As a definition of that estimate of worth which an engineering commission should report as the result of a complete appraisal, the writer submits the following:
The value of a property is its estimated worth at a given time, measured in money, taking into account all the elements which add to its usefulness or desirability as a business or profit-earning proposition.
There are two classes of elements entering into the final value:
(1) The "Physical Property" Element of Value.—This consists of those things which are visible and tangible, capable of being inventoried, their cost of reproduction determined, their depreciation measured, and without which the property would be unable to produce the commodity on the sale of which income depends. This physical property is considered as an operating entity, and not as collateral of inert and partly worn-out equipment, and, being so considered, carries, as part of the physical value, those costs and charges which are an inseparable part of the cost of construction but do not appear in the inventory of the completed property.
(2) The "Non-Physical" or "Intangible" Elements of Value.—These are those things which, added to or taken from the worth of the physical property, make up the value, and include whatever accrues to the property by reason of its operation, or by reason of grants, contract rights, competition, or location, which at the time of appraisal affect favorably or unfavorably the worth of the property.
The worth of the physical property is primarily that on which the value of the whole property rests.
While it is clear that the worth of the physical property, being the cost of reproduction less depreciation, is not necessarily the value of the property, it is equally clear that the physical worth must bear some very definite relation to value, and the writer is strongly of the conviction that this relation is such that "value" cannot be ascertained without a determination of physical worth. The physical property element represents the investment on which a fair return is to be earned, and in most cases an appraisal is necessary for the determination of the amount of money actually invested. As illustration of the fact that "physical value" and "value" are not the same, the case of two railroads actually existing and in operation between two cities in Michigan may be cited.
Road "A" occupies a narrow valley through high and abrupt hills. Its alignment is fair for hilly country; its maximum grade is 1 per cent. It has a number of bridges, all short and low. Its cost of reproduction might reasonably be placed at $28,000 per mile. A mining town at one end ships a heavy tonnage down grade to a lake port at the other.
Road "B" was constructed several years later, and, being barred from the only valley, built a line across the hills, involving heavy grading, very long and high steel trestles, a longer line, maximum grades of 2%, and a heavy climb from the mining town to the summit before starting to drop to the lake. The cost of construction was more than double that of Line "A," and the tonnage which can be hauled in either direction is but a small fraction of that which can be hauled with the same power by Road "A." A reasonable figure for cost of reproduction may be given as $60,000 per mile.[[4]]
Here is clearly a case where the older, less expensively built road has a value as an earning proposition far in excess of that of the new road. The rate on commodities does not affect the relative difference. A higher rate, while permitting Road "B" to live, greatly adds to the value of Road "A," while the latter can operate at a profit on rates which would not permit Road "B" to pay expenses.