Chapter XIX: Introduction (3)

And right here's the rub with any attempt to measure wages by the cost of living. Which is the egg and which is the hen, in the matter of precedence. Does the cost of living lay the income or does the income hatch the cost of living?

Economically and theoretically it is not up to the railways to solve this world old conundrum. Practically they are called on to meet every advance in the cost of living of their employes to which in twenty years they have not added a nickel, and they are denied the privilege, enjoyed by every other employer of labor, to add its increased cost to the price of their only commodity or service--transportation.

Today the advances in the scale of railway wages awarded, proposed and demanded mean an increase of from $60,000,000 to $75,000,000 in the annual "cost of living" of the railways. The advance made in 1906-07 added $120,000,000 to the pay roll of 1908. Combined, these two advances within three years mean an increase of approximately $200,000,000 a year to the operating expenses of the railways without adding a single unit to efficiency of the labor factor in railway operation.

_This is equal to an annual first charge of 5% on $4,000,000,000!_ Imagine the hue and cry from the press, the immediate injunctions from Washington, the despondent wail from Wall Street, if the railways proposed to pour that much "water" into their own cost of living without getting a mile of track, a single engine, car, or coach, a cubic yard of ballast, one untreated tie or any semblance of improvement or new facility to show for the vast expenditure!

And yet the railways have their increased cost of living to meet just as the rest of us. Nothing they need and must have can be purchased at the prices of a few years back. When you mention steel rails you have named about the only railway necessity that has not advanced its cost of living in recent years, and the railways have to buy 100-pound rails where five years ago 80-pound rails sufficed, and ten years ago 70 pounds was heavy enough for the lighter cars and engines of the time.

But at the first suggestion of advancing rates to meet advancing prices of commodities the Commissions were overwhelmed with protests from shippers and the paring of freight rates down went on as the prices of the goods they carried went up.

In ten years the price of lumber advanced nearly 50%. As a cheap bulky commodity it had enjoyed a low rate in order to move it and it was moved at the expense of other commodities. When it was able to pay a little more toward the cost of getting it to market the proposal of an advance was met with indignant protests from lumber shippers and dealers and reversed thumbs by the sympathetic commissions.

The railways pay more for their lumber and other material today than they did ten years ago but they will have to fight for any advance in rates to meet this part of their cost of living. It is said to be a poor rule that will not work both ways--but the cost of living seems to have only one way of working so far as railway economics are concerned.

Just as a straw to indicate that high prices of food are the result and not the basis of high wages the following table of comparative prices in London and New York from the New York _Times_ of March 27, 1910, is instructive:

COMPARATIVE RETAIL PRICES OF ARTICLES OF FOOD IN LONDON AND NEW YORK IN MARCH, 1910.

=====================================+============+=============
| London. | New York.
| Cents. | Cents.
-------------------------------------+------------+-------------
Apples, 1 lb | 4 to 6 | 10
Bread, 1 lb | 4 | 5
Butter, 1 lb | 24 to 32 | 30 to 35
Cheese, 1 lb | 14 to 16 | 18 to 22
Cocoa, 1 lb | 16 to 36 | 25 to 50
Coffee, 1 lb | 16 to 30 | 20 to 50
Currants, 1 lb | 4 to 8 | 8 to 12
Eggs, 12 to 16 | 25 | 6 to 12--25
Codfish, 1 lb | 8 to 12 | 15 to 29
Fish (general), 1 lb | 4 to 12 | 10 to 25
Flour, 3 lbs | 9 to 10 | 12
Meats: | |
Bacon, 1 lb | 16 to 24 | 25 to 30
Beef, 1 lb | 16 to 20 | 22 to 30
Pork, 1 lb | 12 to 16 | 20 to 24
Milk, 1 pint | 4 | 4 to 5
Oatmeal, 1 lb | 4 to 6 | 5 to 10
Onions, 1 lb | 2 | 4
Oranges, 1 doz | 10 to 12 | 18 to 50
Potatoes, 1 lb | 1 to 2 | 3 to 4
Prunes, 1 lb | 8 to 12 | 10 to 18
Raisins, 1 lb | 6 to 10 | 10 to 16
Rice, 1 lb | 4 | 6
Syrup, 1 lb | 6 | 10
Sugar white, 1 lb | 6 | 6
Sugar, yellow, 1 lb | 4 | 5
Tapioca, 1 lb | 8 | 10
Tea, 1 lb | 20 to 60 | 30 to 1.50
Tomatoes, 1 lb | 8 | 12
-------------------------------------+------------+-------------

The amazing feature of this statement is that the United States produces and exports to the United Kingdom enormous quantities of breadstuffs, meat and provisions, which constitute the chief articles of food in London and which are sold there at prices from 20% to 25% lower than in New York. Clearly it is the high scale of wages that fosters the high cost of living in the United States and there can be little question but it breeds the high wages it feeds on.

It is humanly certain, though economically unsound, that wages will continue to advance with the cost of living and will not recede proportionately as prices of food fall. But both will decline together when for any considerable period there is a surplus of efficient labor for the requirements of American industry. Even railway labor in the most stable of all employments yielded to this influence in 1893 and 1894; and the prices of food receded to the low mark in the following years 1895, 1896 and 1897. Not until wages took their upward turn in 1898 did the cost of food begin to show above the index average of 1890-1899.

IV

CAPITALIZATION

According to the Twenty-third Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission the amount of railway capital, including stocks and bonds "outstanding in the hands of the public on June 30, 1908, was $12,840,091,462, which, if assigned on a mileage basis, shows a capitalization of $57,230 per mile of line."

In the face of all the fustian about over-capitalization of American railways, this is a most remarkable admission, not only of their moderate, but of their decreasing capitalization per mile.

In its report on the Intercorporate Relationships of Railways, dated March 10, 1908, the Commission found that as the result of its investigation the figure for railway capital outstanding in the hands of the public, "Measuring the claim of railway securities on railway revenues," reduced the amount "from $67,936 per mile of line (1906) to $58,050 per mile of line."

Of course there was never any justification for using the larger sum as a true measure of railway capitalization, for it was known to contain at least 15% duplicated capital.

In its Statistics of Railways for the year ending June 30, 1907, the Commission gave the net amount of railway capital outstanding in the hands of the public at that date, "assigned on a mileage basis as $58,298 per mile of line," or $1,068 more than the figure reported for 1908.

