Chapter IV

Route 164,004. Edgemont to Billings (Wyoming). 366 Miles. Average Daily Weight, 8,087 Pounds.

_Per cent _Per cent _Should Earn _Did
Space_ Earnings_ on Space_ Earn._
Passenger 85.79 89.22 $85,476 $88,895
Mail 10.43 6.18 10,392 6,156
Express 3.78 4.60 3,766 4,583
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$99,634

Two 60-foot postal cars are run daily each way.

The mail earnings are $6,156 per month, or $205 per day.

The total earnings of the passenger trains on this road are $1,195,000 a year, and the mails required 10.43 per cent of the passenger train facilities; on this basis they ought to pay $125,000 a year.

These post office cars are hauled 534,000 miles every year. The Postmaster-General estimates that the actual cost to the railroads of operating a sixty-foot postal car is 18 cents per mile. At this rate the Burlington Company should be paid $96,000 a year for the service of the postal cars only.

It is, in fact, paid for all the mail service on this road $73,872 annually.