Chapter XVII: Introduction (1)

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"The function of accounts is to record facts. True accounting
is nothing more, nor nothing less, than the correct statement
of what in fact has taken place, and the measurement of that
fact in an appropriate figure."--Prof Henry C. Adams.

To be of the highest value, statistics must be accurate,
uniform and continuous.

Nothing in the nature of statistics under official authority more confusing and misleading has ever been issued from the government printing office than those portions of the Twenty-third Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission for the year ending June 30, 1909, purporting to deal with the financial results of the railways of the United States for the fiscal years 1908 and 1909.

On the first page of the Report the financial results of the last two fiscal years are set down thus:

===================================================================
| Operating | Operating | | Operating
| Revenues | Expenses | Taxes | Income
-----+----------------+----------------+-------------+-------------
1908 | $2,461,521,345 | $1,721,327,155 | $83,775,869 | $655,418,321
1909 | 2,494,115,589 | 1,662,102,172 | 89,026,226 | 742,987,191
-----+----------------+----------------+-------------+-------------

The mileage operated in 1908 is stated as 228,164.80 and in 1909 as 233,002.67 miles.

On page 54 of the report the summary compiled from the monthly reports gives the following comparative figures for the same years:

===================================================================
| Total | Total | |
| Operating | Operating | Net Revenue | Taxes
| Revenues | Expenses | |
1908 | $2,421,542,004 | $1,687,144,975 | $734,397,029 | $83,775,869
1909 | 2,443,312,232 | 1,615,497,233 | 827,814,998 | 89,026,226
-----+----------------+----------------+--------------+------------

The mileage is the same as above, with the added information that the mileage operated at the end of the fiscal year 1908 was 229,952.36; and at the end of 1909, 234,182.70.

It will be observed that the taxes in both summaries are identical, but in one they are subtracted from net revenues and in the other they are not.

An insert facing page 54, giving the details of the monthly reports from which the table on that page is compiled, reveals the common source of both sets of returns and gives the key to the discrepancy between them. This is no less than the inclusion in the former of the revenues and expenses from "outside operations," which are excluded from the summary on page 54, in which the "net revenue" only from such outside source is mentioned and added to the net revenue from rail operations.

The impropriety and inaccuracy of such accounting becomes manifest when its effect is seen to vary the ratio of operating expenses to earnings from 69.67% to 69.93% in 1908, and from 66.12% to 66.64% in 1909.

On pages 64 and 65 appears another set of income figures for the year ending June 30, 1908. This is compiled from the annual reports of the carriers operating 230,494 miles of line, from which _the mileage of switching and terminal companies is excluded_. It supplies the following summary:

YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1908.

===========================================+=================
Rail operations: |
Operating revenues | $2,393,805,989
Operating expenses | 1,669,547,876
Net operating revenue | 724,258,113
Taxes | 78,673,794
Net revenue from outside operations | 5,977,268
Operating income | 651,561,587
Ratio of operating expenses to earnings | 69.72
-------------------------------------------+-----------------

As these figures are compiled from the only returns which furnish data respecting all the various phases of railway operation in the United States, they will be accepted in subsequent pages as the official returns for 1908.

The above figures are exclusive of returns from switching and terminal companies, whose earnings, according to the monthly reports in 1908, were $23,028,773; expenses, $16,383,481, and taxes, $1,245,261.

GROSSLY EXAGGERATED DIVIDENDS.

But these are venial variations compared to the deliberate misrepresentation as to dividends on page 62 of the report, where it is stated:

"The amount of dividends declared during the year was $386,879,362, being equivalent to 7.99 per cent on dividend-paying stock. For the year ending June 30, 1907, the amount of dividends declared was $308,088,627."

This statement is the more reprehensible because the inaccuracy of the reference to dividends in 1907 was exposed a year ago, and $115,550,909 of the 1908 total is proved to be fictitious by the line in the condensed income statement of the report (page 65) reading: "Dividends declared from current income, $271,388,453." It takes dividends from surplus, dividends by leased companies, and dividends from surplus of leased companies to make up that gross deception as to the dividends declared in 1908. And all these "several dividends" are only made statistically possible by including in current income $274,450,192 "other income" NOT derived from transportation.

It is impossible to overestimate the harmful popular effect of exaggerating the dividends paid by the railways by $80,693,665 in 1907 and $115,550,909 in 1908. The public mind does not stop to distinguish between dividends "declared," dividends paid out of "income" and net dividends actually paid out of net earnings of railway traffic.

This whole statistical structure of fictitious dividends has been built up in successive reports upon the false premise of including intercorporate payments on both sides of the income account. What the public is entitled to know is the disposition of the gross sum paid by it for transportation services--those services which the Act to Regulate Commerce was passed to regulate.

BEWILDERING CHANGES IN NOMENCLATURE.

Scattered through the official reports for 1908 the student is confronted with numerous changes in terminology, many of which are for the better, but nearly all impair that continuity of names and phrases which is so desirable in comparative statistics. For instance, the public has been taught, by official practice, to speak of the revenues of the railways derived from the transportation of passengers, freight, mail and express, as "Gross earnings from operation." The phrase is descriptive, definite and clear. For this the Commission has substituted "Rail operations, operating revenues." Former reports spoke of "Income from operation," which now gives place to "Net operating revenue." To this is added the "net revenue from outside operations," making a "Total net revenue," from which "Taxes accrued" are deducted, the remainder being "Operating income."

It will be perceived that this last phrase, which covers revenues from which operating expenses and taxes have been deducted and to which the net revenues from outside operations (sometimes they involve a deficit) have been added, comes perilously near the "Income from operation" of preceding reports.

The exclusion of the reports from switching and terminal companies in some instances, while they are included in others, introduces an element of perplexing uncertainty at every turn and really vitiates all comparisons with former reports.

The Commission itself seems to realize the bog into which the official statistician has plunged its accounts, when it says:

"The changes in the income account submitted in the report under consideration _are so far reaching in their results_, in a number of instances, as to impair direct or close comparison with figures for similar items in previous statistical reports."

And now it is proposed to throw all the accumulated statistics of twenty-two years out of consecutive gear by substituting the calendar for the fiscal year.

* * * * *

The writer has deemed the foregoing comments necessary to clear the atmosphere before proceeding to the introductory summary showing the salient features of the railway industry in 1909 compared with similar items in 1899 and 1889. The data for 1909 is compiled from the annual reports to this Bureau covering 221,132 miles of operated line, together with the monthly reports to the Commission of earnings and expenses of all classes of roads for that year, covering an average operated mileage of 233,002.