As the computation for 1908 was made on a basis of 224,363 miles of line, this would indicate a shrinkage of no less than $239,616,480 in the par value of railway capital. It is needless to say there was no such shrinkage.

NET CAPITALIZATION IN 1909.

Following the earlier judgment of the Official Statistician, this Bureau seeks to arrive at a fair approximation of the capitalization of the railways of the United States through the reports of operating roads and the capitalization of the rentals paid for leased roads. This, in the more recent language of the Statistician, furnishes the only capitalization that "measures the claim of railway securities on railway revenues."

Applied to the returns received by this Bureau from 221,132 miles of operated line, this formula yields the following result for the year ending June 30, 1909:

SUMMARY SHOWING CAPITALIZATION OF 368 COMPANIES OPERATING 221,132 MILES OF LINE FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1909.

======================================+=================================
| Capitalization
| 1909
| (182,046 Miles Owned)
--------------------------------------+----------------+----------------
Capital stock | $6,199,919,551 |
Funded debt | 8,015,841,805 |
Receivers' certificates | 20,497,447 |
|----------------+ $14,236,258,803
Rental of 39,086 miles, $120,784,982, | |
capitalized at 5%. | | 2,415,699,640
| +----------------
Total | | $16,651,958,443
| |
Deduct:(a) | |
Railway stocks owned (actual value) | $1,889,157,214 |
Other stocks owned (actual value) | 206,461,423 |
Railway bonds owned (actual value) | 1,054,095,905 |
Other bonds owned (actual value) | 140,282,728 |
|----------------+ 3,289,997,270
| |
Net capitalization, 1909 | | $13,361,961,173
Net capitalization per mile operated | | 60,425
--------------------------------------+----------------+----------------

(a) The par value of these stocks and bonds owned is given
as $4,739,231,832.

An estimate of $25,000 per mile for the 11,870 miles of line not reporting to this Bureau would add $296,750,000 to the above total. From this should be deducted $150,000,000 for the sum assigned by the Official Statistician "to other properties," and we arrive at the following close approximation of the true measure of the capital employed in the transportation industry of the United States:

=======================================================+===============
Net capitalization, 233,002 miles operated line, 1909 |$13,508,711,173
Net capitalization per mile of line | 57,962
Net capitalization per mile of track | 39,730
-------------------------------------------------------+---------------

In computing the average capital per mile last given, no allowance has been made for the 8,927 miles operated under trackage rights for the sufficient reason that the rental paid therefor is represented in the total capitalization just as fully as if so much capital had been expended in the construction of that many miles of line.

It is worthy of note that the net capitalization thus arrived at through a straightforward analysis of the returns of the operating companies is in substantial agreement with the Commission's report on the Intercorporate Relationship of Railways in 1908. The construction of 11,000 miles of line since 1906 would undoubtedly account for the difference between $58,050 and $57,962 per mile of line.

SUMMARY SHOWING NET CAPITALIZATION OF THE RAILWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1909-1904.

==================+==================+=========
Year | Net | Per Mile
| Capital | of Line
------------------+------------------+---------
1909 | $13,508,711,173 | $57,962
1908 | 13,007,012,563 | 58,864
1907 | 13,064,279,303 | 59,600
1906 | 12,628,000,000 | 57,966
1905 | 11,167,105,992 | 53,328
1904 | 10,711,794,278 | 52,099
------------------+------------------+---------

Owing to the intercorporate ownership of stocks and bonds and the consequent intercorporate payments of interest and dividends, it is no easy matter to make an entirely satisfactory estimate of the return paid to capital out of the purely transportation revenues of the railways. But the persistent reiteration by the Official Statistician of the fictitious aggregate of all the dividends paid by operating and non-operating companies, covering in 1908, by his own admission, $3,927,453,365 duplicated capital, justifies the attempt.

The operating income of the roads reporting to this Bureau for the year 1909 is arrived at thus:

===============================================+===============
Gross earnings (221,132 miles operated) | $2,375,141,766
Operating expenses | 1,568,008,389
+---------------
Net earnings from operation | $ 807,133,377
Less taxes | 82,650,214
+---------------
Net operating income | $ 724,483,163
-----------------------------------------------+---------------

This $724,483,163 is the balance in the hands of the 368 companies of the moneys received by them from transportation, or, as the Official Statistician now calls it, "rail operations," for the payment of interest, rent, other deductions, dividends, additions and betterments, reserves, surplus and deficits. But before proceeding to this distribution these companies received $200,725,696 income from other sources, principally interest and dividends on stocks and bonds owned and for rent of track, and a net balance of $5,410,338 from outside operations. The total of these two sums, $206,136,034, may be arbitrarily applied first to offset the item of rent, $120,784,982, paid for leased lines and track, and the balance in payment of interest and dividends in proportion to the value of bonds and stocks owned as above, viz.: 36% and 64%, respectively.

This enables us to make the following distribution of the net operating income of the railways reporting to this Bureau, as follows:

===============================+=============+==========================
Net operating income, as above | | |$724,483,163
Disposition of same: | | |
Interest on funded debt |$324,181,521 | |
Less paid from "other income"| 30,843,416 |$293,338,105 |
Interest on current liab- | | |
ilities | | 22,546,779 |
Other deductions | | 70,174,473 |
Dividends preferred stock | 50,183,739 | |
Dividends common stock | 176,607,550 | |
+-------------+ |
|$226,791,289 | |
Less paid from "other income"| 54,832,742 | 171,958,547 |
+-------------+ |
Dividends on other securities| | 769,222 |
Additions and betterments | | |
charged to income | | 24,807,546 |
Appropriations to reserves | | 16,984,447 |
Miscellaneous | | 5,602,761 |
Deficits of weak lines | | 4,996,195 |
Surplus available for adjust-| | |
ments and improvements | | 113,205,088 |$724,483,163
-------------------------------+-------------+-------------+------------

This table shows the actual disposition made of the net income from operation of the roads reporting to this Bureau, representing 97% of the railway business of the United States, except that $120,784,982 of the income from other sources has been eliminated from the account and applied to offset the rental paid by the reporting roads.

It will be observed that the gross dividends declared were only $226,791,289, which is 3.64% on the par value of the stock of the 368 reporting companies.

MISREPRESENTATIONS AS TO DIVIDENDS.

The discrepancy between this condition and the official statement as to dividends declared in 1908 calls for an analysis of the latter. This reads, "The amount of dividends declared during the year (1908) was $386,879,362, being equivalent to 7.99% on dividend-paying stock. For the year ending June 30, 1907, the amount of dividends declared was $308,088,027."

