| 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
--------------------------+-------------------------+------------
{table continued}
===================================================
| Twelve Months Ending
| December
+------------+-----------
Names of Associations and | |
Bureaus | 1908 | 1909
--------------------------+------------+-----------
Alabama | 631,487 | 700,393
Central New York | 738,054 | 804,419
Central (St. Louis) | 838,017 | 1,001,136
Chicago | 2,161,767 | 2,790,801
Cincinnati | 635,365 | 712,145
| |
Cleveland (a) | 715,764 | 843,609
Colorado | 385,260 | 428,760
Columbus | 363,130 | 401,696
East Tennessee | 293,597 | 330,055
Indiana | 1,077,786 | 1,211,793
| |
Intermountain | 153,885 | 201,077
Lake Superior | 338,109 | 370,490
Louisville Car | 518,955 | 565,748
Memphis | 239,156 | 224,648
Michigan | 696,926 | 859,812
| |
Missabe Range | 42,930 | 54,934
Missouri Valley | 1,606,758 | 1,863,052
Nashville | 326,385 | 337,234
New York and New Jersey | 1,248,609 | 1,416,831
North Carolina | 404,334 | 445,398
| |
Northeastern Pennsylvania | 633,655 | 594,231
Northern | 1,515,706 | 1,636,588
Pacific | 1,147,345 | 1,390,948
Pacific Northwest | 845,405 | 987,115
Philadelphia | 1,921,142 | 2,508,204
| |
Pittsburg | 1,977,891 | 2,807,256
Southeastern | 823,948 | 981,737
Southern | 513,437 | 649,384
Texas | 1,118,622 | 1,302,211
Toledo | 383,870 | 492,127
| |
Virginia and West Virgini | 778,940 | 942,231
Western New York | 806,488 | 931,185
Western (Omaha) | 733,346 | 775,828
Wisconsin | 1,022,270 | 1,006,050
+------------+-----------
Total reported by 34 | |
associations and | |
bureaus (b) | 27,638,339 | 32,569,156
+------------+-----------
Baltimore and Washington | |
Demurrage Bureau | 588,930 | 672,954
| |
Illinois and Iowa | |
Demurrage Bureau | (d) | 3,561,740
---------------------------------------+-----------
(a) Cleveland reported 10,016 lake coal cars for December, 1909.
(b) The Butte Terminal Association was superseded by the Montana
Demurrage Bureau in May, 1908. The returns of the new bureau for
the twelve months ending December, is 448,381 cars.
(c) Figures apply to larger territory; change and revision of 1907,
1908 and 1909 figures made October 1, 1909.
(d) Not reported.
VIII
EARNINGS AND EXPENSES
Having in the preceding pages given the facts as to the provision
made by the railways for fulfilling their obligations as common
carriers, it is now in order to present a brief review of their
receipts and expenditures in relation to their public service.
For the second successive year the Bureau has to warn the reader that
innovations in the forms of keeping railway accounts prescribed by
the Commission preclude the making of strictly accurate comparisons
of the returns for 1909 with those of any preceding year. In
submitting its report for 1908 the Commission made the following
explanation:
"A number of important changes have been made in the annual report
forms for 1908, particularly in the grouping of certain items in
connection with the Income Account and the Profit and Loss Account.
The figures which follow do not include returns applying to carriers
classed as switching and terminal. 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 contained in previous
statistical reports."
In the comparative Income Account below, which aims to present the
situation as it would result from the actual operations had such
operations been conducted by a single corporation, the Bureau has
sought to make the returns for 1908 and 1909 conform as nearly as
possible to "previous statistical reports." It should be premised,
however, that the official figures for 1908 exclude the returns from
switching and terminal companies, whereas the Bureau's figures for
1909 include some portion of these returns, which are as much an
integral part of the transportation service of American railways as
any they perform. The official figures for 1908 do not correspond
absolutely to the preliminary figures for the same year compiled from
the monthly reports as reviewed in the Introduction to this report.
With this by way of explanation, the comparative Income Account for
the years 1909 and 1908 is submitted:
COMPARATIVE INCOME ACCOUNT OF THE RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES
CONSIDERED AS A SYSTEM FOR THE YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1909 AND 1908.
