The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1924-12-25
RAILROADS. ADOPT POLICY

has characterized the Coolidge ad
ministration has also been adopted
by many classes of people, among
them the managers of the railroads
Since the cost Of operating the rail-
roads must eventually be paid by
the people when they pay freight
and passenger charges, economy in
railroad management is practically
as important to the public as econ
omy in government business
Inspection OF some of the rail
road records, as transmitted to the
interstate commerce commission,
shows that reduction in operating
costs was not accomplished by re-
daction of wages but by better man
agement which enabled the roads to
do their work with smaller number
of men. Recent high records. in the
handling of freight-getting more
freight into car and more tons of
freight into train, and getting the
trains over more miles of track per
day--indicate the character of i'm
proyement: in management which.
has made the reduction in costs pos
sible. 1880 .s..t...i- -;..,
Chiefly by this insistence upon
economy, the railroads have been
able to increase their. !, net earnings,
although they are still, on an aver
age, short of the net earnings which
the interstate commerce commission
the value of the property used in
transportation. The commission
fixed SIS per cent as reasonable
return. During the first ten months
of the year the average net return
was about 4.95 per cent, but during
the last two months of the ten
months period the rate ran up to
564 per cent. There seems no
likelihood that for the entire year
the. average return will reach the
figure established by the commits
sion.
Some. comparisons indicate the ex-l
tent of saving attained by the rail-
roads through the adoption of bet /.
ter management. In the fall of
1920 the operating expenses were
running about $17,O00.0O0 per day
while in 1924 they are less than
$12,9OO,OOO per day, reduction of
more than 100000 per day This
has been accomplished without a
scaling down of wages. ;
Moreover, this has been accom-
plished without any sacrifice Of
quality of service. During October, !
the latest month for which statistics {
are available, the railroads carried s
two per cent more freight than in {
the same month last year, and dur
ing that month loaded more cars in {
)ne week than in any other week in a
yet the equipment has been '
in such good condition |
ind the cars handled so expeditions |
Y that there was daily average of I
10000 surplus freight cars ready
O handle more goods if offered. A a
urplus of freight cars is absolutely a
necessary to avoid congestion. b
1t is safe assertion that il gov
operation had been continu- u
ID, there would have been an in II
rease instead of a decrease in the b
lumber of employees, and decrease 5
n the amount of freight handled c.
er employee The whole tendency Il
f government operation is to load W
p the payroll and diminish the o.
of work accomplished per, d.
mployee The Transportation Act, lie
nder which the roads were return fl
d to their private owners, author fe
led reasonable rate of return on ii
lie property valuation. Since there st
no likelihood of the roads being ly
ermitted to charge higher rates,
lie only possibility of their earn +
lg that reasonable return was IL
trough reduction of costs of opera
on Railroad managers have de- of
oted their attention to that prob ar
m with a zeal that reflects great SC
edit. SC