Two income accounts--one of operating roads and the other of leased roads--for the year ending June 30, 1908, give a clew as to how the Official Statistician more than doubles the dividends actually paid out of transportation revenues. The gross total is made up of these four items:

===================================================+=============
Operating roads: |
Dividends declared from current income | $271,328,453
Dividends declared out of surplus | 57,733,808
|
Leased roads: |
Dividends declared from current income | 33,843,577
Dividends declared out of surplus | 27,550,596
+-------------
Total | $390,456,434
---------------------------------------------------+-------------

As these income accounts show that the operating companies received $280,427,460 "other income" from outside operations and sources other than transportation, and the leased roads received $111,153,013 "income from lease of road," the source of the major part of this fictitious dividend is revealed. The $280,427,460 from other sources would pay the entire income of the leased roads and leave nearly $170,000,000 to extinguish so much of the dividends declared by the operating roads.

Modified as to details, this is what actually occurs every year. In the year 1908 the total amount paid out of transportation revenues on account of capital of the 97% of the railways of the United States reporting to this Bureau was represented in the sums:

===================================================+=============
Net interest on funded debt | $282,354,000
Interest on current liabilities | 31,835,708
Rent paid for lease of roads | 113,529,261
Net dividends | 104,074,006
+-------------
Total | $531,792,975
---------------------------------------------------+-------------

This total was equivalent to 4.15% on the net capitalization of the roads represented. The rental paid the lessor roads constituted the fund from which those roads paid their interest and dividends. Further remark on the misleading and harmful statement of the Official Statistician as to dividends declared in 1908 is unnecessary.

V

COST OF CONSTRUCTION

Incomplete as are the figures of the cost of the railways of the United States, and exclusive as they are of the millions put back into the properties out of income for additions, betterments and reconstruction in the process of operation, yet the statistics of the cost of construction and equipment afford a complete answer to all charges that American railways are over-capitalized.

Upon the question of the cost of road and equipment in 1909, the returns of the 368 roads reporting to this Bureau furnish the following data:

SUMMARY OF COST OF ROAD AND EQUIPMENT COVERING 221,132 MILES OF OPERATED LINE FOR 1909.

=====================================================+================
Item | Amount
-----------------------------------------------------+----------------
Cost of road (182,046 miles owned) | $6,603,504,463
Cost of equipment | 1,122,409,813
Undistributed cost of road and equipment | 3,080,064,960
Cost of 39,086 miles leased lines rental capitalized | 2,415,699,876
+----------------
Total | $13,220,678,876
-----------------------------------------------------+----------------

Adding to this $290,750,000 to represent the 11,870 miles of road not reporting to this Bureau at $25,000 per mile, we obtain

=$13,417,438,876=

as the cost of road and equipment of the 233,002 miles of line employed in the transportation industry of the United States in 1909, or

=$58,031 per mile of line.=

This is an underestimate by reason of the failure of a few lines to furnish even approximate figures on the accumulated cost of their properties. Averaging the cost of locomotives at $15,000, of passenger cars at $6,000, of freight cars at $800, and of company's cars at $500 apiece--their present cost rates much higher--the equipment of American railways represents an investment of over $3,000,000,000, and its bare maintenance alone involves an expenditure of nearly $400,000,000 annually.

PHYSICAL VALUATION OF THE RAILWAYS.

It is worthy of passing note that just as the railway companies have shown their indifference to a physical valuation of their property, the clamor of regulators and agitators in its favor has subsided. The proposal lost its attractiveness to them the moment they became convinced that such an investigation would put a valuation on the roads so high as to take not only the wind out of their sails but the last drop of water out of their mouths. To-day the only insistent demand for this futile undertaking comes from quarters interested in the distribution of the appropriation of several millions it would cost.

Credit for the reversal in the popular and political attitude on this subject is largely due to the valuations attempted by the states of Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin. The results in these states may be briefly summarized as follows:

===============================+========+==============+===============
| Miles |Capitalization| Valuation by
| of Line| per Mile |State, per Mile
-------------------------------+--------+--------------+---------------
Minnesota, 1907 | 7,596 | $44,206 | $54,201
| | |
Washington, 1908: | | |
Great Northern | 806 | 44,078 | 73,900
Northern Pacific | 942 | 70,278 | 106,500
Oregon R. R. & Navigation Co | 501 | 43,012 | 38,900
| | |
Wisconsin, 1906 | 7,135 | 33,424 | 34,630
-------------------------------+--------+--------------+---------------

Even Senator Albert B. Cummins of Iowa has seen such a bright light on this subject that in his speech before the Traffic Club of Chicago last February he said that he would not be willing to make a present valuation of railroad property a basis for determining rates, "for the reason that it was more than probable that the present capitalization of between fifteen and sixteen billions would be increased to twenty billions."

In the Bureau's Statistics for 1908 it was said:

"If the valuations in Minnesota and Washington, made by none too friendly commissions, are any criterions of what a national valuation made under presumably unbiased federal authority would be, the present cost to reproduce the railways of the United States would be nearer $20,000,000,000 than any sum within the anticipations of those agitating for such valuation."

CAPITALIZATION OF FOREIGN RAILWAYS.

With both sides of the balance sheet testifying to a capital investment in American railways of under $60,000, and official valuation abandoned _because it would demonstrate that they could not be reproduced for less than $80,000 per mile_, the reader is asked to compare the American figures with those of the capitalization, or cost of construction, of the principal foreign countries set forth below. These have been compiled from the latest available official returns.

SUMMARY OF RAILWAY CAPITALIZATION OF THE PRINCIPAL FOREIGN RAILWAYS FROM LATEST DATA.

