Page:The truth about the railroads (IA truthaboutrailro00elli).pdf/189

Rh delivered at Fargo, a little more than $21,000. The average receipt to the railroad for hauling grain from North Dakota points to the Head of the Lakes or the Twin Cities is 15 cents a hundredweight, or 9 cents a bushel,—say 10 cents for ease in calculation. To buy a locomotive requires the gross earnings to the railroad for handling 210,000 bushels of wheat, which at 13 bushels to the acre means 16,150 acres.

The capital requirements of railroads, if they are to keep pace with the demands of the public, and provide safe, adequate, and regular service, will continue to be very heavy. During the five years from 1904 to 1908 investors added $4,167,554,569, or an average of $833,510,914 per year, necessary to add to and improve the railroads so that they could serve the public. It will require in the future from $600,000,000 to $1,000,000,000 a year for a number of years if the railroads are to grow fast enough to keep ahead of the growth of the country and the demands of the people. In providing this capital, the railroads have a Rh