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utive Departments of the Government; to State railroad commissioners, and to foreign governments.

Of the proceedings of the general conference of railroad commissioners, the purpose and nature of which are elsewhere alluded to in this report, there were published some 3,000 copies, which were sent to the State railroad commissioners; to the principal officers of railway companies of the country, including the accounting and auditing officers, as the proceedings related in a measure to the methods adopted by the railroads in keeping their accounts and to the making of financial reports to the Commission, in accordance with section 20 of the Act to regulate commerce.

Early in 1889 the Commission caused to be prepared and published an edition of 10,000 copies of the first statistical report, entitled "Statistics of Railways in the United States." This is a volume of 390 pages, prepared under the immediate supervision of the statistician of the Commission, compiled from reports of railway companies pursuant to the provisions of section 20 of the Act to regulate commerce.

This report, which is further alluded to elsewhere herein, was distributed as follows:

The public libraries of the country, newspapers, railway journals, boards of trade, the principal officers of railroads; to the Executive Departments of the Government, United States Senators and Representatives, judges of United States courts, agricultural societies, State railroad commissioners and other officials, and to many others who have applied for copies.

The above distribution of reports and proceedings of the Commission was made with the purpose of carrying out the evident intention of Congress in this behalf as indicated in the provisions of the Act to regulate commerce, and manifestly has been of great value in familiarizing carriers subject to the Act and shippers and the public generally with the law and the principles of justice and fair dealing which it intended should be applied to transportation.

Circulars and other documents have been sent out as follows:

Circular of January 31, inviting a general conference of railroad commissioners.

Circular of March 23, relating to amendment of the Act.
Circular of April 1, relating to automatic car couplers.
Circular of April 10, relating to telegraph.

Circular of May 17, relating to Federal regulation of
safety appliances.

Two circulars of June 17, relating to free cartage and trackage facilities.

Two circulars of August 1, relating to relations between
railway corporations and their employees.

Act to regulate commerce as amended.
Amended and revised rules of practice.

Reports and opinions in cases before the Commission. The total number of reports and other documents distributed during the year is over 90,000 copies.

STATISTICAL WORK OF THE COMMISSION.

The statistical work of the Commission for the year ending June 30, 1888, is fully explained in the report of Statistician Adams, which was published by the Commission some months since. In that report the statistician says of the information called for from the railroad companies that it may be classified under four general heads: First, questions are asked respecting the corporate history of the several roads and their organization for purposes of operation; second, returns are required bearing on the financial standing of railway corporations, whether they be operating or subsidiary corporations; third, what may be termed "statistics of operation" are demanded; fourth, statistics pertaining to the physical characteristics of roads are made the subject of inquiry. The object of the inquiry thus indicated may be easily perceived. The railway problem is one that presents itself in many phases, but at the present time there are two questions of more importance than all others. The first of these pertains to fair, uniform, and steady rates between the railways and the public for service rendered, the second, to the number and situation of new lines that can be economically constructed.

For neither of these questions is there as yet any absolute answer. General principles, it is true, may be laid down, but

in the application of those principles accurate and detailed knowledge of conditions is essential, and the nature of the knowledge required is, as will be readily admitted, such as may be gained by the questions outlined in the form which is sent out for the annual corporate returns. The report shows in detail how far the call has been successful in obtaining the information desired, and explains some of the difficulties in the way of making it complete and accurate. The chief of these relate to the cost and value of railroad property, franchises, and equipment, and the statistician says that for reasons which he gives there is some plausible ground for saying that satisfactory and conclusive information respecting the cost of railways in the United States cannot be obtained. The chief difficulty in the way arises from the fact that reliable record evidence upon these points was in many cases never made and in some cases, after being made, has been lost or destroyed.