======+===========================+==========+=================+=========
Year | Country | Miles of | Capital or Cost | Per
| | Line | of Construction | Mile
------+---------------------------+----------+-----------------+---------
|Europe: | | |
1908 | United Kingdom | 23,205 | $6,382,296,742 | $275,040
1908 | Germany | 35,558 | 3,903,848,400 | 109,788
1907 | Russia in Europe (excl- | | |
| usive of Finland) | 32,900 |(a)3,170,876,360 | 80,985
1907 | France |(b)24,730 | 3,447,366,000 | 139,390
1907 | Austria | 13,427 | 1,515,576,885 | 112,879
1907 | Hungary | 11,769 | 741,586,391 | 63,010
1907-8| Italy (State roads only) | 8,699 | 1,086,000,000 | 124,730
1905 | Spain (13 roads) | 6,840 | 583,632,000 | 85,327
1906 | Sweden | 7,938 | 257,408,450 | 32,427
1907 | Belgium (State only) | 2,537 | 430,800,000 | 169,806
1907 | Switzerland | 2,740 | 298,709,210 | 109,000
| | | |
|Other Countries: | | |
1909 | Canada | 24,104 | 1,608,990,656 | 66,752
1908 | British India | 30,576 | 1,364,669,375 | 44,632
1907 | Argentine Republic | 13,690 | 820,433,796 | 59,930
1908 | Japan | 4,444 | 190,173,728 | 42,800
1909 | United States of America | 233,002 | 13,508,711,173 | 57,976
------+---------------------------+----------+-----------------+---------

(a) Russian capitalization, including railways in Asia, covers a total
of 39,277 miles, from which the capital per mile is computed.

(b) This is exclusive of 4,259 miles of local interest.

The most striking feature in this table is the steady advance it shows in the capital cost of German railways. In ten years this has increased from 251,597 marks per kilometer in 1898 to 283,608 in 1908, _i. e._ 31,731 marks per kilometer or $12,282 per mile. This means an increase of $991,687,440 in capital cost for an increase of only 5,525 miles of line.

VI

OWNERSHIP OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS

Returns to this Bureau place the number of stockholders of record at the date of the last election of directors prior to June 30, 1909, of the 368 roads reporting at 320,696. As only 182,046 of the 221,132 miles operated by these roads was covered by the capital stock, this would show 1¾ stockholders for each mile of road and would indicate that there are at least 415,000 stockholders in all the railways of the United States. Owing to the incompleteness of the returns on this subject and the fact that large blocks of stock are held in the names of associations and trustees, it is safe to estimate that the actual ownership of railway stock is distributed among at least 440,000 persons.

In 1905 the Commission reported the number of stockholders of record prior to June 30, 1904, as 327,851, but has given no later figures. It may be of interest to compare these figures with the partial reports to this Bureau since then.

===================+=================+==============
Year | Number | Number of
| Reporting | Stockholders
-------------------+-----------------+--------------
1904 | 1,182 roads | 327,851
1906 | 284 " | 226,986
1907 | 317 " | 240,554
1908 | 315 " | 315,727
1909 | 340 " | 320,696
-------------------+-----------------+--------------

If the ownership of railway bonds, which is even more widely distributed than that of stocks, could be traced, it would be found that over a million investors are interested in the financial welfare of the railways. This would give to each an interest of $13,000, from which the average income is not over $520 a year.

The attempt of the Commission in 1908 to secure evidence that the control of the railways was concentrated in a few hands by calling for a statement of the "ten largest holders of voting securities" of the reporting companies having established that nowhere did they _own_ a majority or an approach to a majority of the controlling stock, inquiry along that line was dropped in 1909.

In railways, as in any republic, the latent power is widely distributed among the many, while the administrative responsibility is necessarily entrusted to the few.

VII

PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE RAILWAYS

It is the reproach of our system of government statistics of railways that their first concern is financial results, which the government takes no thought to improve, and the harrowing roll of accidents, and not the adequacy of the service and the steady development of the means of transportation. Every month, almost every week, the public is informed of the volume of traffic, and every quarter the record of casualties is told in sensational head lines. It is left for belated annual reports to record the public service of this great industry upon whose progressive efficiency every other industry in the United States depends.

It is not upon what the railways earn, but upon what they DO that the whole industrial fabric of the republic rests. It is not upon the dividends they pay but upon the traffic they carry, the net income withheld from dividends and put into improvements, that their success as carriers depends.

THE PASSENGER TRAFFIC.

In considering the public service of the railways it is customary to give first attention to the passenger traffic. This is not because it is the most important branch of the service but because passengers are numbered by millions, where thousands suffice in the enumeration of the shippers, who frequently mistake themselves for the entire American people.

In twenty years between June 1, 1889, and June 1, 1909, the population of the United States increased from 61,289,000 to 88,806,000, or nearly 45%. In the meantime the passenger cars provided by the railways increased from 24,586 to 46,026, or over 87%. But this does not measure the liberal provision made by the railway for the travelling public, which is more fully and accurately expressed by the amazing growth of the number of passengers carried one mile from 11,553,820,445 in 1889 to approximately 29,452,000,000 in 1909, or nearly 155%.

Here is shown an increase of cars not far short of double the increase in population and an increase in passengers carried proportionately greater than the numerical increase in cars.

In the meantime the average receipts of the traffic have declined from 2.165 cents per passenger mile in 1889 to 1.916 in 1909--a decline of over 11%, although every item involved in the service, locomotives, cars, track, stations, labor, etc., cost more. The passenger service, except as precursor to the freight service, and in certain densely populated sections, was unremunerative in 1889 and is more so now. It is maintained at the expense of the freight service by what the Railroad Commission of Wisconsin has characterized as "a species of piracy practiced upon the shippers of freight."

The salient features of the passenger service reported to this Bureau for the year 1909, as compared with the final official returns for the preceding year, are shown in the following statement:

======================================+================+================
Item | Bureau Figures |Official Figures
| 1909 | 1908
--------------------------------------+----------------+----------------
Miles of line represented | 221,132 | 230,494
Passengers carried. | 854,255,337 | 890,009,574
Passengers carried 1 mile | 28,788,855,000 | 29,082,836,944
Passenger revenue | $551,634,278 | $566,832,746
Mileage of passenger trains | 491,903,107 | 505,945,582
Average number of passengers in train | 58 | 54
Average cars to a train | 5.3 |
Passenger car miles | 2,594,508,987 | 2,705,659,994
Average passenger journey (miles) | 33.71 | 32.66
Average receipts per passenger mile | |
(cents) | 1.916 | 1.937
--------------------------------------+----------------+----------------

According to the monthly reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission covering an average of 233,002 miles of line, the passenger revenues in 1909 were $564,302,580, or $1,943,077 less than the above revenues for only 228,164 miles of line in 1908.

The average receipts per passenger mile in 1909 are the lowest ever reported for American railways.

Taken in connection with the official returns covering the period since 1900, the above figures afford evidence of the confiscatory effect of the 2-cent passenger laws on railway revenues, as appears from the following statement:

SUMMARY OF PASSENGER MILEAGE, REVENUE AND RECEIPTS PER PASSENGER MILE, 1900 TO 1909.

