OCR Text |
Show Cheaper Transportation Rates. The preliminary report 'of the Interstate Commerce Com-merce commission giving the earnings of practically all the railroads of the United States for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1904, shows some very important im-portant changes n the cost of conducting the railroad rail-road business. The figures for the 1904 fiscal year show the results of the operation of 209,000 miles, as against 203,313 miles for the preceding year. The totals for 1904 are as follows: t Gross earnings $1,966,633,821 Operating expenses t.. 1,332.32,948 Income from operation . 634,250,87$ The gross earnings for 1903 were $1,900,846,907, or an increase for the year 1904 of about f 66,000,000. Operating expenses were f 1,332,383,948 in 1904 as against f 1,257,538,852 in 1903. The ratio of operating oper-ating expenses thus increased from C6.16 per cent in 1903, to C7.75 jwr cent in 1904. This increase in the cost of operating the railroads rail-roads of the United States is of particular interest at this time. It resulted in a decrease of the revenue available for interest charges and : dividends of something over f 6,000,000, the net earnings in 1904 being f 634,250,873 as against f 640,644,138 in 1903. Jn other words, while the railroads sold over $66,-000,000 $66,-000,000 more transportation than in the preceding jear, the actual returns, as regards the owners of the railroads, diminished f 6,000,000. The figures of the Interstate Commerce commission commis-sion demonstrate on their face, therefore, that the public received cheaper transportation, and the relative rela-tive proportions of profit to the railroads materially diminished. ' |