Show f Ral r t d k s I 1 P Ment l A it t N a t 1 w w 1 r jt- jt J W fi t J Jt On November No i B the tIle railroads application TIo for or a 15 per cent increase in freight rates opened before the In Interstate Interstate Commerce Commission One of the tile first witnesses to give Jive testimony was wac Dr J H Parmelee of the the th bureau of railway economics economic Dr Parmelee painted a vivid of the tle effects on the coun coun- coun- coun try In rv of forced railroad retrench retrench- arc ment Today Toda th lines tines are reducing their forces and curtailing curta ling to the limit timit their purchase of materials and supplies In the av av- av rage year rear from 1927 to 1930 they installed more than titan 12 times as many l pearly learly five times as as many freight cars laid nearly three times as many tons of new rail and laM laid nearly twice as many cross cross switch and bridge lies ijes as they did in the average i om 19 1911 i to 1936 Where their an annual annual nual capital expenditures averaged ed over in 1930 the declined to less than during the five years from 1931 to 1935 The reason for the immense de de- de decline cline dine n ii u r lr d pend for all purposes is me we financial condition to which they have been brought through ugh no fault of their own They have been pinched between declining freight and passenger rates rates on the one hand and rising higher wages ages and mount mount- mounting mounting ing taxes on the other Today an- an railway operating costs Dr Parmelee out ar matly greater than they were in 1933 while revenue is per year less than it be if freight were carried 1933 average rates In other words through our regulatory and rate policies we have demanded the tile im impossible impossible possible of the railroads that railroads that they take less for their service and at the same time pay mater mater- tally tall more to carry it on Where in 1930 the lines reported a net after charges equiv alent to 99 cents per dollar of oper revenue re this ratio de de- de declined dined to 24 cents in the tile first nine months month of the tile current year year and and these were the months preceding the present recession Dr Parmelee's testimony in brief points to the same conchs conchs- conclusion sion long expressed by b other stu stu- stu students students dents of railway economics that economics that rate increases arc are essential if the tue luies arc are to continue to exist as supporting self g taxpaying pro pro pro- progressive gress e private industry |