The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-02
|l3b BEST RAILW WAT
 FEAR SINCE WAR
Estimated Car Loadings For
 Year Will Total 50,- 100000

3 NEW YORK, Jan. 1.-(By the As pciated Press.)-Railroads of the Enited States made more progress h 1928 than in any other year since Ihe outbreak of the World war. ac- 0Drding to a review made public to- Ay by the committee on public re- ] lions of the eastern railroads, of khich E. E. Loomis, president of the Eehigh Valley railroad is chairman. q Summarizing it's conclusions, the
 0ommittee stated that the year was
 marked by the greatest traffic yet
 known;N the highest degree of op-
 &rating efficiency yet achieved: the
 kreatest increase in new facilities
 fbr the past ten years; the beginning 0f substantial new construction atter Vi lapse of almost eight years; i'm 6royed cooperation with shippers, Ind by substantial improvement in Earnings and in labor and public re-
 ktions.
 While figures for December were
 kot available when the review was &repared, the committee estimated
 hat car loadings for 1925 would Hmount to nearly 50.000,000- cars, as Compared with the previous record
 sf q, 6,o00. 900 cars in 1920.
 Tn the course of the greatest
 Traffic yet offered" it was stated
 $the railroads succeeded in turning .S car shortage into car surplus.
 They also handled the country's peak
 bad of traffic without delay"
 lew Rolling stock
 ' The statement disclosed that up to December l. 177,S45 new freight cars
 knd, B. 704 new locomotives had been But into service, and there were stlii
 h order 36.7S9 new freight cars and f39 new locomotives. 's During the years 1922 and fs2S, It kas pointed out, the railroads com 6,itted themselves to the purchase of f0O.gs4 freight cars and 5.s22 loco- motives ,at a cost Of ever one billion
 4ollars. ~ During 1928 the roads also project "a additions and betterments to cost Approximately s6GG,0e0,G00.
 : sDespitc the fact that there was So general rate reduction in 1923, ths review stated, '"there was pro- tess of transition and gradual read nstrnehtf of individual rates, largely Downward. These changes repre- 4erted the voluntary effort of the
 Railroads to remove the naladjust-
 ments caused by the application o1
 Horizontal rate increases during and
 smnc ediately following federal con
 frol.
 ss Earnings of the roads for the first
 len months of the year were approx
 fmately SS21. .000. 900. or about 5.2 pei
 cent on the Interstate Commerct
 Commissions tentative valuation
 plus subsequent investment to the
 first of January, 1924. the committed
 Stated It was estimated that net
 Operating income for the year prob
 &bly would total around S975.000, 900
 Sr about five per cent on the above base, which, it was pointed out, did
 lot include compensation to new rail-
 Toad capital invested during 1923.
 o O o
 Hopeful Achievement
 The committee declared that while t felt these earnings were made auate, in view of the fact that the Railroads had practically no earning Restoring that earning power repre- eented a substantial and hopeful Achievement.
 Business prospects for the com fng year." the committee stated, "are Encouraging. We may not have high Beaks of activity, but we look for a Steady year with enough traffic to Keep the railroads acti,e.
 '"The treatment ace" ueu tne rali- xhorities. and the public, will largely Determine not only railroad results During 1924, but the larger question perity of the country. Unless the Railroads as a whole are prosperous the people generally cannot be pros porous, as efficient transportation is xhe largest element of real prosperity in this country"