Two income accounts—one of operating roads and the other of leased roads—for the year ending June 30, 1908, give a clew as to how the Official Statistician more than doubles the dividends actually paid out of transportation revenues. The gross total is made up of these four items:
| Operating roads: | |
| Dividends declared from current income | $271,328,453 |
| Dividends declared out of surplus | 57,733,808 |
| Leased roads: | |
| Dividends declared from current income | 33,843,577 |
| Dividends declared out of surplus | 27,550,596 |
| Total | $390,456,434 |
As these income accounts show that the operating companies received $280,427,460 "other income" from outside operations and sources other than transportation, and the leased roads received $111,153,013 "income from lease of road," the source of the major part of this fictitious dividend is revealed. The $280,427,460 from other sources would pay the entire income of the leased roads and leave nearly $170,000,000 to extinguish so much of the dividends declared by the operating roads.
Modified as to details, this is what actually occurs every year. In the year 1908 the total amount paid out of transportation revenues on account of capital of the 97% of the railways of the United States reporting to this Bureau was represented in the sums:
| Net interest on funded debt | $282,354,000 |
| Interest on current liabilities | 31,835,708 |
| Rent paid for lease of roads | 113,529,261 |
| Net dividends | 104,074,006 |
| Total | $531,792,975 |
This total was equivalent to 4.15% on the net capitalization of the roads represented. The rental paid the lessor roads constituted the fund from which those roads paid their interest and dividends. Further remark on the misleading and harmful statement of the Official Statistician as to dividends declared in 1908 is unnecessary.