SUMMARY OF RAILWAY RESULTS IN 1909, 1899 AND 1889, WITH PERCENTAGES OF INCREASE FOR EACH ITEM BY DECADES.

(m = 1,000; d = decrease.)

====================================+============+============
| |
Item | 1889 | 1899
| |
| |
------------------------------------+------------+------------
Miles of line | 153,385| 187,534
Miles of all track | 195,958| 250,784
| |
Net capitalization (m) | $7,366,745| $9,432,041
Net capitalization per mile of line | 48,021| 51,764
Net capitalization per mile of track| 37,593| 38,527
| |
Gross earnings from operation (m) | 964,816| 1,313,610
Gross earnings per mile of line | 6,290| 7,005
Expenses of operation (m) | 644,706| 856,968
Expenses of operation per mile of | |
line | 4,204| 4,570
Net earnings from operation (m) | 320,101| 456,642
Net earnings per mile of line (m) | 2,086| 2,435
Ratio of expenses to earnings | 66.81| 65.24
| |
Receipts from freight (m) | $254,041| $291,113
Receipts from passengers (m) | 642,662| 913,737
Receipts from mail (m) | 21,901| 35,999
Receipts from express (m) | 19,778| 26,756
| |
Passengers carried (m) | 472,171| 523,176
Passengers carried one mile (m) | 11,553,820| 14,591,327
Receipts per passenger per mile | |
(cents) | 2.165| 1.978
| |
Freight tons carried (m) | 539,639| 959,763
Freight tons carried one mile (m) | 68,727,223| 123,667,257
Receipts per ton per mile (mills) | 9.22| 7.24
| |
Locomotives, number | 29,036| 36,703
Locomotives, weight (tons) | 1,161,440| 1,945,259
| |
Passenger cars (number) | 24,586| 33,850
| |
Freight cars, number | 829,885| 1,295,510
Freight cars, capacity (tons) | 16,597,700| 34,978,770
| |
Average tons in train | 179| 243
| |
Employes, number | 704,743| 928,924
Employes, compensation |$389,785,664|$522,967,896
Proportion of gross earnings | 40.40| 39.80
Proportion of operating expenses | 60.46| 61.02
| |
Taxes | $27,590,394| $46,337,632
Per mile of line | 180| 247
Proportion of gross earnings | 2.86| 3.53
------------------------------------+------------+------------

{table continued}
====================================+==============+=================
| |Increase|Increase
Item | 1909 | over | over
| | 1889 | 1899
| | % | %
------------------------------------+--------------+--------+--------
Miles of line | 234,182| 52.7 | 24.9
Miles of all track | 340,000| 73.5 | 35.5
| | |
Net capitalization (m) | $13,508,711| 83.3 | 43.2
Net capitalization per mile of line | 57,962| 20.7 | 11.9
Net capitalization per mile of track| 39,730| 5.6 | 3.1
| | |
Gross earnings from operation (m) | 2,443,312| 153.2 | 86.0
Gross earnings per mile of line | 10,486| 66.7 | 49.7
Expenses of operation (m) | 1,615,497| 150.5 | 88.4
Expenses of operation per mile of | | |
line | 6,933| 64.9 | 51.7
Net earnings from operation (m) | 827,814| 157.9 | 81.2
Net earnings per mile of line (m) | 3,552| 70.2 | 45.8
Ratio of expenses to earnings | 66.12| d 2.3 | 1.0
| | |
Receipts from passengers (m) | $564,302| 122.1 | 93.8
Receipts from freight (m) | 1,682,919| 161.8 | 84.1
Receipts from mail (m) | 50,935| 132.6 | 41.5
Receipts from express (m) | 63,669| 221.9 | 137.9
| | |
Passengers carried (m) | 880,764| 86.5 | 68.3
Passengers carried one mile (m) | 29,452,000| 154.8 | 101.8
Receipts per passenger per mile | | |
(cents) | 1.916| d 11.5 | d 3.1
| | |
Freight tons carried (m) | 1,486,000| 175.3 | 54.8
Freight tons carried one mile (m) | 222,900,000| 224.3 | 80.2
Receipts per ton per mile (mills) | 7.55| d 17.0 | 4.2
| | |
Locomotives, number | 57,220| 97.0 | 55.9
Locomotives, weight (tons) | 4,158,000| 258.0 | 113.7
| | |
Passenger cars (number) | 46,026| 87.2 | 35.9
| | |
Freight cars, number | 2,113,450| 154.6 | 63.1
Freight cars, capacity (tons) | 73,126,370| 340.5 | 109.0
| | |
Average tons in train | 388| 116.9 | 59.6
| | |
Employes, number | 1,524,000| 116.2 | 64.0
Employes, compensation |$1,003,270,000| 157.4 | 91.8
Proportion of gross earnings | 41.00| 1.4 | 3.0
Proportion of operating expenses | 62.10| 2.7 | 1.7
| | |
Taxes | $91,280,000| 230.8 | 96.9
Per mile of line | 390| 116.6 | 57.9
Proportion of gross earnings | 3.73| 30.4 | 5.6
------------------------------------+--------------+--------+--------

There is not a line or figure of this table, with its percentages of increase, that does not testify at once to the amazing growth of American railways and to the equally amazing economical basis upon which they render incalculable services to the American people on terms that challenge the admiration of less favored peoples.

REVIEW OF THE LAST THREE CALENDAR YEARS.

Where the Twenty-second Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission minimized the loss inflicted on the railways by the business depression of 1908, the Twenty-third Annual Report naturally, and by reason of the same cause, minimizes the substantial recovery of 1909. Where the former showed a loss in gross earnings of only $164,464,941 below the preceding year, when the actual result of the depression was nearly $300,000,000 ($298,457,576), the latter shows a recovery of only $21,770,228, when it was approximately $282,000,000 ($281,934,932).

The explanation of this discrepancy is, of course, the Commission's adherence to its own fiscal periods of statistics, which do not happen, in this instance, to coincide with the ebb and flow of adversity and prosperity. The true movement of railway traffic before, during and after the recent business depression is more nearly reflected in the following figures for the calendar years 1907, 1908 and 1909, compiled from the monthly returns to the Interstate Commerce Commission, divided into periods of six months:

SUMMARY OF GROSS EARNINGS OF THE RAILWAYS DURING THE CALENDAR YEARS 1907, 1908 AND 1909, BY MONTHS AND HALF-YEARLY DIVISIONS.