======================================================================
| Amount
Item |
| 1909 | 1908
| (221,132 miles | (230,002 miles
| operated) | operated)
---------------------------------+-------------------+----------------
Passenger revenue | $ 551,634,278 | $ 566,832,746
Mail revenue | 49,508,972 | 48,517,563
Express revenue | 61,883,695 | 58,692,091
Freight revenue | 1,643,028,564 | 1,655,419,108
Other earnings from operation | 69,086,257 | 64,344,481
+-------------------+----------------
Gross earnings from operation | $2,375,141,766 | $2,393,805,989
| |
Operating expenses | $1,568,111,272 | $1,669,547,876
Taxes | 82,650,214 | 78,673,794
+-------------------+----------------
Total | $1,650,761,486 | $1,748,221,670
+-------------------+----------------
Net earnings from operation | 724,380,280 | 645,584,310
Net revenue from outside | |
operations | 5,410,338 | 5,977,268
| |
Operating income | $ 729,790,618 | $ 651,561,587
| |
Disposition: | |
Net interest on funded debt | $ 293,338,105 | $ 282,354,001
Interest on current liabilities| 22,546,779 | 31,835,708
Rent paid for lease of road | 120,784,982 | 111,153,013
Additions and betterments | |
charged to income | 24,807,546 | 28,086,454
Appropriations to reserves | |
and miscellaneous items | 22,587,208 | 21,636,182
Other deductions | 70,174,473 | 64,669,546
+-------------------+----------------
Total deductions | $ 554,239,093 | $ 539,734,904
+-------------------+----------------
Surplus available for dividends, | |
adjustments and improvements | 175,551,525 | 111,826,683
Net dividends | 171,607,550 | 104,074,006
+-------------------+----------------
Balance to profit and loss | $ 3,943,975 | $ 7,752,677
---------------------------------+-------------------+----------------
In 1909 the "Income Account" of the railways was swelled and confused
by including therein $200,725,696 of intercorporate payments, while
that for 1908 includes $274,450,192 "Other Income" which, as has
been formerly noted by the Official Statistician, swells the totals
to a fictitious figure. It is out of this fictitious income that
fictitious interest and dividends are paid, fictitious deductions
made, and fictitious surpluses accumulated. If "Other deductions" in
the above statement had been charged against "Other income" instead
of being deducted from earnings from operation the balance to Profit
and Loss for each year would have been so much larger.
What becomes of the rent paid by operating roads for leased roads is
well shown in the statement included in the Commission's preliminary
report of statistics for 1908 in which the amount received by the
latter mentioned in the table just submitted is disposed of.
CONDENSED INCOME ACCOUNT AND PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT OF LEASED ROADS
FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1908.
=============================================+=============+============
Income Account | |
---------------------------------------------+-------------+------------
Gross income from lease of road |$111,153,013 |
Salaries and maintenance of organization | 390,841 |
Taxes accrued | 5,881,352 |
+-------------+
Net income from lease of road | |$104,880,820
Other income | | 5,436,129
| +------------
Gross corporate income | |$110,316,949
Deductions from gross corporate income | | 62,232,508
| +------------
Net corporate income | |$ 48,084,441
| |
Disposition of net corporate income: | |
Dividends declared from current income |$ 33,843,577 |
Additions and betterments charged to income| 1,088,002 |
Appropriations to reserves and | |
miscellaneous items | 258,580 |
+-------------+
Total | |$ 35,190,159
Balance carried forward to credit of | |
profit and loss | | 12,894,282
---------------------------------------------+-------------+------------
Profit and Loss Account
-----------------------------------------------------------+------------
Credit balance in Profit and Loss Account, June 30, 1907 |$ 45,852,031
Credit balance brought from Income Account, June 30, 1908 | 12,894,282
+------------
Total |$ 58,746,313
|
Dividends declared out of surplus | 27,550,596
Other profit and loss items--debit balance | 2,006,573
+------------
Balance credit June 30, 1908, carried to balance sheet |$ 29,189,144
-----------------------------------------------------------+------------
Included under the blind item of "Deductions from gross corporate
income, $62,232,508" in this statement may be mentioned rents of
other roads and facilities of which these leased roads are the
lessees, interest on funded debt and other interest, sinking funds
chargeable to income and other deductions not specifically provided
for elsewhere. In case of operating roads this item also includes the
balance of hire of equipment, to which, of course, there is a credit
with other operating roads.