[3] Compiled from "The Coal Trade," 1888, (H. E. Saward), and "Poor's Manual of Railroads," and partially estimated.
[4] From the "Compendium of the Tenth Census of the United States," Part II., pp. 1378 and 1384.
[5] "Railway Practice." By E. P. Alexander, President Central Railroad and Banking Co. of Georgia.
[6] It should be explained that it is only proposed to base the rates as a whole upon the cost of service. As regards the relative rates on different commodities, the author, in common with all who have given careful study to the question, recognizes that the only equitable principle for proportioning rates is the much maligned one of "charging [in proportion to] what the traffic will bear." The argument against this principle is so very plausible that, until he had given the subject thorough study he held a diametrically opposite opinion.
To make plain to the reader that this is really the only equitable principle, the following illustration may serve: A coal-mine operator and a sewing-machine manufacturer build together a railroad to carry their respective products to a market. They will fix the total rates of freight at such a point as to just pay the cost of service; but it is required to find what relative rates each should be equitably charged on the shipments from his works. Evidently, to have the rates perfectly equitable, they must be in exact proportion to the benefit which each party derives from the use of the road. But this benefit which each derives is measured by the profits which each makes from his business; and this profit, in turn, is the measure of the amount each can afford to pay for the use of the road,—that is to say, "what the traffic will bear." Q. E. D.
Transcriber's Notes & Errata
Some tables have been reformatted for clarity.
The following typographical errors have been corrected:
| 57 | particularly | particular |
| 105 | 1888, | 1888. |
| 127 | succcessful | successful |
| 169 | ascendency | ascendancy |
| 174 | quenced | quenched |
| 178 | accomodate | accommodate |
| 246 | owership | ownership |
The following words were found to be variably hyphenated. The figures in parentheses are the number of times each has been found.