| OCR Text |
Show RAILROAD EARNINGS AFFECT ALL INDUSTRIES During the first four months of this year the net return re-turn upon the total investment in railroad property was at the annual rate of 4.32 per cent, less than in the corresponding correspond-ing period during any of the last five years. This poor showing was made in spite of marked reductions in operating opera-ting expense. Under the Transportation Act, the government set the fair return on railroad investment at o'a per cent. Yet the lines, though they have effected economies of more than a billion dollars a year, have never been able to earn this return. re-turn. Businesses cannot progress or maintain themselves on a high level of service without reasonable profits, and the railroads are not exceptions. Conditions which retard their normal development can only lead to a transportation system sys-tem that will affect adversely all industries and every citizen. |