============+================+===========+==============+==========
| | Increase | |
| Passengers | Over | | Receipts
Year | Carried | Preceding | Passenger | per
| One Mile | Year | Revenue | Passenger
| |(Per Cent) | | Mile
------------+----------------+-----------+--------------+----------
1900 | 16,038,076,200 | | $323,715,639 | 2.003
1901 | 17,353,588,444 | 8.2 | 351,356,265 | 2.013
1902 | 19,689,937,620 | 13.4 | 392,963,248 | 1.986
1903 | 20,915,763,881 | 6.2 | 421,704,592 | 2.006
1904 | 21,923,213,536 | 4.8 | 444,326,991 | 2.006
1905 | 23,800,149,436 | 8.6 | 472,694,732 | 1.962
1906 | 25,167,240,831 | 5.7 | 510,032,583 | 2.003
1907 | 27,718,554,030 | 10.1 | 564,606,343 | 2.014
1908 | 29,082,836,944 | 4.9 | 566,245,657 | 1.937
1909 | 29,452,000,000 | 1.3 | 564,302,580 | 1.916
| | | |
Increase, | | | |
per cent | 83.7 | -- | 74.6 | --
------------+----------------+-----------+--------------+----------

Here it is shown that the passenger service rendered has increased 12% more than the passenger revenues. But more significant than this is the column of yearly increases in service by percentages. This utterly explodes the theory that passenger travel is greatly stimulated by low fares--aside from some positive incentive to increased travel, such as periodical expositions, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition for instance, the effect of which is clearly traceable in the increased service in 1905, which includes the heavy travel during the months of heavy attendance, July 1 to December 1, 1904.

The 2-cent passenger laws were passed so as to become generally effective July 1, 1907, and their effect on passenger receipts during the following year was such that these receipts were actually less in 1909 than in 1907, although the service performed by the railways was over 6% greater. Had the railways received the same rate in 1909 that they did in 1907 their revenue from passengers would have been nearly $29,000,000 more than it was.

PASSENGER TRAFFIC 1909-1888.

In the next statement the salient facts in regard to the passenger traffic since the Commission began collecting the data is passed under review.

======+==========+==========+=======+========+=======+=======+========
| | | | | | |Average
|Passengers|Passengers|Mileage|Average |Average|Pass. |Receipts
Year | Carried | Carried | Pass. | Pass. |Journey|Revenue| per
|(Millions)| One Mile | Trains|in Train| Miles |(Mill.)|Pass.
| |(Millions)|(Mill.)| | | |Mile
| | | | | | |(Cents)
------+----------+----------+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------
1909 | 888 | 29,452 | 507 | 58 | 33 | 504 | 1.916
1908 | 890 | 29,082 | 500 | 59 | 33 | 566 | 1.937
1907 | 873 | 27,718 | 509 | 51 | 32 | 564 | 2.014
1906 | 797 | 25,167 | 479 | 49 | 31 | 510 | 2.003
1905 | 738 | 23,800 | 459 | 48 | 32 | 472 | 1.962
1904 | 715 | 21,923 | 440 | 46 | 31 | 444 | 2.006
1903 | 694 | 20,915 | 425 | 46 | 30 | 421 | 2.006
1902 | 649 | 19,689 | 405 | 45 | 30 | 392 | 1.986
1901 | 607 | 17,353 | 385 | 42 | 29 | 351 | 2.013
1900 | 576 | 16,038 | 363 | 41 | 28 | 323 | 2.003
1899 | 523 | 14,591 | 347 | 41 | 28 | 291 | 1.978
1898 | 501 | 13,379 | 334 | 39 | 27 | 267 | 1.973
1897 | 489 | 12,256 | 335 | 37 | 25 | 251 | 2.022
1896 | 511 | 13,049 | 332 | 39 | 26 | 266 | 2.019
1895 | 507 | 12,188 | 317 | 38 | 24 | 252 | 2.040
1894 | 540 | 14,289 | 326 | 44 | 26 | 285 | 1.986
1893 | 593 | 14,229 | 335 | 42 | 24 | 301 | 2.108
1892 | 560 | 13,362 | 317 | 42 | 24 | 286 | 2.126
1891 | 531 | 12,844 | 308 | 42 | 24 | 281 | 2.142
1890 | 492 | 11,847 | 285 | 41 | 24 | 260 | 2.167
1889 | 472 | 11,553 | 277 | 42 | 25 | 254 | 2.199
1888 | 412 | 10,101 | 252 | 40 | 24 | 237 | 2.349
------+----------+----------+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------
Increase 1888 to | | | | | |
1907 115% | 191% | 101% | 45% | 38% | 138% |
Decrease | | | | | | 18.4
------+----------+----------+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------
The several increases shown in the first, second, third and sixth
columns of the table reflect the general advancement in passenger
traffic. That of 45% in the average passengers to a train marks the
progress in density of that traffic which may eventually place it
on a profitable basis. In Massachusetts, where this density yields
an average of 79 passengers to a train there is no demand for a
two-cent rate statute, for the conditions have made a rate of 1.64
cents profitable. In the group of states consisting of Ohio, Indiana,
Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, where the density
of traffic yields only 46 passengers by train, a statutory two-cent
fare becomes confiscatory because it costs at least one dollar to
operate a passenger train one mile and 46 times two cents is only
92 cents. Moreover the 46 passengers per train is only an average
and there are as many trains that average less as more. The average
has to be raised above 50 to yield any margin of profit on passenger
traffic. If it were not for the density of traffic in the New England
and North Atlantic group of states the average for the entire United
States would be well below 46 passengers per train.

The steady increase in the distance traveled per passenger reflects the effect of trolley competition in diverting the short haul passenger traffic.

The most noteworthy feature of the seventh column is the decline of 98/1000ths of a cent in the average receipts per passenger mile between 1907 and 1909, making a new low record after hovering around the two cent mark for fourteen years. As noted above, this reduction in the average cost the railways nearly $29,000,000 on the passenger traffic of 1909.

In this connection it is interesting to recall that between 1888 and 1893 the Official Statistician, then as now Professor Adams, made the following computation of the average cost of carrying one passenger one mile for the whole United States:

============================+======+======+======+======+======+======
| 1888 | 1889 | 1890 | 1891 | 1892 | 1893
----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------
Average cost of carrying a | | | | | |
passenger one mile, cents | 2.042| 1.993| 1.917| 1.910| 1.939| 1.955
----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------

It will be observed that the average receipts per passenger mile in 1909 are below the computed cost in every one of the years above named, except 1891. When the advance in the cost of everything necessary to the service--track, labor, equipment, conveniences, speed, terminal facilities--is considered, the practical coincidence of average cost and receipts leaves no margin for legitimate profits.

