Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-01-12
By LEVI STEVENS LEWIS.


Ter many years aaSt. indeed from
tie very beginning. much aaIsinfafnaa.
ton has been disseminated through
tie agency Of tie public prints aith
reference to TIE railroad question IN
which the veal OF wee q every IN
hahltant q cur common country.
every man. woman ana child in TIE
broad land. Is personally and direct
u involved Note tie fellaNine spa-
chic case fer illustration.
Col. James 4. MeGrea. xiee-preSi-
dent Of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, speaking L tire Pittsburgh
chamber 81 Commerce. February p.
W., declared that. Fer ten years
OF even more, the railroads Of this
country have been SYSTEM ATlCAIs-
II starved Is Il their revenues. re
stneted as u their expenses. and the
management of their properties taken
out Of the hands Of their responsible
managing officers
Frank 4. Nansey, proprietor of a
great chain of newspapers and maya
zines, writes in Munsey's Magazine.
April, 1911, that the railroads have
been starved and that starving
the railroads We starve with them. :
In lis issue Of November Is. 1929.
the Railway Age declares that every
railroad IN the country would have
been bankrupted il railway rates had
not been advanced in 1920.
February Il, 1920. Senator Kellogg.
OF Minnesota, declared on the floor OF
the United States Senate that railway
Income was Sixty Million Dollars a
year short OF operating expenses and
interest on the bonds.
Now, let US consider here SOME of
the unimpeaehable evidence that
every one of these declarations. and
| literally hundreds of other similar
declarations, are diametrically op-
posed to the truth: and later on. if
called on 10 do so, | will submit fur
Their overwhelming evidence that rail-
way profits are SEVERAL. THOuS-
ANDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
IKEA TEX, every year. than official
reports indicate such profits 10 be.
"A fnii and complete statement of
all railway ins24e and all railway
disbursements b detail, more simple
ana direct, mere comprehensive to
the lalty, than appears in the complex
statistical reports: supplementary TO
and consistent with that which here
follows, will be desired when people
become more interested in the study.
as 1t is essential and inevitable that
they must become. but the following
concise summary will suffice for pres
ent purposes.
The income of the railroads of the
United States during the four calen-
dar years i9l6-l9l9, the latest official
reports accessible to the public. was
according to these official reports.
sufficient to cover the operating ex.
penses and the taxes, in which oper-
atlng expenses are included HUN
DREDS OF MILLIONS for repairs.
other HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS
for depreciation of property" and
still other hundreds of millions for
"fetirements" whatever that may
mean, and also BILLIONS OF DOL
LARS FOR INTEREST ON THE
BONDS" AND YET LEAVE A
MARGIN OF PROFIT FOR THE
SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT
OF THOSE WHO OWN THE STOCK
EXCEEDING BY A CONSIDER.
ABLE SUM FOUR AND A QUAR-
TER BILLION DOLLARS.
And here are the official figures
compiled from the statistics of
Railways in the United States" pub
lished annually by the Interstate
Commerce Commission.
The total net profits during these
four calendar years, was Six Billion
AS million, SOB thousand and 7S1
dollars, thus:
II