THE FARMER AND THE RAILROADS. 165 



but upon what sums shall income be allowed, either to the 

 two lines before the inevitable consolidation, or the single 

 company afterward ? 



My intent here is not to decide all these hard questions, 

 for if I could do so, justly, my services would be in too great 

 demand to permit me to write this book, but to indicate the 

 difficulty of what seem to some simple matters. The fact is 

 that the question of the just capitalization of railroad proper- 

 ties can only be decided as individual cases arise, by competent 

 tribunals with all available information before them ; and 

 upon human judgment and integrity, thus acting under a sense 

 of responsibility, we must finally rest There can apparently 

 be no general rule which will work justice in all cases. 



The rate of income to be allowed is seldom the occasion of 

 popular discussion. All seem agreed that capital honestly 

 invested is entitled to remuneration, fixed by the current 

 rates of long-time interest, with a proper allowance for risk, 

 and with some consideration for the length of time for which 

 the property has been unproductive, as in the case of develop- 

 ment roads built into new country. The public is not mean 

 about such things, but, on the contrary, is generous. 



But suppose the proper capitalization agreed upon, and the 

 income to be produced fixed, in what way shall the burden of 

 producing it be adjusted? And this leads into a whole nest 

 of knotty questions. 



I pick up, at random, an old report, and find that in a 

 certain year a railroad com[)any transported freight to an 

 amount equal to 704,772,500 tons one mile, and that the total 

 expense chargeable to freight traffic, divided by the number 

 of ton miles, gives eighty-three one-hundredths of a cent as 

 the average cost of hauling one ton one mile. Tlie cost of 

 the individual services rendered of course varied greatly, for 

 the road is a long one, and hauling is much cheaper upon 

 some divisions than upon others. The cost of transporting 

 a certain commodity a certain distance by rail is not com- 

 putable by the most skilled transportation expert, but it is 

 affected by many things, as, for instance, length of haul, cost 

 of coal, rate of w^ages, gradients and curves, presence or 



