TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION DECEMBER 24, 1908 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1909 2 THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION. MARTIN A. KNAPP, of New York. EDGAR E. CLARK, of Iowa. JAMES S. HARLAN, of Illinois. EDWARD A. MOSELEY, Secretary. Suits by carriers to annul orders of the Commission_. Indictments returned during 1908_. Prosecutions concluded during 1908 Terminal charges on cattle at union stock yards_. Burnham-Hanna-Munger Dry Goods Company case. Rahway Valley Railroad switch connections_. APPENDICES. REPORT OF THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION. WASHINGTON D. C., December 24, 1908. To the Senate and House of Representatives: The Interstate Commerce Commission has the honor to submit its twenty-second annual report for the consideration of the Congress. The temporary financial depression from which the country is now emerging resulted in the diminution of railway revenues considerably below the high point reached in 1907, the banner year in American railroad history in respect of gross and net earnings, as well as volume of traffic. It can not be questioned that, in several instances, the necessity for placing railroad properties in the hands of receivers was wholly or partially due to the serious and unexpected decrease in earnings. The volume of railroad traffic quickly reflects the business condition of the country, and it is natural, therefore, that lines serving, for the most part, the great manufacturing regions should have suffered more severely than those serving agricultural communities. In view, however, of widely circulated reports that the loss inflicted upon the railroads was so severe as to warrant universal advances in rates or reduction in wages, or both, it is interesting to compare the revenues for the fiscal year ending June, 1908, with those for several previous years, which, although below the level of 1907, were at the time considered highly satisfactory in respect of revenues and volume of traffic. The recent change in accounting methods may affect to some extent the accuracy of these comparisons; the expense account for 1908, having been kept in accordance with our rules, includes as a matter of accounting a charge for depreciation, although the amount so charged has not in all cases been actually expended, but it is believed that the variations due to that cause would not materially alter the general result. From a summary of the monthly reports to the Commission for 1908, it appears that the gross earnings of all railroads for that year ($2,424,640,637) are $164,464,941 less than the gross earnings for 1907, yet the 1908 earnings are $98,875,470 in excess of the earnings for 1906, and $342,158,231 in excess of those for 1905, while the gross earnings per mile for |