======================+================+================+===============
| 1907 | 1908 | 1909
----------------------+----------------+----------------+---------------
January | $199,000,000 | $173,611,809 | $183,139,419
February | 178,300,000 | 161,085,493 | 174,425,832
March | 211,700,000 | 183,509,935 | 205,700,012
April | 214,800,000 | 175,071,604 | 196,993,104
May | 224,800,000 | 174,527,138 | 201,572,072
June | 223,000,000 | 184,047,216 | 210,356,965
+----------------+----------------+---------------
Half year | $1,251,600,000 | $1,051,853,195 | $1,172,185,404
+----------------+----------------+---------------
July | $228,672,250 | $195,245,655 | $219,964,739
August | 241,303,469 | 206,877,014 | 236,559,877
September | 234,386,899 | 219,013,703 | 246,065,955
October | 250,575,757 | 233,105,042 | 260,613,053
November | 220,445,465 | 211,281,504 | 247,370,954
December | 194,304,969 | 205,455,170 | 222,006,183
+----------------+----------------+---------------
Half year | $1,369,688,809 | $1,270,978,038 | $1,432,580,761
Total | 2,621,288,809 | 2,322,831,233 | 2,604,766,165
Average mileage | 227,000 | 231,584 | 234,950
Earnings per mile | $11,548 | $10,030 | $11,086
| | |
----------------------+----------------+----------------+---------------

SUMMARY OF OPERATING EXPENSES OF THE RAILWAYS DURING THE CALENDAR YEARS 1907, 1908 AND 1909, BY MONTHS AND HALF-YEARLY PERIODS, WITH RATIOS TO GROSS EARNINGS.

======================+================+================+===============
| 1907 | 1908 | 1909
----------------------+----------------+----------------+---------------
January | $134,225,000 | $132,502,830 | $132,659,037
February | 121,500,000 | 123,773,906 | 125,229,071
March | 142,425,000 | 128,200,065 | 136,086,299
April | 144,990,000 | 124,284,164 | 134,612,576
May | 151,740,000 | 123,932,568 | 135,846,301
June | 150,525,000 | 124,208,561 | 136,160,775
+----------------+----------------+---------------
Half year | $845,405,000 | $756,902,094 | $800,594,059
Ratio | 67.7% | 72% | 68.3%
+----------------+----------------+---------------
July | $152,992,445 | $127,978,304 | $141,613,967
August | 156,837,914 | 131,557,475 | 146,175,338
September | 156,631,780 | 137,155,143 | 150,621,999
October | 166,999,266 | 144,195,330 | 156,628,513
November | 154,150,468 | 136,809,421 | 153,043,599
December | 142,631,008 | 136,867,622 | 153,699,578
+----------------+----------------+---------------
Half year | $930,242,881 | $814,563,295 | $901,782,994
Ratio | 68% | 64.1% | 62.9%
+----------------+----------------+---------------
Total | $1,775,647,881 | $1,571,465,389 | $1,702,377,053
Ratio | 67.8% | 67.7% | 65.4%
+----------------+----------------+---------------
Net operating revenue | $845,640,928 | $751,365,844 | $902,389,113
Taxes | 83,156,188 | 86,872,885 | 92,964,510
+----------------+----------------+---------------
Net operating income | $762,484,740 | $664,492,959 | $809,424,603
----------------------+----------------+----------------+---------------

Through these tables the reader is able to trace the upward course of railway receipts in 1907 to their culmination in October of that year; their rapid drop to February, 1908; through the hard summer following to the gradual recovery of 1909, until in October last they reached the highest monthly total on record.

Concurrently with this story of the depression of 1908, the tale of railway distress and of the drastic measures adopted to meet the emergency can be read in the half-yearly ratios. The ratio for the fiscal year 1906-'07 was 67.53%, and the shadow of approaching trouble was shown in an increase of this ratio to 67.7% for the first six months in the table. By December this ratio had risen to 73.40%. The enormous receipts of the autumn months held the ratio for the six months down to 68%. In February, 1908, it marked the high and ruinous figure of 76.84, and from that point the trend, due to severe retrenchments, was steadily downward until it touched 60.10% in October, 1909.

The ratio of 64.1% for the second half of 1908 is the true measure of the ability of the railways to cut their expenditures to fit the times. But they were on bed rock, as the succeeding months of small receipts proved, when the ratio went up to 72.43% in January, and averaged the high figure of 68.3% for the first six months of 1909. The heavy receipts of October and November without a corresponding expansion of expenditures resulted in the phenomenally low ratios of these months. But the severity and necessities of operating conditions in December, 1909, ran the ratio of expenses up to 69.23%.

The net earnings for the three years under consideration are apt to lead to erroneous conclusions as to the effect of the depression. Neither the loss in 1908 nor the recovery in 1909 reflects the true swing of the pendulum. The one minimizes the loss, because it conceals the cessation of all constructive work, the curtailment of betterments and improvements, and the postponement of all purchases for replacements except of the most immediate and imperative nature; the other exaggerates the recovery because of heavy receipts without the resumption of the concurrent expenditures that should attend them. The railways in the fall of 1909 were simply doing business on the margin of facilities provided during the fat months of 1907 in anticipation of a continuation of prosperous times. Some idea of the extent of this margin may be gained from the parking of 400,000 freight cars in the yards with 200,000 in the shops in April, 1908. At no time since has this margin been wholly exhausted.

But a continuation of traffic on the scale of the past six months will necessitate an immediate expenditure of $100,000,000 to $150,000,000 for the replacement of freight cars alone.

INCOME ACCOUNT FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1909.

The monthly summaries issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission from time to time afford the details for the construction of the following statement of the transportation revenues and expenses of the railways for the calendar year 1909, from which the averages per mile and the ratios have been computed on the basis of 234,950 miles of operated line.

STATEMENT OF OPERATING RECEIPTS AND EXPENSES OF THE RAILWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1909, WITH AMOUNTS PER MILE AND RATIOS.

