facts concerning the matters inquired for, and space is left for the addition of other items, as necessary. Each side should be added and the totals shown, which of course should balance.

It is expected that returns for subsequent years will exhibit this statement in a comparative form.

SECURITY FOR FUNDED DEBT (PAGE 22).

This table is intended to show what property is mortgaged for the payment of the "Funded debt," page 6. The statement should be concise, and should show all securities given for every class of bond or secured obligation outstanding against the company.

EMPLOYÉS AND SALARIES (PAGE 23).

This table calls for the number of each class of emyloyés, and the rate of pay for each class. For the "General officers" only the aggregate yearly compensation is to be given; for all other employés the average daily compensation is to be stated.

PASSENGER, Freight, and TrAIN MILEAGE (PAGE 24.)

The process of computation for obtaining the various results required by this page is suggested by the different questions. The division of “Operating expenses" between freight and passenger traffic, as per pages 15 and 16, together with the ton and passenger mileage, give the basis for computing the "Cost of carrying one ton one mile," and "Cost of carrying each passenger one mile." The division between freight and passenger, of "Miles run by mixed trains," should be computed on the basis of 75 per cent. to freight and 25 per cent. to passenger. "Miles run by switching trains" may be given according to the method heretofore in use, or such other method as shall be considered most accurate; state upon the opposite page the process pursued in ascertaining mileage of switching trains.

FREIGHT-TRAFFIC MOVEMENT (PAGE 25).

This page calls for a statement of the total tonnage carried by each road of the various commodities mentioned. It will be observed that the blank calls for the names of any important commodities which are carried by the roads and which are not specifically provided for in the blank. The object of the first column is to enable the Commission to obtain the total movement throughout the country of the commodities named. Each carrier should report in this column the tonnage of all traffic which originates at any and every point on its line. All traffic which is received from rail or water connections directly, whether through elevators or other methods of transfer, and the initial movement of which has been on the line of other carriers, should be given in the second column. Each carrier supplying the data called for by this table should adopt such methods as will prevent the same traffic being reported as originating on more than one line. The first column is intended to show only the initial movement of the traffic.

The percentage should be computed to show what proportion the total tonnage of each commodity bears to the total tonnage of all commodities carried.

DESCRIPTION OF EQUIPMENT (PAGE 26).

This page calls for a statement of the equipment owned or leased by the company making the report. Under "Cars leased" all equipment should be shown which is considered as owned by equipment companies, car trusts, etc., in use by the reporting company. It is expected that sums paid toward the purchase of equipment upon such contracts will appear in the balance-sheet as a separate item, under “Other assets."

MILEAGE OF ROADS OPERATED-RENEWAL OF RAILS AND TIES (PAGE 27).

Give actual length of road as single track, and add double, treble, or quadruple tracks, as called for. The heading of "Other ownership" calls for mileage of proprietary roads, controlled by ownership of stock, etc.

In case of sidings and yards owned jointly with some other road, include the entire mileage upon the table, and state on the opposite page the number of miles so owned, naming the company with which the joint ownership exists and the proportion owned by each. In case of spur tracks operated, which are owned by outside parties, include the entire mileage upon the table, and state on the opposite page the number of miles so owned.

Under "Mileage of line by States or Territories" give name of each State and Territory in which any part of the operated road is situated; and extend the proper mileage figures through the table, on the basis of the actual length of single track only, in each State and Territory.

CONSUMPTION OF FUEL BY LOCOMOTIVES-ACCIDENTS (PAGE 28).

When stating the total tonnage of fuel consumed, the tonnage of wood is to be estimated as follows: Hard wood, one and one-half cords to be equivalent to one ton of coal; soft wood, two cords to be equivalent to one ton of coal."

In stating "Average cost at distributing point," different points may be named if desired, giving the cost at each.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ROAD (PAGE 29).

The "Alignment" and "Profile" of each working division or separate branch of the road are to be given on this page. The general direction of the ascending and descending grades should be stated; other data required are to be given as indicated by the various headings.

PRELIMINARY TO A REPORT TO THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION ON THE SUBJECT OF RAILWAY STATISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1888.

It is eminently appropriate, as introductory to the first report from this branch of the Commission's service, to speak briefly of the importance of accurate and comprehensive statistics on railway affairs. For if it can be shown that the service rendered by common carriers may be thereby improved, the public will surely indorse statistical investigation; if it should be discovered that investments in railway property may proceed with greater confidence because of authentic and uniform accounts, investors will welcome the organization of a bureau for the publication of such accounts; or finally, should it appear that railway administration may become more efficient and economical as the result of extended study and painstaking comparison, they upon whose shoulders rests the responsibility of administration must feel an interest in the success of such study. It follows, then, if the facts assumed can be made clear, that the public, investors, and conservative railway managements will gladly render such assistance as lies in their power to the success of the enterprise now set on foot. And surely when one considers the prodigious task of bringing the facts pertaining to railway operation into systematic form, so that their meaning will stand clearly on the surface, he will recognize how essential is the willing cooperation of all who have it in their power to render assistance. It is then pertinent to inquire at the outset respecting the importance of railway statistics.

The importance of statistics on railway matters may be the most clearly presented through a discussion of three definite questions: First. How do they stand related to problems of public economy? Second. What bearing do they have upon technical and scientific questions of railway equipment and railway management?

Third. What assistance may be rendered by them in the solution of that vexed question which Congress has placed to so large an extent in the hands of the Interstate Commerce Commission?

