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Show RAILROAD OPERATION The public's transportation bill for freight and passenger charges for the years 1920, 1921 and 1922 was reduced re-duced substantially two billion dollars dol-lars at the expense of a fair return to rftilrnnd ownera nn tliati- nrnnQi.fi, In- Voted to public use, says a statement of the Association of Railway Executives, Execu-tives, entitled, "Three Years of Railroad Rail-road Operation Under the Transportation Transpor-tation Act." In no one of the . three years did the roads earn the amount which the Transportation Act contemplated con-templated as a fair return. This return re-turn was specified at G per cent for 1920 and 1921 5 3-4 per cent for 1922, and was based on a tentative valuation for rate-making purposes of $18,900,000,000. In 1920 the railroads rail-roads earned 1-10 of 1 per cent on such valuation; in 1921, 3.29 per cent in 1922, 4.09 per cent. Had there been a definite guarantee by the Government Gov-ernment of a specified' return, the Government would owe the railroads $1,984,563,747. Decreases in freight rates have taken tak-en place as follows: On August 15, 1921, affecting live stock; on October 22, 1921, on wheat, hay and grain products, and on December 2, 1921, on agricultural products from fourteen four-teen producing states to territory north of Ohio River. On May 24, 19-22, 19-22, a general 10 per cent reduction of all freight rates, with the exception excep-tion of those already reduced was ordered, or-dered, to become effective July 1. In addition thousands of minor reductions re-ductions were made by the Commission Commis-sion or voluntarily by the carriers and numerous rate adjustments resulted re-sulted in reductions. Expenditures for equipment and other facilities during 1923 approxi-ment. approxi-ment. There were on order on March mate $1,100,000,000, says the state-336 state-336 freight cars, "probably a greater number of cars on order at this time of year than ever before in the history his-tory of the roads." The record of the movement of the traffic from July 1, 1922 to March 31 1923, shpws that the railroads hand-ltdthe hand-ltdthe greatest number of carloads of freight ever transported during any corresponding period in the history his-tory of the country, despite handicaps handi-caps of the coal and railway shopmen's shop-men's strikes. Railway taxes have trebled in the last ten years, says the statement, which sets forth that whereas previous pre-vious to Federal operation, the total taxes amounted to from 15 to 2 0 per cent of the net railway operating income, in-come, in 1922 the total taxes equalled equal-led nearly 40 per cent. In 1922 the taxes for the roads earning more than a million dollars a year, was ?300,C20.000. |