(Average miles of line operated, 234,950.) (a)

====================================+================+=========+========
| | |Ratio to
| Amount |Per Mile | Gross
| | |Earnings
------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------
Receipts from: | | |
Freight | $1,796,258,314 | $ 7,645 | 68.96
Passengers | 601,722,959 | 2,561 | 23.10
Other transportation revenues | 182,706,090 | 777 | 7.01
Non-transportation sources | 24,080,802 | 103 | .93
+----------------+---------+--------
Total revenues | $2,604,766,165 | $11,086 | 100.00
| | |
Expenses: | | |
Maintenance of way and structures | $ 339,167,666 | $ 1,448 | 13.06
Maintenance of equipment | 387,155,080 | 1,644 | 14.83
Traffic expenses | 53,257,408 | 223 | 2.01
Transportation | 857,339,037 | 3,650 | 32.92
General expenses | 65,441,053 | 280 | 2.52
Unclassified | 16,809 | -- | --
+----------------+---------+--------
Total expenses | $1,702,377,052 | $ 7,245 | 65.35
Net operating revenues | 902,389,112 | 3,841 | 34.65
Profit from outside operations | 3,367,713 | 14 |
+----------------+---------+--------
Net revenues | $ 905,756,825 | -- | --
Taxes | 92,964,510 | 395 | 3.56
+----------------+ |
Net income | $ 812,792,315 | $ 3,460 |
------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------

(a) At the close of the year the reports covered 236,166 miles of
operated line.

Unfortunately there are no similar figures for the calendar year 1907 with which comparisons may be made, but the official returns for the year ending June 30, 1907, when railway earnings reached their maximum before the panic of that year, afford the following instructive comparisons:

===============================+=====================+================
| Year to | Year to
| June 30, 1907 | Dec. 31, 1909
-------------------------------+---------------------+----------------
Gross earnings | $2,589,105,578 | $2,604,766,165
Per mile | 11,383 | 11,086
Operating expenses | 1,748,515,814 | 1,702,377,053
Per mile | 7,687 | 7,245
Ratio | 67.53 | 65.35
Net revenues | 840,589,764 | 902,389,112
Per mile | 3,696 | 3,841
Taxes | 80,108,006 | 92,964,510
Per mile | 367 | 395
-------------------------------+---------------------+----------------

It will be perceived that while the earnings in 1909 exceeded those of 1907 by over 15½ millions they were almost $300 less per mile, while the operating expenses were actually $442 less per mile. The decreased operating ratio in 1909 bears unmistakable testimony as to where the increase in net revenues came from.

With an increase of nearly 9,000 miles of line only $339,167,665 was spent on maintenance of way and structures in 1909 against $343,544,907 in 1907, and the urgent demands of returning activity made the expenditures on this account liberal in comparison with those for the year ending June 30, 1909, i. e. $311,368,083, or $1,336 per mile. It will be years before the railways recover from the economies forced on them by the loss of $300,000,000 in revenues in 1908.

UNREGULATED REGULATION OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS.

Today the railways of the United States are "cribb'd, cabin'd and confined" in their services to the American people, not so much by the laws for their regulation as by the spirit in which those laws are administered. To the general tenor and purposes of statutory regulation the railways have become largely reconciled; but from the spirit in which the laws are sought to be enforced, there has to be continuous appeal to the courts and to the public sense of justice.

Regulation of railways has been persistently interpreted by political Commissions to spell reduction of rates and exacting conditions that would drain the purse of Fortunatus. Between 1889, when the Interstate Commerce Commission's statistics first became a valuable index of railway operation, and 1909, the average rate per ton mile has fallen from 9.22 to 7.55 mills. On the freight tonnage of 1909 this meant a reduction of over $372,000,000 in the yearly revenues of the railways. The railways suffered that loss from their income when they needed every cent of it to maintain the people's highway in a condition to transport the people's ever-growing traffic.

The railways lost it, but who got it? The people? Search the market reports of the land, from Eastport to San Diego, and you will find incontestable proof that not one cent of these millions reached the pockets of the people, in whose name all regulation of railways is demanded and for whose benefit all reductions are claimed. The average rate on all commodities has gone down, the price of every commodity transported by the railways has gone up. Who has pocketed the difference?

There can be only one answer--the producers, the shippers and the traders. Today nine-tenths of the increased cost of living in the United States is chargeable to this ever vigilant and aggressive coalition. For everything the railways must buy--labor, supplies, money--they have to pay the advanced prices of the day. But the protests of the shippers and the rulings of the Commission forbid their raising a rate or adopting a money-saving economy. They attempted to readjust freight rates in 1900 one-fiftieth of a cent per ton mile above a ruinously low average and the outraged shippers secured the passage of the Hepburn Act!

How the federal Commission and shippers work together for the so-called regulation of the railways is evidenced in the unbroken tenor of the decisions handed down by the Commission. Out of 357 decisions printed during the year 1908-09, no less than 219, or 61.3%, were orders granting reductions of rates or reparation for charges found comparatively excessive or unreasonable. In not one case in a score was the rate found excessive or unreasonable per se. In only one case out of the 357 was an increased rate ordered, and this was done reluctantly and as unavoidable.

Although the decisions are for the most part the unanimous finding of the Commission, the following table distributes the opinions of the year among its members into dismissals and reductions or reparations among the Commissioners writing them:

=================================+============+==============
| | Granting
Opinion by | Dismissing | Reductions or
| Complaints | Reparation
---------------------------------+------------+--------------
Chairman Knapp | 21 | 20
Commissioner Clement | 16 | 29
" Prouty | 13 | 40
" Cockerill | 20 | 20
" Lane | 20 | 42
" Clark | 29 | 28
" Harlan | 19 | 40
+------------+--------------
Total | 138 | 219
Per cent | 39.7 | 61.3
---------------------------------+------------+--------------

Some of the cases upon which the Commission is called on to pass are so trivial as to be beneath the notice of a justice's court, while others involve issues so momentous as to threaten the whole structure of railway rates by which the unparalleled prosperity of the country has been made possible.

But the number of cases reaching the Commission for adjudication is insignificant compared with the grist of informal reparation orders that runs an endless stream through its regulating rollers. In the twelve months from December 1, 1908, to November 30, 1909, these aggregated no less than 2,223 separate orders involving amounts all the way from 47 cents to $14,717.64, as seen in the following orders:

7100. _Larabee Flour Mills Company_ v. _Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Railway Company_. September 11, 1909. Refund of
$0.47 on shipment of cotton bags from Kansas City, Mo., to
Hutchinson, Kas., on account of excessive rate.

3629. _Lackawanna Steel Company_ v. _Central Railroad Company
of New Jersey_. June 26, 1909. Refund of $14,717.64 on
shipments of spiegeleisen from Newark, N. J., and Hazard, Pa.,
to Buffalo, N. Y., on account of excessive rates.

