The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-21
AS TO GRADE SEPARATION.

The Louisville & Nashville railroad agrees, for its part, for the rallroaos to assume sixty-five per cent. of the cost ot a viaduct at Twenty-fourth Street, pro- yided the city assumes thirty-five per cent and the cost of all litigation arising out of property damage and adjusting suits. MT. Mapother says that the cost of such construction is borne elsewhere by the states, municipalities or counties "in varying and increasing proportions It may be that the city authorities have informed themselves on this point and so made their proposal of twenty-flve-sev- enty-five division of cost. The fair and regular basis of division should of curse be followed, but as yet no data have been locally published indicating what sucn basis is.
 The view that the city is the chief beneficiary of the proposed removal or downtown grade crossings will hardly be admitted. If the grade crossings are an impediment to the business of Blrmlng- ham. then they are an impeachment to the railroads, which prosper as Birmingham prosuers. It is not to be doubted that the business expansion of the southside lm- rnediately beyond the railroad tracks IS being held up by the existence Of the crossings. It is the confident bellef or many business men of this city that a prompt business and tonnage develop ment south of the tracks would tolloW grade separation.
 The statement of MT. Mapother that the street traffic has grown while the railroad conditions remain practically the same is somewhat counterbalanced Dy the fact that in the ten years prior to ana including 1921 the average net return to ,the railroads of the South on property investment was 3.61 per cent. In 1925 the return on property investment was d 90 per cent, and on tentative valua- tions 5.95 per cent. For the first seven months of 1924 the net return on the property investment was 5.2l per cent, and on tentative valuation more than Q per cent, possibly more than 6'zo per cent. The Southern districts average net return for the first eight months ot lSZ4 for class one carriers was nearly per cent. more than for the carriers of tne Eastern district and nearly per cent more than for the carriers of the West ern district. The average rate on divi- dent yielding stock of the roads of the Southern district was 12.6 per cent, or almost twice the rate on similar stocks TOT the other two districts.
 It must be that the roads of the South are making gain commensurate with the gain in other businesses in the Soutn' They are not only better off than they were in the decade prior to 1921, put Ahev are better off than the roads Tn any other district. Evidently the develop ment of cities such as Birmingham has had an important part in that betternnent of the railway situation in the South Tho people of this section are heartily glad that the railroads are thus prosper ing. And by the same token they do not relish the attitude of the roads towards this matter of grade separation. The engineers of the city commission have endorsed the underpass plan as the best suited to solve all the problems, and there is belief that engineering opinion has not been unmindful of the railroad interests fD the process,