40 BULLETIN 1207. r. s. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
that will sustain an assessment ; but. it' the district would put a greater burden 
upon one property over another, it must disclose sonic benefit different in 
character and special to the property which is made subject to the greater 
burden. 
It seems clear that the basis for a high assessment upon any kind 
of property may be a benefit which is not necessarily "different in 
character and special to the property which is made subject to a 
greater burden, " but a benefit depending on the use made of the 
property and differing only in degree from the benefits accruing to 
other classes of property. 
ELEMENTS OF RAILROAD BENEFITS. 
In determining the elements of railroad benefits it should be borne 
in mind that the best that can be hoped for is a crude approximation 
of the real benefits, and that it is useless to assert that benefits exist 
which can not be established in court. In fairness both to the drain- 
age district and to the railroad, the following elements should be 
considered in the general case, while still others may be present in 
individual cases. 
DECKE \si;n MAINTENANCE. 
Prevention of flood damage. — Where this item is present it is 
usually the largest in amount and the easiest to evaluate. All rail- 
roads keep an account of their losses and extraordinary expenses 
caused by floods, and if the improvement be designed to prevent 
all floods, thus saving all such losses, the benefit to accrue would be 
the average yearly loss capitalized at a fair rate of interest ; how- 
ever, as few drainage improvements are designed to prevent the 
largest possible flood but merely to reduce its height or shorten its 
duration, it is not usually just to consider all the railroad's flood 
losses saved. If during the time covered by the flood damage rec- 
ords, the railroad has made improvements which have served to 
reduce flood damage it should be given credit for the benefit arising 
from such improvement. As has been said, such benefit is not the 
cost of the work, but the capitalized annual saving. 
Removal of surface water from the right of way. — This element 
of benefit is not susceptible of such ready evaluation as is the pre- 
vious one. Railroad companies declare that their books do not show 
a decrease in maintenance charges when standing water is removed 
from the right of way. One reason for this is that maintenance costs 
are kept for the section as the smallest unit. A section is seldom 
less than 4 or 5 miles in length, a part of which may have standing 
water along the right of way and another part be thoroughly 
drained. There is no way to divide the costs of work done on the 
section as between wet and dry portions. Attempts to compare costs 
of maintenance of sections in low swampy country with costs in high 
and well drained country have been unsatisfactory, as manifestly 
other factors than the mere presence or absence of water are involved 
in such a comparison. 
It seems reasonable to expect that water standing against an em- 
bankment for considerable periods, say within 4 feet of the base of 
rail, will tend to permeate the fill and render it soft, unstable, and 
more or less dangerous; and that this condition must be met by an 
increased maintenance expenditure on the track so affected. If this 
be admitted, it follows that the removal of the standing water will 