Multiplying these awards by the number of orders enables the reader to imagine the range of their respective pettiness or portentous possibilities.

It is doubtful if the American people, or even the Interstate Commerce Commissioners themselves, realize how the formal decisions and informal orders of the Commission are slowly but surely whittling away the safe margin of American railway profits. At the rate of two decisions every three days and forty informal orders per week, the work of incipient confiscation proceeds with remorseless enthusiasm.

With the best intentions in the world the present Interstate Commerce Commission is so enmeshed in its own anti-railway traditions, so enamored of the administrative control theories of its statistician, so covetous of unbridled, irresponsible authority to tear down where it has no constructive capacity, that anything like co-operation between the Commission and the railway management for the public good seems out of the question.

To the writer it appears that only blind rejection of facts can find any conserving element in the regulation of railways as at present administered. Signs of a helpful disposition in official acts are entirely lacking. The Senate and House calendars groan under bills for the further regulation and restriction of the railways, but not one contains a promise of relief. For not one is there a genuine public demand.

And what is the situation as this is written? It can be stated in a few lines. As a consequence of the drop of $300,000,000 in gross earnings in 1908, the railways in 1908 and 1909 cut $277,000,000 out of their expenditures. This was done mainly at the expense of maintenance of way and structures and in a cessation in the purchase of equipment, but the so-called economies of postponed expenditures permeated every line of railway extension, operation and replacement. In 1908, with 6,000 more miles of track to maintain, $18,788,217 less was spent for maintenance than in 1907, and in 1909 with 12,000 more miles of track $32,176,824 less was expended.

Between 1897 and 1907 the expenditures for maintenance of way increased from $159,434,403 to $343,544,907, or over 115%. This means an increase of approximately 8% a year, or at least $25,000,000 on present plant. Therefore at least $43,000,000 was withheld from this essential line of railway maintenance in 1908 and fully $82,000,000 in 1909, a total of $125,000,000. The saving on equipment was nearly as great and is dealt with in the body of the report.

A comparison of the income accounts for the month of October, 1907 and 1908, corroborates the foregoing statement as to the economies forced on the railways by the adverse winds of regulation and business depression.

=================================+===============+=============
Month of October | 1907 | 1909
---------------------------------+---------------+-------------
Earnings from operation | $250,575,757 | $260,613,053
Operating expenses | 166,999,266 | 156,628,513
+---------------+-------------
Net earnings | $ 83,576,491 | $113,984,540
Operating ratio | 66.64 | 60.10
---------------------------------+---------------+-------------

The canker worm in this, the most promising flower of returning prosperity, is revealed in the abnormal ratio of 60.10 for October, 1909, or nearly 7% below the American average. Now this 7% on the revenues of last October means that in some way over $16,000,000 less than normal was expended on American railways in that month alone. And October, 1909, was only a sample of how railways had cut expenses for 24 consecutive months.

That this should be so, with no reduction in the scale of wages or the price of supplies, is, in the view of the writer, a situation of serious national concern. Happily he is not charged with any commission to suggest how or where the deferred debt of nearly $300,000,000 to efficient railway road and equipment is to be met. But that it must be met, to place the railways in as good condition as they were before the panic of 1907, when the cry was for more, not less facilities, does not admit of question. If it, together with the advance in wages now being adjusted, is to be met out of income, only an advance in freight rates can take care of it. If out of fresh capital, it can only be coaxed from the pockets of shrewd investors by rates of interest that discount the risk attendant on the unregulated and irresponsible regulation of railway revenues, resources and responsibilities. And it is proposed to make an irresponsible Commission, unfamiliar with the necessities of the situation and unversed in the ways and means of raising capital arbiters of these necessities, ways and means.

All attempts to meet such a situation by legislation, unless it be directed to a reform of the instrumentalities of regulation, must prove ineffectual. In a broader, saner, more helpful administration of the laws already on the federal and state statute books lies the hope for the future of the great American transportation industry. "Whate'er is best administered is best."

THE BUREAU'S STATISTICS FOR 1909.

Thus far what has been written has related almost wholly to the financial aspect of the transportation industry as presented through the monthly reports of the railways. While these in their way serve as an admirable barometer in keeping the public informed as to general business conditions throughout the Union, they throw little light upon the railway operations behind the financial results. They are absolutely dumb on the main question upon which all railway legislation and regulation should hinge--adequate and efficient public service.

In the following pages the Bureau attempts to remedy this omission, in the essential particulars for the year ending June 30, 1909. The reports from which its summaries have been compiled were received almost a month earlier this year than last, but the publication of the Bureau's statistics has been delayed in order to make the usual comparisons with the Official Statistics for 1908. The writer is advised from Washington that the fault for this unusual delay rests with the Government printer--whose office is overwhelmed with Congressional and departmental work--and not with the Interstate Commerce Commission or its Bureau of Statistics and Accounts.

For the first time, the reports to this Bureau cover the division of freight movement into the seven chief commodities; the separation of revenues from Mail and Express; the distribution of expenses for injuries and damages, and the summaries of expenses for maintenance of way and equipment, traffic expenses, transportation expenses and general expenses. It is believed that with the addition of these accounts the annual report of the Bureau has become so comprehensive as to warrant its publication hereafter at an earlier date, without waiting on the publication of the official statistics for the preceding year.

This year the Bureau has received reports from 368 roads operating 221,132 miles of line or approximately 94.4% of the mileage and carrying over 97% of the traffic of the country. Last year reports were received covering 216,460 miles. The increase of 4,672 miles fairly represents the actual increase of railway mileage in the United States for the twelve months.

In presenting these statistics, the writer has endeavored to make them as colorless summaries of facts as an earnest desire to arrive at the truth permits. Such comment as accompanies them will be confined to comparisons and elucidation and not to the furtherance of any personal theories.

For the sake of brevity, the Interstate Commerce Commission will be referred to herein as the "Commission"; the Commission's "Statistics of Railways in the United States" as "Official Statistics" and "the year ending June 30th" will be implied before the year named unless otherwise specified.

The statements as to foreign railways are compiled from the latest official sources available.

Here the writer wishes to record his personal appreciation of the assistance rendered by the executives and accounting officials of the railways, whose co-operation has made this report possible. In the midst of increasing burdens imposed on them in reporting to federal and state commissions and legislatures, the requests for information from this Bureau might have seemed excusably negligible. The completeness of the report itself testifies to the cordiality with which the Bureau's work is viewed.

