708 



RAILWAY Si 



REFORMED cilUJcn IN AMERICA. 



1880. and had risen bj 1895 to 6?-:. 



a smaller pro; 



availa - payment of interest ami divi,; 



and tli-- result is a marked diminution in the return 

 to the capiUl invested. for the capital il>df I. 

 creased more rapidly than the earnings, The state- 

 ii page 707 is a condensed income account 

 e uiniiiint ami di-|M,-n i-.n ,,f r > 



It if worthy of n.-i".- 



earnings in 1880 and 1HU5. 



uounts received and di- \ the 



railroad* in a year exceed the aggregate receipt- <f 



Niitniiial. State, and local governments. an<l e.jual 

 y's l>tal annual produc- 

 .Hh. 



Con h mileage, the income both from 



operation nnd from other sources has diminished. 



while operating expenses, taxes, and fixed charges 



anding n diminution in 



d interest. Tin- n-sul: cided 



falling off in dividends from $S04 JMT mile of 



line in 1880 to $472, or (including other payments 



ncomet x in other 1 



while the mileage more than doubled, the aggp 

 Mini |>aid in dividends increased only 50- per 

 In dedan: dfl t.. the amount of $85,287,- 



543 in 1895. the railway companies used $29,84.~> .' 1 1 

 more than was available for that purpose from the 



he year, and a net deficit of that amount 

 was therefore created, to he met. if at nil. either out 

 of the accumulated surplus of former years or by 



M of current liabilities. The average rate 

 of interest accruing on railway bond* in 1*!5 was 



'incut 



showing how much of the accrued interest was 

 actually paid. The average rate of dividends was 

 nt.. but $4.475.640.203 of the stock, or 

 7(H)8 per rent, of the whole, paid no dividends 

 whatever. On the dividend-paying stock the aver- 



iite of interest was 5'74 per cent. Tr. 

 the accrued interest as having been all paid, the 

 total return to capital may be stated at $19, 



! $337,800;46:{ in 1H!5. a gain since 

 1880 of only 71'5 IKT cent., although tin- capital had 

 more than doubled. It is evident that, on the 

 whole, the return to capital invested in railwa\- i- 

 \orbitunt. I'noflicial reports show 

 that 1896 brought no very important 



:i-tribution of dividend's. 



llaiikrnptry. During the |eriod from 1880 to 

 1800 inclusive 412 railroads, operating about 90,000 

 miles of line and $5.000,000,000 of capital, were 

 placed in the hands of receivers, and 506 roads, with 

 vS.OOO miles of line and a capitalization of nearly 

 $4.500,000,000. were sold under foreclosure. lii 



ing these totals, however, some allowance 

 should he made for duplication, some road- having 

 been placed with receiver- more than once. On 

 June 80, 1895, about 38,000 miles of railway, or more 

 than one fifth of the entire mileage of the country. 

 were in the hands of receivers, and hence at least 



by the c. . 



Dixtri mi nation. the most characteristic fea- 

 ture of the lat-t decade in railway trans i>< .rtation is 

 the a' riminations by 



means of an art of Congress and a coiiimis-ion ap- 



Thc interstate com- 



merce law, like most imj>ortant legislation, consists 

 of a series :,!-. -. This explains why it at- 



s to apply three separate remedies, en 

 which had been loudly advocated by a considerable 

 body of adherents as a complete cure for th. 

 of unregulated transportation. Th- -sane: 



1. A summary process for hearing and adjudicating 

 complaint** and enforcing relief. 'J. Publicity of 

 railway methods and accounts. 3. IVrpetual 

 petition among railways. Though the law has been 

 in force ten years, and has been several times 



amended, these fundamental principles arc un- 

 altered. The first has been deprived of all practical 

 effect by the refusal of ihe I'mted States ri.urls to 

 consider the conclusions of the commission as final 

 as to either facts or law. The it her*. ha\e been 

 enforced with reasonable continuity, but ha\. l,\ 

 he eiTeei d< '-i iv< 1 . I'njust dis- 

 criminations U'tween individual-, classes of trallic, 



mmunities ciintinin- in], ih,- onre- 



.strained competition imposed by the law has as- 

 sisted in producing the present unfortunate linan- 



onditioii of numerous important mil 

 Public opinion ha* gradually passed to the -ide'of 

 the railwa\-. and tlu-re may be said to be a strong 

 balance of sentiment in fa 

 arrangements under strict l-''lci-al supervision. In 



the meantime railway officials and attorneys are 



striving to find some way to secure the in 



of fair charges, elimination of the unjust di-crimi- 



nat ions always produced I ii.and 



an etpiitablc division of traffic without violating 



the bfl .loint Trail; Ion, which 



hasju-t completed the lir-t year of [j 



the more recently organi/eil Southwi'-tcrn Trallic 



Association and \\ iatiofl are 



expressions of this desire. The-e as-ocjatiol 



all orirani/'-d on a similar plan. and. among other 

 things, involve the lelegation of rate-making pow- 

 ers to boards consisting of ri'pre-eniat ives of each 

 interested road, the concentration of agem-i,-. and 

 radual abolition o! solicitation for 



traflic. Though the one first organ i/cil ha- had re- 

 markable SUCCCSS, it i- Net too early to decide 



whether the divergent interests of the -i-parate rail- 

 way corporations are made sulliciently harmonious 

 these as-ociati :,r-iv,- qualities 



al t<> permanent succeas. 



<>n March -J'J. 1*.7. the Supreme Court <.f the 

 United States rendered adeci-ion \,\ which all such 

 a ociations as those described seein to be declared 

 illegal under the anti-trust law. 



IM I -nlMIl h ( III IM II IN AMERICA. The 

 statistical reports of this ohorch, presented to the 



(ieiicral Synol in .lune. give the foflowini 



Number of churches. u':>4 ; of mini- 1 ithT 



candidates: (f families, 5s. :',71 ; of comnmn; 



107,960; of bapti/cd noncommunii 



baptisms during the year, 6,2^'> <.f infants and 



1 .:{!." of adults; of menibers received on confe 



: of Sunday schools, {!.-). with a total enroll- 

 incut of 120,808 names; number of catechu 

 27,800. Amount of contributions for denomina- 

 tional licnevolcnt objects. $204. svj; for oth.-r ob- 

 ject-. $100.754 : of contribution^ for congregational 

 purposes, $1,038,321. These figures show an in- 

 crease of 5 churches. "2 ministers, 666 fan 

 and 8,256 commun: decrease of $23,458 



in contribution* for denominational benevolent ob- 

 jects and of $11.250 in those for ot and 

 an increase of $32.818 in contributions : 

 gational purposes. 



The report of the I: lucation to the (len- 



i showed that 114 -tudent- had been 



aided, M new name- had been enrolled, and 13 



student- had entered the ministry during the year. 



The Board of Publication reported that it had a 

 bu-iness a I $16.000. Th.- contrib,, 



had amounted to $!.:>*. the -mallest amount re- 

 i during the last fif'' Th" Synod di- 



1 to discriminate between it's purely 

 bu-iness affairs and its benevolent work, and to re- 

 port separately concernintr th-m. 



The total receipts of the Hoard of Hon.. 

 had been > f which $40.11 I were in contri- 



bution- from the churches. Sunday schools, ;md in- 

 dividuals, to home missions and the Church Build- 

 ing fund; $10,262 from legacies, and upward of 