RECEIPTS FROM MAIL AND EXPRESS.

Closely associated with the passenger traffic of the railways are the mail and express services. Although principally carried by passenger trains, each has a special service of its own by mail and express trains. But all are included under the passenger service. The receipts from these two branches of the service during the last decade are shown in the following statement:

SUMMARY OF RECEIPTS FROM MAIL AND EXPRESS, 1899 TO 1908.

====================+=====================+=====================
| Mail | Express
+------------+--------+---------------------
Year | Revenues |Percent-| Revenues |Percent-
| | age of | |age of
| |Earnings| |Earnings
--------------------+------------+--------+------------+--------
1899 |$35,999,011 | 2.74 |$26,756,054 | 2.04
1900 | 37,752,474 | 2.54 | 28,416,150 | 1.91
1901 | 38,453,602 | 2.42 | 31,121,613 | 1.96
1902 | 39,963,248 | 2.31 | 34,253,459 | 2.07
1903 | 41,709,396 | 2.19 | 38,331,964 | 1.98
1904 | 44,499,732 | 2.25 | 41,875,636 | 2.12
1905 | 45,426,125 | 2.18 | 45,149,155 | 2.17
1906 | 47,371,453 | 2.04 | 51,010,930 | 2.19
1907 | 50,378,964 | 1.94 | 57,332,931 | 2.21
1908 | 48,517,563 | 2.03 | 58,602,091 | 2.45
1909 | 50,935,000 | 2.08 | 63,669,000 | 2.60
| | | |
Increase, per cent | 41.5 | -- | 138.0 | --
--------------------+------------+--------+------------+--------

Aside from the striking contrast in the percentages of increase of revenues from these two sources, the most significant feature of this table is the reversal it shows in their respective importance from the railway revenue point of view. Prior to 1905, carrying the mails brought larger, if not more profitable, returns to the railways. Since then the returns from express have increased so much more rapidly that they are now nearly 23% more than those from mails.

If proof were needed of the absolute falsity of the charge that the railways are receiving an exorbitant rate for carrying mail, the above table of their receipts from the service in connection with the following statement of mail handled and revenues in view of the finding of the Joint Commission of Congress in 1899 would furnish it. After a thorough investigation of the subject lasting from August, 1898, to July, 1900, the Commission came to the following conclusion:

"Upon a careful consideration of all the evidence and the statements and arguments submitted, and in view of all the services rendered by the railroads, we are of the opinion that the prices now paid to the railroad companies for the transportation of the mails are not excessive, and recommend that no reduction thereof be made at this time."

The increase in the railroad service since this report was made is shown in the following statement of miles of mail transportation by railroads, the postal revenues and the number of clerks in the railway mail service since 1899:

===============================+==============+=============+=========
| Annual | |
|Transportation| |Number of
| of Mail | Postal | Railway
| by Railroads | Revenues | Mail
| (Miles) | | Clerks
-------------------------------+--------------+-------------+---------
1899 | 287,591,269 | $95,021,384 | 8,388
1900 | 297,256,303 | 102,354,579 | 8,695
1901 | 302,613,325 | 111,631,193 | 9,105
1902 | 312,521,478 | 121,848,047 | 9,627
1903 | 333,491,684 | 134,224,443 | 10,418
1904 | 353,038,397 | 143,582,624 | 11,621
1905 | 362,645,731 | 152,826,585 | 12,474
1906 | 371,661,071 | 167,932,783 | 13,598
1907 | 387,557,165 | 183,585,006 | 14,357
1908 | 407,799,039 | 191,478,663 | 15,295
1909 | | 203,562,383 | 15,866
| | |
Increase in 10 years, per cent | 50.5 | 124.7 | 89.1
-------------------------------+--------------+-------------+---------

Compared with the increase of only 41.5% in the revenues from mail received by the railways during the same period, each one of the above percentages testifies to a positive reduction in the rate received by the railways for the service. And if the increase in weight of mail carried in 1909 were known, the contrast between the service and the pay would be more striking. In 1899 the total weight of all mail was reported as 635,180,362 pounds. In 1907 the estimates made from the special weighing placed the weight of mail carried that year at 1,290,358,284 pounds, or an increase of nearly 105% in eight years. By reference to the above table it will be seen that the railway revenues from mail between 1899 and 1907 increased only 40%. The contrast is illuminating. In its light the charge that the railways are in any way responsible for the postal deficit is grotesque.

FREIGHT TRAFFIC

According to the monthly returns to the Interstate Commerce Commission, the proportion of revenues from freight of the railways of the United States to total earnings from operation, for the years 1908 and 1909, receded to the unusually low figures of 68.51% and 68.88% respectively. The official summary for 1908, based on the annual returns, shows a proportion of 69.17% for that year, which probably is nearer the mark.

The annual reports to this Bureau for 1909 yield a proportion of 69.18% for last year.

Accepting this proportion taken from the annual returns as being based on the same character of reports as those from which former ratios were derived, the preponderance of freight traffic is shown in bold relief in the following statement of the ratio of its revenues to total earnings from operation, 1899 to 1909:

===========+=================
| Proportion of
| Freight Revenues
Year | to Total
| Earnings
-----------+-----------------
1899 | 69.55%
1900 | 70.56%
1901 | 70.41%
1902 | 69.93%
1903 | 70.39%
1904 | 69.82%
1905 | 69.67%
1906 | 70.54%
1907 | 70.44%
1908 | 69.17%
1909 | 69.18%
-----------+-----------------

The average proportion for the nine years preceding 1908 is seen to be slightly above 70%, and the fact that it was almost one point below 70% in 1908 and 1909 indicates that it was the freight traffic that bore the brunt of the business depression which curtailed railway revenues during those years.

In no other of the leading countries of the world does the freight traffic assume the overwhelming relative proportion that it does in the United States. In the United Kingdom it amounts to 50.35%; in France to 53.64%; and in Germany, including express and mail, to 65%. If these were classed with freight in the United States, it would raise the proportion for that traffic here to over 74%.

FREIGHT TRAFFIC 1909 AND 1908.

