis.
Having In this remarkable manner
arrived at n valuation OF your own of
| all the railroads. you ask me in your
! letter:
II you find these statements are
| true as being the findings Of the In
terstate Commerce Commission. do
you then suggest to the people of the
United States that they shall repud-
ate that commission and all it's
works?
"An Extraordinary Question:"
Considering what you yourself have
| done, this Is an extraordinary question
/ 10 to q atr nf AQ II ha chOvvr.
your estimate OF the value of all the
railroads Is enormously based upon the
| findings of the commission regarding the
value of only 7 per cent. of the railway
traclsage Of the United States. this
| tTackage not being In the least repre-
sentative of the railroads as a whole.
/ But the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion itself. on the basis Of information
gathered by II regarding the value OF
all the railroads, placed upon them In
| 1920 In the rate advance case n tenta-
tive valuation of almost $11. 900. .o00. 900
more than your estimate. Naturally I
am more disposed to accept the commits
sion's own valuation of all the railroads.
which was based on information gath
cred by II regarding all of them, than
your estimate of their value of them,
which is based on information gathered
/ by the commission regarding only Z per
cent. of their trackage.
'Tt seems pertinent in this connection
to ask you and Mr.. Plumb how you can
consistently accept without question the
findings Of the commission regarding
per cent. OF the country's railway track
age and at the same time entirely re-
pudiate it's estimate OF the value OF all
the railway property In the country?
"Your reference In your letter TO rep
resentatives OF organized labor. who
have earnestly and faithfully disclosed
to members Of organized labor and 90
the public the actual facts. based upon
official findings becomes nothing less
than farcical In view OF the complete
Misrepresentation OF the whole subject
of railway valuation which Is made In
your letter 10 me.
Moreover. you have yourself further
justified my statement that the cam
paign of Misrepresentation which men
claiming 10 represent the railway en-
ployees of the country arc conducting
! is unsupported by any evidence. Your
letter gives the stamp OF approval to
Mr. Plumb's misrepresentation from
man who stands AT the head OF an or
eanization supported by the railway enn-
rloyees Of the country. who should be
fully as concerned as anv one In seeing
that the public knows the facts about
the business In which they are en-
gagged"