The mileage operated in 1908 is stated as 228,164.80 and in 1909 as 233,002.67 miles.
On page 54 of the report the summary compiled from the monthly reports gives the following comparative figures for the same years:
| Total Operating Revenues | Total Operating Expenses | Net Revenue | Taxes | |
| 1908 | $2,421,542,004 | $1,687,144,975 | $734,397,029 | $83,775,869 |
| 1909 | 2,443,312,232 | 1,615,497,233 | 827,814,998 | 89,026,226 |
The mileage is the same as above, with the added information that the mileage operated at the end of the fiscal year 1908 was 229,952.36; and at the end of 1909, 234,182.70.
It will be observed that the taxes in both summaries are identical, but in one they are subtracted from net revenues and in the other they are not.
An insert facing page 54, giving the details of the monthly reports from which the table on that page is compiled, reveals the common source of both sets of returns and gives the key to the discrepancy between them. This is no less than the inclusion in the former of the revenues and expenses from "outside operations," which are excluded from the summary on page 54, in which the "net revenue" only from such outside source is mentioned and added to the net revenue from rail operations.
The impropriety and inaccuracy of such accounting becomes manifest when its effect is seen to vary the ratio of operating expenses to earnings from 69.67% to 69.93% in 1908, and from 66.12% to 66.64% in 1909.
On pages 64 and 65 appears another set of income figures for the year ending June 30, 1908. This is compiled from the annual reports of the carriers operating 230,494 miles of line, from which the mileage of switching and terminal companies is excluded. It supplies the following summary:
| Year Ending June 30, 1908. | |
| Rail operations: | |
| Operating revenues | $2,393,805,989 |
| Operating expenses | 1,669,547,876 |
| Net operating revenue | 724,258,113 |
| Taxes | 78,673,794 |
| Net revenue from outside operations | 5,977,268 |
| Operating income | 651,561,587 |
| Ratio of operating expenses to earnings | 69.72 |