I. RELATION OF RAILWAY STATISTICS TO QUESTIONS OF PUBLIC ECONOMY.

It is the aim of statistics to draw a true picture of a given set of facts for a definite period of time, by presenting those facts in detail according to some accepted theory of classification. Nothing is to be set aside because it appears of little moment, nothing is to be distorted because it does not conform to some preconceived idea; but permitting

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each and every fact to stand on its own merits, all are to be so grouped and massed as to disclose what is true of the subject studied. Railway statistics form no exception to this general statement. Their only purpose is to draw a true picture of the existing railway system.

Later in this report a few words are said respecting the condition of railway statistics in the United States, but for the present it is sufficient to remark that no one has yet attempted, or at least no one has yet succeeded in making a satisfactory exhibit of the American railway system. Some facts may be easily learned, others of equal importance have as yet found for themselves no avenue of expression. This is certainly remarkable when one appreciates the magnitude of the railway industry. The length of line on June 30, 1888, was 152,000 miles, and the property based upon it did not fall far short of $9,000,000,000 The gross earnings on this property for the year preceding was nearly $930,000,000. Passenger mileage reached the enormous figure of ten and one-half billions, while ton-mileage of freight exceeded sixty billions. The business of traffic by rail expends in operations $600,000,000 annually. An industry of such magnitude must of its own merit arrest public attention, but when it is recognized that every other industry in the land is dependent for its highest success upon the way in which the railways are conducted, the absence of trustworthy and comprehensive statistics on railway affairs is indeed occasion for surprise.

But it is not alone the magnitude of this business which gives emphasis to the public importance of railway statistics; the fact that a new industrial power has been introduced into modern life by the development of railways is of equal significance. It is no exaggeration to say that through this power society has been revolutionized. The business life of men at the present day bears less likeness to that of 1825 than does the life of the latter date bear to that of the age of Elizabeth. The explanation of this rapid change is simple. In the earlier period time and distance localized business; in these days time and distance have been overcome by the application of steam to inland commerce, and as a consequence business intercourse knows no boundaries.

It is thus a new power with which the statistics of railways deals, and a power that has already created a new society. And it is a significant fact that most of the public questions now claiming the attention of thinking men are shown by analysis to spring from the efforts of society to adjust itself to new methods in commerce and in trade. It is a narrow conception to regard the railway problem as an isolated problem. The social and political influence of railways is far-reaching, and every ray of light which statistical investigation can throw upon the workings of the new power which railways have brought into society must be of direct advantage in the solution of any public problem, political or social.

The far-reaching influence of railways in the domain of politics is well presented by a quotation from a well known writer on railways, in which he shows that even fundamental questions of government can not be determined without taking into the account this new industrial force:

Meanwhile the influence of this railroad power upon the politics of America and the political theories at the base of party organizations has been very strongly defined and little considered. Paradoxical as it sounds, it has actually made that which was mistaken, right, and that which was dangerous, safe. The year 1830 was a year

* Chapters in Erie and Other Essays. Charles Fraucis Adams,

of political revolution in America; the friends of a strong central government went out of power, and a party hostile in theory to all concentration of governmental functions came in. It can now hardly admit of a doubt that both parties to that bitter and memorable struggle were right, and it is equally true that both were wrong. Both, however, were made right or wrong by one element which entered into the practical solution of the questions agitated with decisive consequences-an element wholly unanticipated by either side-the element of improved locomotion.

It may now with safety be premised that a strong central government was a political necessity for the United States of a time anterior to 1830; that in this respect Hamilton was right and Jefferson was wrong. It may also, with equal safety, be asserted that a strong central government constitutes a continually increasing political danger for the United States of the period subsequent to 1830; that the school of Hamilton is wrong, and the school of Jefferson is right. An equally thoughtful and observant man would thus have been a Hamiltonian up to 1830, and a Jeffersonian subsequent to that date.

The inventions of Robert Fulton and George Stephenson settled, in the minds of all thinking men, those great questions of internal policy for the United States Government which were so fiercely contested in the first cabinet of Washington; and the way in which they settled them was by altering every condition of the problem. The destinies of nations are, perhaps, very much more frequently decided in the workshops of mechanics than in the councils of princes.

This quotation is not inserted because of the politics it contains, but as the shortest method of impressing the fact that improved methods of locomotion exert a decided influence even upon the political thought of the day. Whatever one may believe as to centralized government for the United States, his position must be defended by arguments that fit the times. The discussions of early statesmen can not be easily adjusted to modern conditions.

The influence of railways in the domain of social life is no less significant than in political affairs. The movement of population in modern times finds no parallel in the history of the past; the overcrowding of commercial and manufacturing centers has forced the question of municipal administration into prominence; the changes observed in methods of farming threaten in this country the development of an agrarian problem; the tendency towards uniformity of price in the staples of life, while it narrows the margin of speculation, yet increases the influence of the speculator. These results, as well as others that might be mentioned, are the inevitable consequence of the adoption of new methods of commerce.

But it does not lie in the province of this preliminary report to enter very far into a consideration of such questions. Sufficient has been said to show that the importance of railway statistics is not confined within the narrow limits of technical interests. This thought may, however, be impressed more strongly by one or two illustrations of the bearing of railway statistics to questions of public economy.

The constant recurrence of abnormal business activity, followed by business prostration, is regarded by all as evidence of maladjustment in business relations. Many theories have been put forth to explain this lack of stability in commercial affairs, but as yet none has succeeded in gaining for itself common acceptance. Probably there is no one cause adequate to explain so prodigious a fact. But on one point there seems to be some degree of harmonious opinion, and that is that a close connection exists between the building of railroads and the manner of their administrative control on the one hand, and commercial depression and business prostration on the other. Indeed, so firmly has this conviction lodged itself in the minds of men that in some States of the Union it has been found necessary to provide by law for the exercise of public control over the investment of capital in new railway ventures, by establishing a board of commissioners, with