The next statement presents the significant items of the freight traffic in 1909 for the roads reporting to this Bureau compared with those of the final official returns for the preceding year.

================================+=================+================
| |
Item | 1909 | 1908
| Bureau Figures |Official Figures
--------------------------------+-----------------+----------------
Miles operated | 221,132 | 230,494
Number of tons carried | 1,441,012,426 | 1,532,981,790
Tons carried 1 mile | 217,756,776,000 | 218,381,554,802
Freight revenue | $1,643,028,564 | $1,655,419,108
Mileage of freight trains | 560,602,557 | 587,218,454
Number of cars in train | 29.7 | 28.3
Average number of tons in train | 388 | 351.80
Average haul per ton (miles) | 151.1 | 143.83
Average receipts per ton mile | |
(mills) | 7.54 | 7.54
--------------------------------+-----------------+----------------

Experience has shown that in comparing these statements of averages for passenger and freight traffic, allowance has to be made for the fact that the Bureau's figures include all the great systems and are exclusive of some 13,000 miles of minor lines. It is difficult to estimate the effect of these discrepancies with anything like exactness. But complete returns invariably show a shorter mean haul and journey for the entire country than the Bureau's figures indicate and also a less train load of passengers and freight, the result being a slightly higher average for passenger and freight ton receipts per mile.

Last year from its returns the Bureau computed the passenger mile receipts at 1.933 cents and the ton mile receipts at 7.53 mills. The Commission's final figures were 1.937 cents and 7.54 mills respectively.

FREIGHT TRAFFIC 1909 TO 1888.

In the next summary is presented a condensed statement of the significant data relating to the freight traffic for the twenty-two years that the Commission has been compiling statistics.

SUMMARY OF TONS CARRIED, TON MILEAGE, MILEAGE OF FREIGHT TRAINS, AVERAGE TONS IN TRAIN, FREIGHT REVENUES AND AVERAGE RECEIPTS PER TON MILE.

=====+==========+==========+========+=======+========+========+========
| | Tons |Mileage | | Average| |Receipts
| Tons | Carried |Freight |Average|Haul per|Freight |per Ton
Year | Carried | One Mile |Trains |Tons in| Ton |Revenue | Mile
|(Millions)|(Millions)|(Mill.) | Train |(Miles) |(Mill.) |(Cents)
-----+----------+----------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
1909 |(a)1,486 | 222,900 | 579 | 388 | 151 | $1,682 | .755
1908 | 1,532 | 218,381 | 597 | 360 | 143 | 1,655 | .754
1907 | 1,796 | 236,601 | 629 | 357 | 131 | 1,823 | .759
1906 | 1,631 | 215,877 | 594 | 344 | 132 | 1,640 | .748
1905 | 1,427 | 186,463 | 546 | 322 | 130 | 1,450 | .766
1904 | 1,309 | 174,522 | 535 | 307 | 133 | 1,379 | .780
1903 | 1,304 | 173,221 | 526 | 310 | 132 | 1,338 | .763
1902 | 1,200 | 157,289 | 499 | 296 | 131 | 1,207 | .757
1901 | 1,089 | 147,077 | 491 | 281 | 135 | 1,118 | .750
1900 | 1,081 | 141,596 | 492 | 270 | 130 | 1,049 | .729
1899 | 943 | 123,667 |(b)507 | 243 | 131 | 913 | .724
1898 | 863 | 114,077 | 503 | 226 | 132 | 876 | .753
1897 | 728 | 95,139 | 464 | 204 | 130 | 772 | .798
1896 | 765 | 95,328 | 479 | 198 | 124 | 786 | .806
1895 | 696 | 85,227 | 449 | 189 | 122 | 729 | .839
1894 | 638 | 80,335 | 446 | 179 | 125 | 699 | .860
1893 | 745 | 93,588 | 508 | 183 | 125 | 829 | .878
1892 | 706 | 88,241 | 485 | 181 | 124 | 799 | .898
1891 | 675 | 81,073 | 446 | 181 | 120 | 736 | .895
1890 | 636 | 76,207 | 435 | 175 | 119 | 714 | .941
1889 | 539 | 68,727 | 383 | 179 | 127 | 644 | .922
1888 | 480 | 61,329 | 348 | 176 | 128 | 613 | 1.001
+----------+----------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
Increase 1888 to| | | | | |
1909 209% | 263% | 66% | 120% | 18% | 174% |
=Decrease= | | | | | | =24.0=%
----------------+----------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------

(a) Figures for 1909 computed on basis of returns to this Bureau.

(b) Includes 75% of mixed train mileage, that being the practice prior
to 1900.

Mark the one column which shows a decrease. This means a remission of almost exactly a quarter of a cent per ton mile in the average receipts from freight. On the tonnage carried in 1909 it meant a saving of over $540,000,000 to the shippers. In the presence of the present high price of everything carried by the railways, there is no ground for assuming that any portion of this half billion dollars withheld from the railways ever reached the ultimate consumer. On the contrary the presumption is unavoidable that it has been absorbed by the shippers and consignors, whose profits are greater than ever.

PROPORTION OF COMMODITIES MOVED 1899-1909.

Referring to the movement of different classes of commodities in his report for 1904, the Official Statistician said: "A slight change in the ratio of freight carried for any one of the classes named may have decided results, not only upon the earnings of the roads, _but upon the average rate per ton mile_." But without knowing the length of the haul of the respective classes, any estimate of the effect of such variation must be largely speculative.

In 1909, for the first time the Bureau undertook to collect the information as to the tonnage of the main divisions of commodities carried. Its inquiries were limited to the tonnage originating on the several roads, and the next statement presents the results in comparison with the official figures for 1907, which are the last available:

TONNAGE AND PROPORTION OF DIFFERENT CLASSES OF COMMODITIES MOVED 1909 AND 1907.

=======================+=======================+=======================
| 1909 | 1907
+-------------+---------+-------------+---------
Class of Commodity | Tonnage | | Tonnage |
| Reported as |Per Cent | Reported as |Per Cent
| Originating | of | Originating | of
| on Line |Aggregate| on Line |Aggregate
-----------------------+-------------+---------+-------------+---------
Products of agriculture| 76,955,131 | 9.49 | 77,030,071 | 8.62
Products of animals | 21,807,486 | 2.69 | 20,473,486 | 2.29
Products of mines | 449,938,248 | 55.50 | 476,899,638 | 53.39
Products of forests | 83,679,179 | 10.33 | 101,617,724 | 11.38
| | | |
Manufactures | 109,625,669 | 13.52 | 137,621,443 | 15.41
Merchandise | 35,500,833 | 4.38 | 34,718,487 | 3.89
Miscellaneous | 33,318,272 | 4.09 | 44,824,123 | 5.02
+-------------+---------+-------------+---------
Total | 810,784,818 | 100.00 | 893,184,972 | 100.00
-----------------------+-------------+---------+-------------+---------

NOTE.--These tables fail to include nearly 200,000,000 tons unassigned.

