There is not a line or figure of this table, with its percentages of increase, that does not testify at once to the amazing growth of American railways and to the equally amazing economical basis upon which they render incalculable services to the American people on terms that challenge the admiration of less favored peoples.
Review of the Last Three Calendar Years.
Where the Twenty-second Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission minimized the loss inflicted on the railways by the business depression of 1908, the Twenty-third Annual Report naturally, and by reason of the same cause, minimizes the substantial recovery of 1909. Where the former showed a loss in gross earnings of only $164,464,941 below the preceding year, when the actual result of the depression was nearly $300,000,000 ($298,457,576), the latter shows a recovery of only $21,770,228, when it was approximately $282,000,000 ($281,934,932).
The explanation of this discrepancy is, of course, the Commission's adherence to its own fiscal periods of statistics, which do not happen, in this instance, to coincide with the ebb and flow of adversity and prosperity. The true movement of railway traffic before, during and after the recent business depression is more nearly reflected in the following figures for the calendar years 1907, 1908 and 1909, compiled from the monthly returns to the Interstate Commerce Commission, divided into periods of six months:
| Summary of Gross Earnings of the Railways During the Calendar Years 1907, 1908 and 1909, by Months and Half-Yearly Divisions. | |||
| 1907 | 1908 | 1909 | |
| January | $199,000,000 | $173,611,809 | $183,139,419 |
| February | 178,300,000 | 161,085,493 | 174,425,832 |
| March | 211,700,000 | 183,509,935 | 205,700,012 |
| April | 214,800,000 | 175,071,604 | 196,993,104 |
| May | 224,800,000 | 174,527,138 | 201,572,072 |
| June | 223,000,000 | 184,047,216 | 210,356,965 |
| Half year | $1,251,600,000 | $1,051,853,195 | $1,172,185,404 |
| July | $228,672,250 | $195,245,655 | $219,964,739 |
| August | 241,303,469 | 206,877,014 | 236,559,877 |
| September | 234,386,899 | 219,013,703 | 246,065,955 |
| October | 250,575,757 | 233,105,042 | 260,613,053 |
| November | 220,445,465 | 211,281,504 | 247,370,954 |
| December | 194,304,969 | 205,455,170 | 222,006,183 |
| Half year | $1,369,688,809 | $1,270,978,038 | $1,432,580,761 |
| Total | 2,621,288,809 | 2,322,831,233 | 2,604,766,165 |
| Average mileage | 227,000 | 231,584 | 234,950 |
| Earnings per mile | $11,548 | $10,030 | $11,086 |
| Summary of Operating Expenses of the Railways During the Calendar Years 1907, 1908 and 1909, by Months and Half-Yearly Periods, with Ratios to Gross Earnings. | |||
| 1907 | 1908 | 1909 | |
| January | $134,225,000 | $132,502,830 | $132,659,037 |
| February | 121,500,000 | 123,773,906 | 125,229,071 |
| March | 142,425,000 | 128,200,065 | 136,086,299 |
| April | 144,990,000 | 124,284,164 | 134,612,576 |
| May | 151,740,000 | 123,932,568 | 135,846,301 |
| June | 150,525,000 | 124,208,561 | 136,160,775 |
| Half year | $845,405,000 | $756,902,094 | $800,594,059 |
| Ratio | 67.7% | 72% | 68.3% |
| July | $152,992,445 | $127,978,304 | $141,613,967 |
| August | 156,837,914 | 131,557,475 | 146,175,338 |
| September | 156,631,780 | 137,155,143 | 150,621,999 |
| October | 166,999,266 | 144,195,330 | 156,628,513 |
| November | 154,150,468 | 136,809,421 | 153,043,599 |
| December | 142,631,008 | 136,867,622 | 153,699,578 |
| Half year | $930,242,881 | $814,563,295 | $901,782,994 |
| Ratio | 68% | 64.1% | 62.9% |
| Total | $1,775,647,881 | $1,571,465,389 | $1,702,377,053 |
| Ratio | 67.8% | 67.7% | 65.4% |
| Net operating revenue | $845,640,928 | $751,365,844 | $902,389,113 |
| Taxes | 83,156,188 | 86,872,885 | 92,964,510 |
| Net operating income | $762,484,740 | $664,492,959 | $809,424,603 |
Through these tables the reader is able to trace the upward course of railway receipts in 1907 to their culmination in October of that year; their rapid drop to February, 1908; through the hard summer following to the gradual recovery of 1909, until in October last they reached the highest monthly total on record.
Concurrently with this story of the depression of 1908, the tale of railway distress and of the drastic measures adopted to meet the emergency can be read in the half-yearly ratios. The ratio for the fiscal year 1906-'07 was 67.53%, and the shadow of approaching trouble was shown in an increase of this ratio to 67.7% for the first six months in the table. By December this ratio had risen to 73.40%. The enormous receipts of the autumn months held the ratio for the six months down to 68%. In February, 1908, it marked the high and ruinous figure of 76.84, and from that point the trend, due to severe retrenchments, was steadily downward until it touched 60.10% in October, 1909.