Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/330

292 whole were carried at a loss, and were, as the reviewer puts it, "A robbery of the shareholders," there would have to be a rate of profit upon the remaining 22 per cent, which we know is far from existing, in order to achieve the general result described above. It is quite true, of course, that coal, and the other mineral and heavy traffic, is carried at a much lower rate per ton than the lighter and more valuable descriptions of merchandise; but it must be borne in mind that the service of conveying it involves nothing more than the mere cost of haulage, and the provision of sidings, to receive and marshal the waggons, the vehicle being provided, and all loading and unloading services performed by the senders and consignees, in most cases, within their own premises. On the other hand, for the ordinary merchandise, it is necessary to provide expensive warehouses and sheds, costly machinery and appliances, waggons and sheets, and an army of men to perform the handling services, to say nothing of the greater risk; so that, on the whole, it may be conclusively assumed that one class of traffic pays as well as another.