The following table gives the length of railroad line and track in this Commonwealth on December 31, 1918, as compared with the previous year:

Railroad Mileage in Massachusetts, December 31, 1917 and 1918.

The total length of railroad line owned by the Massachusetts companies in and out of the Commonwealth is 4,254.711 miles; and the total length of railroad track so owned is 9,258.884 miles. The miles of main and branch line, of second, third and fourth main track, and of side track, owned December 31, 1918, and the increase over the previous year, are stated in the following table:

Mileage Owned by Reporting Companies, December 31, 1917 and 1918.

1 Includes 18.09 miles of electric street railway.

2 Includes .61 of a mile of fifth track and .54 of a mile of sixth track.

a Includes .94 of a mile of electric street railway.

4 Includes 19.03 miles of electric street railway track.

• Decrease.

Mileage Operated.

The length of railroad line operated by the Massachusetts companies, within and without the Commonwealth, including roads operated under lease or contract as well as roads owned, is 5,164.14 miles, and the total length of track so operated is 10,740.503 miles, as shown in detail, with the increase over the previous year, in the next table:

Mileage Operated by Reporting Companies, December 31, 1917 and 1918.

Miles of Railroads Owned and Operated December 31, 1918.

COMPARATIVE GENERAL BALANCE SHEET.

In any examination for purposes of comparison between the report here following and reports prior to 1914, it must be distinctly understood that by reason of the adoption by the Commission, under authority of law, of the form of return prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission, the return now adopted differs substantially in principle from the return formerly in use under authority of the Commission. The assets and liabilities in the comparative general balance sheet of the companies, as returned December 31, 1918, have been tabulated and the increase or decrease in each class, as compared with 1917, appear in the two following tables:

CAPITAL STOCK AND DIVIDENDS.

The aggregate capital stock December 31, 1918 (not including the premiums on sale of capital stock as returned in the form of return), of the thirty-two corporations making returns was $309,477,815.70.

The total amount of dividends declared during the year was $7,263,502, a decrease of $32,038 from the previous year. Nineteen corporations declared dividends varying in rate from 24 to 14 per cent; the following table gives the name of the dividend-paying companies, the rate per cent, and amount of dividend declared:

The amount of capital stock of the nineteen dividendpaying companies was $102,018,025,2 on which the average rate of dividend was 7.12 per cent.

The following table gives the total capital stock outstanding at the end of the year; the net income available for dividends (after paying all expenses, interest, taxes, rentals and other charges); the amount of dividends declared; and the average percentage of dividends to total capital stock, for each of the last ten years:

1 Preferred stock only.

* Including common stock on which, in the case of two of these companies, no dividend was paid.

Capital Stock, Net Income and Dividends, 1909-1918.

1 Appropriations for additions, betterments and reserves deducted.
2 Year ended December 31.

FUNDED DERT.

The aggregate funded debt of the companies December 31, 1918 (not including "non-negotiable debt to affiliated companies" as returned in the form of return), was $359,208,791.50, an increase of $7,395,000 over the previous year, resulting from an addition and deductions as follows: