from 5 to 6 per cent; 5.12 per cent paid from 6 to 7 per cent; and 5.42 per cent paid from 7 to 8 per cent. The total amount of dividends was $95,515,226, or an average rate on the dividend-paying stock of 5.40 per cent. The amount of bonds paying no interest was $650,573,789, or 14.17 per cent. The amount of miscellaneous obligations paying no interest was $53,426,264, or 11.71 per cent, and the amount of income bonds paying no interest was $210,757,554, or 86.94 per cent.

PUBLIC SERVICE.

The number of passengers carried was 540,688,199, a decrease under the previous year of 52,872,413; but passenger mileage, which is the more significant figure, shows an increase of 60,344,809, the total being 14,289,445,893. This increase in passenger mileage is almost wholly in Groups III and VI, and was occasioned by the World's Fair travel. The average number of passengers in a train was 44, and the average distance traveled by each passenger was 26.43 miles. The passenger mileage per mile of line, which indicates the density of passenger traffic, was 81,333, a slight decrease as compared with the previous report. There was a large decrease in freight traffic, the number of tons carried being 638,186,553, as against 745,119,482 in 1893, a decrease of 106,932,929 tons. The ton mileage was 80,335,104,702, a decrease of 13,253,007,131 from the previous year, and the ton miles per mile of line decreased from 551,232 in 1893 to 457,252 in 1894, a decrease in density of traffic of 93,980 ton miles. The average number of tons in a train was 179.80, a decrease of 4.17 tons, showing a decrease of economy in the use of freight equipment. The average haul of one ton was 125.88 miles.

EARNINGS AND EXPENSES.

The gross earnings of the railways for the year ending June 30, 1894, were $1,073,361,797, a decrease as compared with the previous year of $147,390,077, or 12.07 per cent. Passenger revenue decreased $16,142,258, or 5.35 per cent, and the revenue from freight traffic decreased $129,562,948, or 15.63 per cent. The amount of operating expenses was $731,414,322, a decrease of $96,506,977, or 11.66 per cent. The largest per cent of decrease was in the operating expenses assigned to maintenance of way and structures and to maintenance of equipment, which show, respectively, a decrease of 15.12 and 17.52 per cent. The net earnings were $341,947,475, a decrease of $50,883,100 as compared with the previous year. The income derived from sources outside of operations was $142,816,805. The amount of fixed charges and other deductions from income was $429,008,310, leaving a net income of $55,755,970 available for dividends, a decrease as compared with the previous year of nearly 50 per cent. The amount of dividends paid was $95,515,226, a decrease of only $5,414,659 from the amount paid the previous year. The fact that nearly the normal amount of dividends was paid, notwithstanding the great decrease in income available

for them, and that the payment of the amount stated entailed a deficit from the operations of the year of $45,851,294, is suggestive. The revenue derived from the carrying of passengers was $285,349,558, or 26.58 per cent of gross earnings, and the revenue derived from freight traffic was $699,490,913, or 65.16 per cent of gross earnings.

ACCIDENTS.

During the year 1,823 railway employees were killed and 23,422 were injured, as compared with 2,727 killed and 31,729 injured in 1893. This inarked decrease in casualty is in part due to the decrease in the number of men employed, and the decrease in the volume of business handled. The increased use of automatic appliances on railway equipment also may have rendered railway employment less dangerous, and it may be that the grade of efficiency of employees has been raised.

The number of passengers killed was 324, and increase of 25, and the number injured was 3,034, a decrease of 195. Of the total number of fatal casualties to railway employees, 251 were due to coupling and uncoupling cars, 439 to falling from trains and engines, 50 to overhead obstructions, 145 to collisions, 108 to derailments, and the balance to various other causes not easily classified. To show the ratio of casualty, it may be stated that 1 employee was killed out of every 428 in service, and 1 injured out of every 33 employed. The trainmen perform the most dangerous service, 1 out of 156 employed having been killed, and 1 out of every 12 having been injured.

The ratio of casualty to passengers is in striking contrast to that of railway employees, 1 passenger having been killed out of each 1,668,791 carried, or for each 44,103,228 miles traveled, and 1 injured out of each 178,210 carried, or for each 4,709,771 miles traveled. A distribution of accidents to the territorial groups exhibits the diversity in the relative safety of railway employment and of railway travel in the different sections of the country.

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON INCOME ACCOUNT OF RAILWAYS FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1895.

A report of the statistician to the Commission on the earnings and expenses of the railways of the United States for the year ending June 30, 1895, which appears in full in Appendix F, was submitted on November 18. It includes the returns from 650 roads whose reports were filed on or before November 9, 1895, and covers the operations of 164,529.38 miles of line, or 92 per cent of the total mileage in the United States. The gross earnings were $1,003,022,853, of which $293,465,792 were from passenger service, $683,022,988 from freight service, and $26,217,595 were other earnings from operation, covering earnings from telegraph, car mileage balances, switching charges, etc. The operating expenses were $677,667,635, leaving net earnings of $325,355,218, as compared with net earnings of $320,137,670 for the

same roads in 1894. Reduced to a mileage basis, gross earnings were $6,096, operating expenses were $4,119, and net earnings were $1,977, or a decrease in gross earnings of $13 per mile as compared with 1894, and of $1,094 per mile as compared with 1893, a decrease in operating expenses of $44 per mile as compared with 1894, and of $757 per mile as compared with 1893. Net earnings show gain over 1894 of $31 per mile of line, but a decrease of $337 per mile as compared with 1893. Passenger receipts fell off $177 per mile as compared with 1894, while freight receipts show a gain of $149 per mile. Passenger receipts were $336 per mile less than in 1893, and freight receipts show a decrease as compared with that year of $755 per mile. These data are also shown by groups, disclosing that the largest gain in net earnings has been in Groups I, III, and IX.

Income from sources outside of the operations of the roads was $33,057,243, making total income available for the payment of fixed charges and dividends, $358,412,461. Total deductions from income, including fixed charges, were $336,351,946, and dividends paid were $53,135,545, leaving a deficit from the operations of the year of $31,075,030. The dividends paid by the same roads the preceding year were $61,504,785.

There is, perhaps, no single business in which the general commercial conditions are more perfectly reflected than the business of transportation. This being the case, it is encouraging to note that the downward tendency in the earning capacity of railways, especially so far as freight earnings are concerned, seems to have been arrested.

Attention has frequently been called by the press of the country to the length of time intervening between the date at which the carriers are supposed to file their annual reports and the publication of compiled results. While it would be deemed unwise to make every comment the occasion of reply, there are certain reasons why in the present instance Congress should be acquainted with the facts in the case.

It may be mentioned in passing that the date by which the Commission's statistical reports are known is the date of the year to which the statistics pertain and not the date of the year of publication. This has not always been recognized in the comments referred to. The important fact in this connection is, however (and this is the reason why the subject is brought to the attention of Congress), that the carriers do not file their reports on the 15th of September, which is the date prescribed by the Commission. In the table which follows will be found a statement taken from the records of the office showing the number of roads which had filed their reports on the 15th of September, 1894, and the number filing during each successive half-month thereafter up to and including February 15. The second column of this table contains a statement of the percentage of the roads delinquent on the dates named to the total number of roads filing reports. The third column shows the amount of mileage covered by the reports

on file for the dates named, and column four the per cent of mileage delinquent. In the last column is found a statement of what is termed the mean date of filing reports.

RECORD OF FILING OF ANNUAL REPORTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1894.

From the above statement it is seen that out of a total of 1,291 reports 298 only were filed by September 15. This shows a delinquency in reports of 76.92 per cent, and a delinquency in mileage of 84.91 per cent. By referring to the last column of the statement it appears that the mean date of filing reports, all reports being taken into the account, was November 1, 1894, which shows that the average delinquency of the carriers was six weeks. This, however, does not adequately measure the embarrassment of the statistical division in the compilation of returns. When it is necessary, as was shown by the experience of last year, to hold computations open until the 15th of February, that is to say, until seven and a half months after the close of the fiscal year to which the statistics pertain, it must be admitted that the responsibility for delay in the publication of these reports lies with the carriers, and not with the statistical division of the Commission. It was this fact which led the Commission in its eighth annual report to recommend to Congress an amendment to the twentieth section of the act to regulate commerce so as to provide for a cumulative penalty upon such carriers as failed to file their reports by the time prescribed. The Commission desires to renew this recommendation, and to urge upon Congress the importance of making adequate provision for securing promptness in replies to such questions as may be lawfully asked of the carriers. The importance of commercial statistics are in direct ratio to the promptness of their publication. The delay of the carriers in filing reports deprives the public of a large share of the benefit which might otherwise be secured from the statistical work of the Commission, and it is on this

account that Congress is urged to provide a simple and easy means of insuring prompt returns from the carriers.'

Another point to which it is desired to call the attention of Congress pertains to monthly statements of the earnings of railways. The Commission has frequently been embarrassed by its inability to secure comprehensive information respecting the current condition of the business of transportation, and it will be universally admitted that the value of the service which the statistical division of the Commis⚫sion renders to the public would be greatly enhanced by a system of monthly reports. No serious difficulty ought to be encountered by the carriers in rendering monthly statements with promptness and accuracy, provided the forms for such statements were simple and clear, asking in effect nothing more than the gross earnings and operating expenses. Information of this sort is regarded with great interest, not only by investors in railway property, but by all who concern themselves with current commercial conditions. Some years ago the statistical division undertook the preparation of such monthly statements. It was found, however, that a few roads objected, and in view of the fact that under the law it was necessary to rely upon the courtesy of the carriers for furnishing the information, the policy of asking for monthly reports was abandoned. So great, however, is the importance of a comprehensive and uniform statement of the monthly earnings of railways, that the Commission does not hesitate to urge upon Congress such an amendment of the act as will make clear the authority of the Commission to require such reports.

Congress has by previous reports been kept informed respecting the development of the statistical work intrusted to the Commission, and for that reason it does not appear necessary to repeat this narrative at the present time. It does, however, seem desirable to state, as clearly and emphatically as may be in a few words, the reasons for believing that the ultimate success of the act to regulate commerce through the

'The text of the recommendation in last year's report is as follows: "Said detailed reports shall contain all the required statistics for the period of twelve months ending on the 30th day of June in each year, and shall be made out and filed with the said Commission, at its office in Washington, on or before the 15th day of September then next following, unless additional time be granted in any case by the Commission; and if any common carrier subject to the provisions of this section shall fail to make and file said annual reports, or shall fail to make specific answer, under oath, to any lawful question authorized by the provisions of this section within the time herein provided, such common carrier shall be subject to a penalty of one hundred dollars for each and every day it shall continue to be in default with respect thereto, and each day it shall continue to be in default as aforesaid shall be deemed to be a separate offense, and the district courts of the United States for the district in which the principal office of such delinquent carrier shall be located shall have jurisdiction to enforce the penalty herein provided for upon information to be filed by the United States attorney for such district.

"Such annual reports shall be verified by the oath of the president, treasurer, comptroller, auditor, or receiver of such common carrier, administered by a notary public, United States commissioner, or judge of a United States court."