Five tables are appended to the statistician's report. The first table shows the length of line owned by each railroad company, the length of time operated, and whether operated by the company owning or by some other. In a preliminary report given in the second annual report of the Commission the total railroad mileage of the United States was given at 152,781. Those figures were the result of an estimate based upon publications by private statisticians. This proved to be an over-estimate. The statistician gives as sources of over-estimation in railway mileage the following: Mileage may be easily multiplied in case a line or part of a line is used jointly or owned jointly by two or more operating companies; roadways lying partly out of the country, in Canada or Mexico, may be returned as roadways within the country; lines once operated but abandoned, as lumber roads, quarry roads, etc., may continue to be counted after they have. ceased to form part of the country's railway system; street railways, operated in connection with steam railways, may be included in total mileage. A careful sifting of the returns received and of such other evidence as was found available, fixes the total railway mileage in the United States, on June 30, 1888, at 149,901.72. The whole number of corporations

owning railroads is given at 1,488. Of these 795 actually operate roads; the others are called in the report subsidiary roads, their lines being operated by other companies as lessees or otherwise.

Of the aggregate mileage above given 10,799.89 was obtained from what are designated as unofficial sources; in other words, from sources other than returns made to the Commission. For the most part, reports of the State railway commissioners supplied the information. It must be expected that there will always be difficulty in obtaining complete and accurate statistical information, so long as corporations owning lines which are entirely within single States do not recognize an obligation to make returns. It should be said for such corporations that they have in general responded to the call of the Commission, and have claimed no exemption; but in many cases, as will be apparent from the figures given, response has not been obtained.

The second table appended to the report gives the amount of railway capital at the close of the year ending June 30, 1888, under the three heads of stocks, funded debt, and current liabilities. The amount of stocks is given at $3,864,468,055; of funded debt, $3,869,216,365; and of current liabilities, $396,103,311. This makes a total of $8,129,787,731, being $59,392 per mile of road. But this is for 136,883.53 miles of line only.

The third table gives a summary of earnings and income for the same number of miles operated. The amount for passenger service is stated at $277,339,150, which was 30.46 per cent. of the whole; from freight service, $613,290,679, or 67.35 per cent. of the whole; other earnings, $19,991,391, or 2.19 per cent. of the whole. The total earnings from operation were $910,621,220. The income from other sources, excluding credits sold, was $89,506,471, making total income for the year $1,000,214,691.

In a fourth table is given a summary of expenditures for the year. From this it appears that there was paid for maintenance of way and structures, $131,447,859; for maintenance of equipment, $101,659,972; for conducting transportation, $299,049,713; for general expenses, $55,601,045; not classi

fied, $4,245,067; making total operating expenses $594,994,656. For fixed charges there was paid $285,492,433. Total expenditures, $880,487,089.

From tables 3 and 4 the following comparative summary of results was deduced:

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Average cost of carrying 1 ton of freight 1 mile.........

.630

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Average cost per train mile of all trains earning revenue...
Percentage of operating expenses to operating income.......

96.050

65.340

The impossibility of thus apportioning revenue and expenses with entire accuracy is well understood, but the above is probably as near an approach to accuracy as is attainable.

A fifth table gives a statement of payments on railway capital for the year, from which it appears that upon $2,374,200,906 of stock no dividend was paid, and upon the remainder there was paid as follows: Upon $4,818,626, less than 1 per cent.; upon $90,805,607, from 1 to 2 per cent.; upon $46,775,644, from 2 to 3 per cent.; upon $34,079,425, from 3 to 4 per cent.; upon $318,690,245, from 4 to 5 per cent.; upon $301,681,511, from 5 to 6 per cent.; upon $264,402,331, from 6 to 7 per cent.; upon $295,755,706, from 7 to 8 per cent.; upon $76,473,650, from 8 to 9 per cent.; upon $4,209,510, from 9 to 10 per cent.; upon $48,459,100, from 10 to 11 per cent.; and upon $4,006,800, 11 per cent. or over. Interest payments were made on 78.31 per cent. of the bonds, and none on 21.69 per cent.

The theory of a sixth table, which shall give a cash statement of financial operations for the year, and which may be regarded as the culmination of the plan to which all the other tables conform, is also presented, but it was found not possible to give the table itself in this first report. The abstract above given will be sufficient to show that the statistical work of the Commission has been satisfactorily begun;

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