Acknowledgments are also due to Federal and State officials for their uniform courtesy in responding to the many requests from this Bureau, and the writer has been much gratified to receive from the chief government railway official of one foreign country the assurance that he considers its Annual Report "one of the most comprehensive and useful compilations of statistical matter relating to railways that has come into his hands."

SLASON THOMPSON.

CHICAGO, April 30, 1910.

MILEAGE IN 1909

According to the preliminary income report of the Interstate Commerce Commission for the year ending June 30, 1909, compiled from the monthly returns, the average railway mileage operated in the United States during the year was 233,002.67 miles; and the total mileage operated at the end of the year was 234,182.70.

============================================+=================
The former total is made up of: |
Large roads operating 251 miles or more | 214,916.86 miles
Small roads " 250 " or less | 16,801.52 "
Switching or terminal companies | 1,284.29 "
+-----------------
Total | 233,002.67 miles
--------------------------------------------+-----------------

The returns to this Bureau, compiled from the annual reports for the same year, cover 221,132 miles, against 216,460 in 1908, an increase of 4,672 miles. Reports to the Commission for December, 1909, showed a total operated mileage of 236,166 miles.

In its report dated December 21, 1909, the Commission stated that for the year ending June 30, 1908, substantially complete returns had been received for 230,494 miles of line operated, including 8,661.34 miles used under trackage rights. These are the official figures of mileage for 1908, which will be used in all subsequent comparisons with the Bureau's figures for 1909--the latter, however, may include some switching and terminal mileage excluded from the former.

Of the mileage reporting to this Bureau, 8,927 miles were operated under trackage rights, leaving a net of 212,205 miles of line covered by capitalization and rental.

Assuming that the total operated mileage in the United States at the close of the fiscal year 1909 was 234,182, the complete returns to this Bureau cover approximately 94.4% of the mileage and 97% of the traffic of all the railways in the United States. No attempt has been made, or will be made, to segregate the returns of switching and terminal companies from the Bureau's figures, of which they are an integral part.

The first summary under this table presents the _operated_ mileage reported to this Bureau in 1909 and 1908, classified by states and territories in comparison with the official figures of mileage owned in 1908, with relation to area and population of the respective territorial divisions:

SUMMARY OF RAILWAY MILEAGE IN THE UNITED STATES BY STATES AND TERRITORIES IN 1909, 1908 AND 1907 AND ITS RELATION TO AREA AND POPULATION.

================|=================|==========|============|===========
|Bureau's Figures | | Miles of |
+--------+--------+ 1907(a) | Line |Inhabitants
| 1909 | 1908 | Owned | per 100 | per
|Operated|Operated|(Official)|Sq. Miles of| Mile of
| Miles | Miles | Miles | Territory | Line
----------------+--------+--------+----------+------------+-----------
Alabama | 4,917 | 4,644 | 4,840 | 9.77 | 406
Arkansas | 3,996 | 3,758 | 4,861 | 9.21 | 301
California | 6,376 | 6,251 | 6,664 | 4.38 | 243
Colorado | 5,229 | 5,096 | 5,295 | 5.11 | 114
Connecticut | 930 | 936 | 1,016 | 20.96 | 999
Delaware | 342 | 343 | 336 | 17.14 | 615
Florida | 3,117 | 2,960 | 3,970 | 7.39 | 148
Georgia | 6,485 | 6,293 | 6,783 | 11.65 | 361
Idaho | 1,651 | 1,568 | 1,731 | 2.09 | 102
Illinois | 13,216 | 12,796 | 12,137 | 21.80 | 442
Indiana | 7,774 | 7,326 | 7,259 | 20.24 | 388
Iowa | 9,923 | 9,865 | 9,867 | 17.87 | 252
Kansas | 9,125 | 9,175 | 8,936 | 10.94 | 184
Kentucky | 3,229 | 3,205 | 3,441 | 8.71 | 690
Louisiana | 3,860 | 3,805 | 4,558 | 10.43 | 326
Maine | 1,984 | 1,750 | 2,093 | 7.19 | 361
Maryland | 1,325 | 1,278 | 1,432 | 14.90 | 906
Massachusetts | 2,079 | 2,079 | 2,112 | 26.45 | 1,492
Michigan | 8,384 | 8,312 | 8,941 | 15.63 | 302
Minnesota | 8,258 | 8,100 | 8,246 | 10.46 | 236
Mississippi | 3,545 | 3,281 | 4,081 | 9.00 | 416
Missouri | 8,200 | 8,141 | 8,039 | 11.79 | 429
Montana | 3,537 | 3,406 | 3,307 | 2.28 | 91
Nebraska | 6,099 | 6,083 | 5,932 | 7.76 | 200
Nevada | 1,621 | 1,540 | 1,700 | 1.55 | 28
New Hampshire | 1,211 | 1,211 | 1,248 | 13.86 | 369
New Jersey | 2,046 | 2,046 | 2,250 | 30.59 | 917
New York | 8,106 | 7,989 | 8,472 | 17.86 | 957
North Carolina | 3,567 | 3,332 | 4,385 | 9.21 | 473
North Dakota | 4,026 | 4,025 | 3,906 | 5.56 | 118
Ohio | 8,951 | 9,041 | 9,261 | 22.75 | 502
Oklahoma | 5,572 | 5,532 | 2,821 | 7.84 | 202
Oregon | 1,687 | 1,600 | 1,939 | 2.07 | 237
Pennsylvania | 10,532 | 10,224 | 11,259 | 25.25 | 621
Rhode Island | 192 | 190 | 208 | 20.11 | 2,262
South Carolina | 2,892 | 2,975 | 3,271 | 11.02 | 451
South Dakota | 3,646 | 3,568 | 3,703 | 4.82 | 122
Tennessee | 3,283 | 3,528 | 3,725 | 9.01 | 600
Texas | 12,847 | 12,932 | 12,932 | 4.95 | 263
Utah | 1,820 | 1,772 | 1,957 | 2.42 | 156
Vermont | 941 | 926 | 1,071 | 11.98 | 351
Virginia | 4,099 | 3,900 | 4,056 | 10.43 | 495
Washington | 3,353 | 3,207 | 3,767 | 5.69 | 152
West Virginia | 2,846 | 2,777 | 3,264 | 13.62 | 320
Wisconsin | 7,039 | 6,900 | 7,459 | 14.01 | 304
Wyoming | 1,429 | 1,414 | 1,526 | 1.56 | 70
Arizona | 1,705 | 1,684 | 1,928 | 1.71 | 71
New Mexico | 2,782 | 2,521 | 2,965 | 2.42 | 74
District of | | | | |
Columbia | 51 | 42 | 31 | 53.53 | 9,709
Canada(b) | 1,343 | 1,273 | | |
+--------+--------+----------+------------+-----------
United States |221,132 |216,460 | 227,671 | 7.74 | 370
----------------+--------+--------+----------+------------+-----------

(a) Official mileage by States not available for 1908.