The most significant feature of this statement is the marked decrease, absolutely and relatively, in the tonnage of manufactures carried. Great as was the decrease in the tonnage of animals carried there was an increase relatively.

The next statement shows the percentages of commodity tonnage moved since the Commission has compiled the information divided between low and high rate freight.

SUMMARY SHOWING PERCENTAGE OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC MOVEMENT BY CLASSES OF COMMODITIES, 1907 TO 1899.

Table headings:
Col A: Products of Agriculture
Col B: Animals
Col C: Mines
Col D: Forest
Col E: Total
Col F: Manufactures
Col G: Merchandise
Col H: Miscellaneous
Col I: Total

=====+======================================+============================
| Low Rate Freight | High Rate Freight
| Percentage of Aggregate | Percentage of Aggregate
Year +-------+------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+------+------
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I
-----+-------+------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+------+------
1899 | 11.33 | 3.12 | 51.47 | 10.89 | 76.81 | 13.45 | 4.49 | 5.25 | 23.19
1900 | 10.35 | 2.87 | 52.59 | 11.61 | 77.42 | 13.41 | 4.26 | 4.91 | 22.58
1901 | 10.76 | 2.91 | 51.67 | 11.67 | 77.01 | 13.75 | 4.16 | 5.08 | 22.99
1902 | 9.23 | 2.64 | 52.36 | 11.64 | 75.87 | 14.49 | 4.37 | 5.27 | 24.13
1903 | 9.56 | 2.63 | 51.56 | 11.67 | 75.42 | 14.39 | 4.69 | 5.50 | 24.58
1904 | 9.59 | 2.74 | 51.56 | 12.53 | 76.42 | 13.41 | 4.83 | 5.34 | 23.58
1905 | 9.03 | 2.54 | 53.59 | 11.24 | 76.40 | 13.60 | 4.32 | 5.68 | 23.60
1906 | 8.56 | 2.32 | 53.09 | 11.24 | 75.21 | 14.81 | 4.06 | 5.92 | 24.79
1907 | 8.62 | 2.29 | 53.39 | 11.38 | 75.68 | 15.41 | 3.89 | 5.02 | 24.32
1908 | 8.74 | 2.46 | 55.72 | 11.35 | 78.27 | 13.15 | 4.04 | 4.54 | 21.73
1909 | 9.49 | 2.69 | 55.50 | 10.33 | 78.01 | 13.52 | 4.38 | 4.09 | 21.99
-----+-------+------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+------+------

It will be observed that the percentage of low rate freight carried in 1909 was greater than for any other year covered by these statistics. This was due more to the falling off in manufactures and miscellaneous freight than to any increased movement of low class freight.

CAR SERVICE OPERATIONS.

What the Department of Commerce and Labor calls "a convenient index to the traffic activities of the country" is found in the following comparative statement of cars handled by the various car service associations and demurrage bureaus, 1905-1909.

NUMBER OF CARS HANDLED BY 36 CAR SERVICE ASSOCIATIONS AND DEMURRAGE BUREAUS DURING TWELVE MONTHS ENDING DECEMBER, 1905-1909.

==========================+=====================================
| Twelve Months Ending December
+------------+------------+-----------
Names of Associations and | | |
Bureaus | 1905 | 1906 | 1907
--------------------------+------------+------------+-----------
Alabama | 752,982 | 744,548 | 779,402
Central New York | 611,601 | 654,861 | 753,269
Central (St. Louis) | 863,788 | 908,096 | 919,130
Chicago | 2,166,910 | 2,251,763 | 2,282,191
Cincinnati | 675,117 | 748,763 | 771,990
| | |
Cleveland (a) | 640,364 | 796,687 | 1,016,003
Colorado | 425,140 | 455,540 | 445,900
Columbus | 394,152 | 443,638 | 469,773
East Tennessee | 320,855 | 358,733 | 388,066
Indiana | 912,827 | 962,941 | 1,104,855
| | |
Intermountain | 116,533 | 158,231 | 184,577
Lake Superior | 332,633 | 371,312 | 415,642
Louisville Car | 495,095 | 541,945 | 506,528
Memphis | 235,569 | 258,316 | 255,169
Michigan | 687,428 | 766,950 | 838,928
| | |
Missabe Range | 30,241 | 37,613 | 42,786
Missouri Valley | 1,538,087 | 1,665,882 | 1,910,139
Nashville | 300,602 | 336,110 | 351,572
New York and New Jersey | 997,304 | 1,100,067 | 1,409,161
North Carolina | 357,474 | 374,710 | 407,257
| | |
Northeastern Pennsylvania | 802,072 | 836,443 | 917,936
Northern | 1,467,041 | 1,722,345 | 1,736,981
Pacific | 761,382 | 972,398 | 1,166,886
Pacific Northwest | 647,726 | 727,474 | 888,093
Philadelphia | 2,056,744 | 2,218,755 | 2,326,723
| | |
Pittsburg | 3,375,530 | 3,295,463 | 2,935,299
Southeastern | 813,444 | 862,379 | 853,720
Southern | 273,273 | 301,273 | 492,914
Texas | 932,992 | 977,630 | 986,475
Toledo | 262,875 | 312,329 | 530,617
| | |
Virginia and West Virginia| 818,915 | 866,861 | 893,905
Western New York | 812,409 | 881,640 | 986,962
Western (Omaha) | 622,868 | 718,872 | 770,470
Wisconsin | 1,157,036 | 1,119,326 | 1,118,720
+------------+------------+-----------
Total reported by 34 | | |
associations and | | |
bureaus (b) | 27,659,009 | 29,749,894 | 31,858,039
+------------+------------+------------
Baltimore and Washington | | |
Demurrage Bureau | (c)721,428 | (c)740,903 | (c)735,103
| | |
Illinois and Iowa | | |
Demurrage Bureau | (d) | 3,054,315 | 3,258,770
--------------------------+-------------------------+------------