Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/201

Rh of detail would be unnecessarily confusing, it is important to endeavor to discover some means for measuring at least with approximate accuracy the aggregate public saving by means of reduced charges for railway transportation. Fortunately, we have such a means which may be made highly satisfactory so far, at least, as relates to the last decade. The entire transportation performed by the railways of the United States during the ten years ending on June 30, 1893, was equal to moving 113,170,723,026 passengers and 681,500,465,282 tons of freight one mile; and had the average rates of 1883 been maintained upon this aggregate, the public would have paid $251,981,813 for passenger and $1,797,078,221 for freight transportation more than was actually received by the railways. The total sum gained by the public by means of reduced charges was therefore $2,049,060,034, an amount equal to one fifth of the present aggregate railway capital, and almost exactly equal to the entire revenue the United States Government derived from customs duties during the same period.

The effect of the decline in the amounts received for similar railway service upon railway revenues can not be neglected by intelligent students of transportation. The following comparisons between the years 1871, 1882, and 1893 are therefore presented:

From the foregoing it is seen that the average railway capitalization has changed but little. Gross earnings per mile decreased during the first half of the period, but have remained without material change during the last; or, in other words, the increased traffic has so far balanced the decrease in charges that the average gross revenue has not changed. Operating expenses have increased during the last eleven years, though during the period from 1871 to 1882 they showed a decline. The explanation is, that during the first period increased density of traffic permitted economies in conducting transportation which had the effect of reducing the average cost to the carriers. It would appear, however, that a point was reached beyond which the institution of new economies could not keep pace with increased traffic at low rates, and that this had its natural effect in the second period. This explanation gains force when the constant decrease in average net earnings per mile is noted. Average freight