(b) Mileage operated in Canada by American roads.

SUMMARY OF RAILWAY MILEAGE IN THE UNITED STATES BY STATES AND TERRITORIES IN 1909 AND 1908 AND ITS RELATION TO AREA AND POPULATION--Continued.

=================================+===========+============+===========
| 1908 | Miles of |
| Owned | Line |Inhabitants
|(Official) | per 100 | per
| Miles |Sq. Miles of| Mile of
| | Territory | Line
---------------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------
United States, 1909 | 234,182 | 7.88 | 379
" " 1908 | 230,494 | 7.76 | 378
" " 1907 | 227,671 | 7.74 | 370
" " 1906 | 222,575 | 7.55 | 373
" " 1905 | 217,018 | 7.34 | 378
" " 1904 | 212,577 | 7.20 | 379
" " 1903 | 207,187 | 7.00 | 384
" " 1902 | 201,673 | 6.82 | 388
" " 1901 | 196,075 | 6.64 | 391
" " 1900 | 192,941 | 6.51 | 393
" " 1899 | 188,277 | 6.37 | 395
" " 1898 | 185,371 | 6.28 | 394
" " 1897 | 182,920 | 6.21 | 390
" " 1896 | 181,154 | 6.15 | 384
" " 1895 | 179,176 | 6.08 | 382
" " 1894 | 176,603 | 6.02 | 379
" " 1893 | 170,332 | 5.94 | 377
" " 1892 | 165,691 | 5.78 | 380
" " 1891 | 164,603 | 5.67 | 380
" " 1890 | 159,272 | 5.51 | 384
---------------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------

The column of operated mileage in 1909 testifies to the comprehensive character of the reports to this Bureau, while the last two columns demonstrate how railway extension has kept pace with the growth of the country. Territorially the United States now has 43% more railway mileage than it had in 1890, and the last column proves that the mileage is greater proportionately to the population than it was twenty years ago. The contrast in the density of population per mile of line between Rhode Island and Nevada is illustrative of the startling diversity of conditions under which railways are operated in the United States.

RAILWAYS BUILT IN 1909.

The new mileage reported as constructed in 1909 tallies more nearly than usual with the increase in mileage for which operating reports are received. As reported in the _Railway and Engineering Review_, February 19, 1910, the new mileage by states was as follows:

MILES OF LINE CONSTRUCTED DURING THE CALENDAR YEAR 1909 BY STATES AND TERRITORIES.

RAILWAY MILEAGE OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

The ratios of railway mileage to area and population in the table on page 19 may be compared with those of foreign countries for 1907 in the following statement:

SUMMARY OF THE WORLD'S RAILWAYS AND RATIO OF THE MILEAGE TO THE AREA AND POPULATION OF EACH COUNTRY IN 1907.

_From Archiv fur Eisenbahnwesen_, May-June, 1909.

===================================+=========+============+===========
| | Miles of |Inhabitants
| Miles | Line per | per
Countries | 1907 | 100 Square | Mile of
| | Miles | Line
-----------------------------------+---------+------------+-----------
Europe: | | |
Germany | 36,065 | 17.2 | 1,563
Austria-Hungary | 25,852 | 10.0 | 1,818
Great Britain and Ireland | 23,084 | 19.0 | 1,785
France | 29,716 | 14.2 | 1,316
Russia in Europe and Finland | | |
(2,057 miles) | 36,279 | 1.8 | 2,941
Italy | 10,312 | 9.3 | 3,125
Belgium | 4,874 | 42.8 | 1,370
Netherlands and Luxemburg | 2,230 | 15.0 | 2,564
Switzerland | 2,763 | 12.2 | 1,205
Spain | 9,227 | 4.8 | 1,923
Portugal | 1,689 | 4.7 | 3,226
Denmark | 2,141 | 14.3 | 1,150
Norway | 1,606 | 1.3 | 1,390
Sweden | 8,321 | 4.8 | 617
Servia | 379 | 2.1 | 6,666
Roumania | 1,994 | 3.2 | 2,941
Greece | 771 | 3.1 | 3,125
Turkey in Europe, Bulgaria and | | |
Rumelia | 1,967 | 1.9 | 5,000
Malta, Jersey and Isle of Man | 68 | 16.1 | 5,273
+---------+------------+-----------
Total for Europe, 1907 | 199,345 | 5.3 | 1,887
" " " 1906 | 196,437 | 5.2 | 1,993
" " " 1905 | 192,507 | 5.1 | 2,084
" " " 1904 | 189,806 | 5.0 | 2,084
" " " 1903 | 186,685 | 5.0 | 2,084
" " " 1902 | 183,989 | 4.9 | 2,127
" " " 1901 | 180,817 | 4.8 | 2,174
" " " 1900 | 176,396 | 4.7 | 2,220
" " " 1899 | 172,953 | 4.6 | 2,220
" " " 1898 | 167,614 | 4.4 | --
" " " 1897 | 163,550 | 4.3 | --
" " " 1896 | 160,030 | 4.2 | --
+---------+------------+-----------
Increase in eleven years | 39,315 | -- | --
| | |
Other Foreign Countries in 1907: | | |
Canada | 22,447 | 0.6 | 373
Mexico | 13,612 | 1.8 | 321
Brazil | 10,713 | .32 | 1,408
Argentine Republic | 13,673 | 1.3 | 356
Peru | 1,332 | .32 | 3,449
Uruguay | 1,210 | 1.8 | 769
Chili | 2,939 | 1.0 | 1.123
Central Russia in Asia | 2,808 | 1.3 | 2,777
Siberia and Manchuria | 5,664 | .11 | 1,020
Japan | 5,012 | 3.1 | 9,090
China | 4,162 | 0.1 | 85,820
British India | 29,892 | 1.4 | 10,000
New Zealand | 2,570 | 2.4 | 324
Victoria | 3,428 | 3.9 | 351
New South Wales | 3,471 | 1.1 | 394
South Australia | 1,924 | 0.16 | 188
Queensland | 3,404 | 0.5 | 142
Egypt | 3,445 | 1.0 | 2,860
Cape Colony | 3,804 | 1.3 | 463
Natal | 976 | 3.5 | 793
Transvaal | 1,361 | 1.1 | 636
Recapitulation: | | |
Total for Europe | 199,345 | 5.3 | 1,889
" " America | 302,927 | 2.3 | 524
" " Asia | 56,283 | 0.38 | 15,540
" " Africa | 18,516 | 0.16 | 8,014
" " Australia | 17,766 | 0.6 | 279
" " the whole world | 594,837 | -- | --
-----------------------------------+---------+------------+-----------

Of the above total railway mileage for the whole world, no less than 332,360 miles, or nearly 56%, is operated in English speaking countries, the mileage of the United States alone being over 35% of the whole.

