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Show RAILROADS ASK THAT LARGER RUNNING COST BE RETURNED 40 FOLD By E. J. David Hon only amount to $1.77 on Western railroads, there is no Justification for tbe railroads In asking the commission commis-sion to grant them thirty time that amount to balance account. Further than this. It should be remembered re-membered that In the Increased cost of operation passenger traffic la Included. In-cluded. This further emphasize how weak the argument of the railroad is. for if expense of passengerv traffic traf-fic are excluded, It -brings the Increase In-crease In freight traffic operation down still further. It Is to he doubted ! If Ihe Increased cost of freight traffic I operation would amount to more than 1 per cent on Western lines, which moans that the railroad are asking about forty times that amount to "make up the difference." ' Hjr the way that the report has been sent out, It appear that there has been a deliberate attempt to hoodwink hood-wink the public To those unaware of railroad manipulation. It would seem that the railroads were losing tremendous wealth, while, as a matter mat-ter of fact, they are getting more than a fair share from a too generous . nolle. no-lle. Their own figures, as given in the report, again conclusively prove that the railroads have no ground for the application for an Increase In rate. , " It wnul6"1) sheer fully ID silpTms." that any commission in the Wctirn country would think of granting the railroads' request on such figures as they have Just released. AT the expense of the West, the East is attempting to. gain revenue. Greedy financiers. . in their fight for a 15 per cent Increase 'in freight rates, are promoting a cam-' cam-' paign to show that the railroads of the country are losing money. They charge, by a statement Issued hv the bureau of rallwsy news and statistics. Chicago, that the railroads suffered a loss of K'ti.OOfl.OOO tn profit In the first quarter of 1917, compared with the same period a year ago. They provide the illuminating statement. ! however, that during the ounrter I there was a gain of $79,000,000 in traffic. .. j "Railway nf the United States." the report says, "were forced to spend $104,791,000 more in operating expenses ex-penses and taxes to handle $79,000.-000 $79,000.-000 more traffio during the first quarter quar-ter of 1917. In comparison with the same months of 191. Net operating income remaining after taxes, in spite of the addition to gross revenues, fell $2B.R0 1.000 under a year ago. "The figures given hy Ihe bureau apply tn all railroads in the I'nlted States, with a mileage of over 2i0,. 000 miles, a based on a report of the Interstate commerce commission for a partlsl mllesge of 2OT.973 miles on the" TargrsTTatlrns.n'g of the: etiuntry. "The Increased expenses are due to higher taxes. Increased cost of materials ma-terials and higher wages, the last principally prin-cipally due to the operation of the Adamson law. RISE CHIEFLY IN EAST. "To do $100 gross business, the Eastern railways, in the first three month of this year, spent In expenses $79.61, against $70.78 a year - ago. Southern railroads spent $fiS.M, against $3.2 In 191. and Western roads spent $70.21. against $6iU4, . showing the rising costs were more conspicuous in the Ksst than else- where." This Is another railroad statement that ran he torn to shreds, showing that the transportation companies hare no foundation for basing their application for an Inorease. It will be noted that Ihe report does not separate the railroad operations In giving Income on Western roads compared with Income on Eastern line. There' a reason. v Western railroads hare not uf-fared. uf-fared. Proof of this was provided In Sunday' Telegram, when It was ' shown that during- Ihe month of March. 1917. the Santa Fe railroad, th Isrgest company operating west of Chicago, reported an Increase in earning earn-ing compared with tbe same month year ago. It must bo borne In mind that the first three month of 1918 established a record In so fsr as railway revenue reve-nue wa concerned. It was the greatest great-est quarter In railroad history on this continent. The railways are attempting attempt-ing to show that they are losing money and are circulating "news" to demonstrate demon-strate decreasing revenues. Hut the , public should not be deceived. All " should remember that the first quar- . ter of thl yar 1 well above the aver. , age and that the earnings this year Indicate that the Union Pacific railroad rail-road and other systems will be well able to pay a dividend of 8. per rent, beside putting away several million of dollar surplus. Th report shows that on $100 of business Western roads have to spend $70.21, compared with $8.4 a year ago. This statement I not challenged, chal-lenged, but I want to show what this percentage of increase really mean It only provide for .an Incrsas of $1.77 on fro buslnss, whll th rsll-reada. rsll-reada. to mak up th Incraas. ask that freight rsUs b advanced 15 par cant. 40 PER CENT INCREASE. Mot clearly to demonstrate the barefaced robbery that Is attempted. It ahould be explained that the IS xr Per cent Increase sought would represent repre-sent a net revenue. Inasmuch aa th railroad are already reporting surpluses, sur-pluses, and consequently all the money received after declaring the profit would be an extra Inrom. In other words, gross business Is contrasted with net revenue, and the 16 per cent Increase asked Is really not 15 per cent at all. IT IS ABOUT $0 TO 40 PER CENT INCREASE. Th money that such an Increase represent rep-resent must come out of th public pocket. If the Interstate commerce ommlsalon order th rate to be advanced. ad-vanced. When the Incresgedcost of opera- |