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Show X. Y , N. H. & Hart.... 6G.2 73 S Pennsylvania R. R G3.G US.O I So. Pac Pacific Sys... S5.2 57. S I Southern Railway CS.2 70 2 EARNINGS OF A 1 FEW I). S, RAILWAYS That tho past year has been a good one among the railroads is shown by the following article from the last Issue Is-sue of The Railway Age Gazette: Taking at random the returns of twelve roads operating In widely separated sep-arated parts of the country, it appears that tho month of November, 1909, marks a definite advance over tho prosperity of 1907. The aggregute operating op-erating income in November. 1909, of tho twolve roads (Atchison, Topoka & Santa Fe, Chesapeake & Ohio, Chicago Chi-cago & North Western, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Erie, Great Northern, Lehigh Valley, Missouri, Kansas & Texas, Sew York, New Haven Ha-ven & Hartford, Pennsylvania Railroad, Rail-road, Southern Pacific Pacific System, Sys-tem, Southern Railway) was ?69.1S0,- 649. This Is an Increase over tho earnings of these samo roads in November, No-vember, 1908, of $9,936.027.. or 14 4 por cent. Every road In the list and it must be remembered that tho twelvo were selected entirely at random has greater gross earnings In 1909 than In 1908 Wc might expect to find even greater proportional lu-creascs lu-creascs in tho expenses, because in November, 1908, the roads In general were still making a determined effort ef-fort to cut down operating expensed to the lowest figure, which would not on the face of it bo absurdly Inadequate. Inade-quate. The figures, however, for November, 1909, do not bear thl9 assumption out. The net operating Income, after pay- raent of taxes, for the twelve roads selected, was $25,749,387 In 1909. and the net Increase over tho corresponding correspond-ing month of 190S was J3.315.2S2, or nearly 13 per cent. Of tho twelve roads, only two show smaller net operating op-erating Income In 1909 than In 1908, and of the twelve seven have a lower operating ratio in 1909 than In 1908 and five a higher operating ratio. The general trend toward greater and greater prosperity is shown by the fact that only two out of tho dosen roads had smaller net in 1909 than In 1908. and only two had smaller net In 1903 than In 1907. November In 1907 was for tho majority of road a month of very heavy traffic and correspondingly gTeat grops earnings. The increased net in November, 190S. wus due to a greater proportional decrease In expenses ex-penses than In earnings, and the still greater Increased net in November, 1909, shows clearly that the roads are profiting by and still practice the economical eco-nomical operation achieved in tbo lean year 1908. Operating ratio, while not being of much value by Itself In comparing tho operations of different roads with each other, la of great value in comparing the operations of one road with Ituolf in previous years. The following table gives the operating ratio In November, Novem-ber, 1908, and November. 1909, for the twelvo roads whoso gross and net earnings wc have been comparing: November 1909 1908 A., T. & Santa Fe 65. 5 fi0.9 Chesapeake & Ohio C2.0 fifi.R Chi. fc Northwestern.... 72.4 66.8 Del., Lack. & Western.. 52.9 CO. 3 Erie r.2. 74. 2 Great Northern '. S3. 5 48.3 Uhigh Valley 5S.5 6d.fi , Missouri, Kan. A Texas.. 81.0 76-4 |