To the most casual student the disparity between the density of population to railway mileage in the United States and Europe of one to five, is as apparent as it is significant of our necessity for so much greater provision of transportation facilities per capita. If our per capita mileage were relatively the same as that of Europe, the United States would be set back to the transportation facilities of 1869, when the completion of the Union Pacific raised its total mileage to 47,254 miles. But even then it had a ratio of one mile of railway to 810 inhabitants, which was higher than Europe's ratio today.

Clearly there is nothing in the statistics of the railway mileage of the world to account for the epidemic of railway phobia that periodically convulses the people and legislatures of the United States of America.

MILEAGE OF ALL TRACKS IN 1909.

Of almost equal importance to the mileage of American railways are the auxiliary tracks upon which the extent and efficiency of their public service so largely depends. As the next statement shows, these continue to increase more rapidly than the miles of line.

SUMMARY OF MILEAGE OF SINGLE TRACK, SECOND TRACK, THIRD TRACK, FOURTH TRACK AND YARD TRACK AND SIDINGS, IN THE UNITED STATES, 1897 TO 1909.

==============+===========+========+=======+=======+========+=========
| | | | | | Total
| Single | Second | Third |Fourth | Yard | Mileage
Year | Track | Track | Track |Track | Track | Operated
| | | | | and | (all
| | | | |Sidings | tracks)
--------------+-----------+--------+-------+-------+--------+---------
1909 (94.4%) | | | | | |
Bureau | 221,132 | 20,637 | 2,186 | 1,491 | 80,669 | 326,115
1908 Official |(a)230,494 | 20,209 | 2,081 | 1,409 | 79,452 | 333,646
1907 | 227,455 | 19,421 | 1,960 | 1,390 | 77,749 | 327,975
1906 | 222,340 | 17,396 | 1,766 | 1,279 | 73,760 | 317,083
1905 | 216,973 | 17,056 | 1,609 | 1,215 | 69,941 | 306,796
1904 | 212,243 | 15,824 | 1,467 | 1,046 | 66,492 | 297,073
1903 | 205,313 | 14,681 | 1,303 | 963 | 61,560 | 283,821
1902 | 200,154 | 13,720 | 1,204 | 895 | 58,220 | 274,195
1901 | 195,561 | 12,845 | 1,153 | 876 | 54,914 | 265,352
1900 | 192,556 | 12,151 | 1,094 | 829 | 52,153 | 258,784
1899 | 187,543 | 11,546 | 1,047 | 790 | 49,223 | 250,142
1898 | 184,648 | 11,293 | 1,009 | 793 | 47,589 | 245,333
1897 | 183,284 | 11,018 | 995 | 780 | 45,934 | 242,013
--------------+-----------+--------+-------+-------+--------+---------

(a) To the figures for 1908 should be added the 1,626 miles of main
track and 2,085 of yard track and sidings of switching and
terminal companies, excluded by the Official Statistician, raising
the total of all tracks to 337,357.

By adding the auxiliary trackage reported to this Bureau for 1909 to the 234,182 miles of operated line reported to the Interstate Commerce Commission for June 30 of that year, it appears that the total of all tracks on that date was _upwards of 340,000 miles_.

It will be observed that in every instance the mileage of second, third and fourth track and yard track and sidings reported to this Bureau in 1909, the year of comparative stagnation in railway construction, exceeded the complete mileage of these tracks in 1908 reported to the Commission.

The above table (with the Commission's figures for single track) shows that where there has been an increase of only 50,798 miles of single track, or 27.7%, in twelve years, all trackage has increased over 98,000, or 42%, during the same period. It also shows that during the same twelve years second track has increased 87%; third track 120%; fourth track 91%, and yard track and sidings 76%.

MILEAGE AND TRACK OF BRITISH RAILWAYS.

As English railways are so often brought into comparison with American railways, it is well to know the total of all tracks in the United Kingdom as well as the mileage. Both are given in the following statement, compiled from returns to the British Board of Trade for the years ending December 31, 1904 to 1908:

---------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------
Description of Track | 1908 | 1907 | 1906 | 1905 | 1904
---------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------
Single track (miles) | 23,209 | 23,112 | 23,063 | 22,870 | 22,601
Second track | 13,048 | 12,963 | 12,934 | 12,819 | 12,692
Third track | 1,435 | 1,385 | 1,363 | 1,324 | 1,271
Fourth track | 1,141 | 1,103 | 1,091 | 1,067 | 1,030
Fifth track | 208 | 195 | 186 | 170 | 153
Sixth track | 122 | 117 | 111 | 97 | 85
Seventh track | 59 | 51 | 47 | 40 | 35
Eighth to twentieth tracks | 94 | 87 | 75 | 44 | 34
Sidings | 14,353 | 14,145 | 14,032 | 13,891 | 13,733
+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------
Total trackage | 53,669 | 53,189 | 52,904 | 52,322 | 51,634
---------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------

Here it will be perceived the mileage of British roads increased only 608 miles and the trackage only 2,035 miles in four years. During the same period, as shown in the preceding table, the mileage of American railways increased 18,251 miles and their total trackage 36,543. It is this continuous demand for increased mileage and trackage in the United States, to say nothing of equipment, that differentiates the problem confronting American railway management from British. In the United States we need more railways and still more railways, and the problem is to get the capital on reasonable terms to provide the facilities.

In railroad mileage alone we have over ten times that of the United Kingdom and we have more than six times as many miles of track. We have enough trackage in our yards and sidings to double track all the British railways, with enough over to put four tracks where they have only two tracks now.

EQUIPMENT

AN OBJECT LESSON IN EQUIPMENT.

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