RELATIVE COST OF SERVICE.
To determine the relative costs to the railroads of performing mail, passenger and freight service, we must allocate the expenses to freight and passenger service as a whole, afterwards apportioning the latter to mails and other service. Railroad operating expenses apply jointly to both passenger and freight trains, so that, with few exceptions, it is impossible to determine exactly from any published statistics the cost of passenger train service as distinguished from freight. There are some items of train mile expense directly connected with movement which are less for passenger than for freight trains, whilst, on the other hand, many other expenses are greater for passenger than for freight, such as danger from casualties, necessity of expensive terminals, delays to other traffic through preference given to passenger trains, additional main tracks, and, particularly, higher standards of maintenance of roadbed required for high speed passenger train movement.
On account of the impossibility of separating the expenses, we assume that the above factors about balance each other and that the average cost of running all trains can be taken as either passenger or freight train mile cost, respectively, without serious error.
We allocate a proportion of the passenger train cost to the mails on the basis of the gross ton miles handled in each class of passenger traffic.
The relative revenues and expenses are shown on opposite page, mail revenues being as shown by 1908 Report of Postoffice Department, and other statistics as given in the 1907 Statistics of Railways of the United States, published by the Interstate Commerce Commission, or are computed therefrom.
ALL RAILROADS IN UNITED STATES.
Summary of Mail, Passenger and Freight Service.
| Mails. | Other Passenger. | Total Passenger. | Freight. | |
| Gross revenue | $ 48,155,379 | $621,939,274 | $670,094,653 | $1,823,651,998 |
| Operating expenses | $ 96,322,357 | $677,614,637 | $773,936,994 | $ 974,577,820 |
| Taxes and interest on bonds | $ 23,503,973 | $165,582,552 | $189,086,525 | $ 235,468,467 |
| Total expenses | $119,826,330 | $843,197,189 | $963,023,519 | $1,210,046,281 |
| Surplus | — | — | — | $ 613,605,711 |
| Deficit | $ 71,670,951 | $221,257,915 | $292,928,866 | — |
| Ton mileage (thousands)— | ||||
| Revenue weight | 484,683 | 3,411,592 | 3,896,275 | 236,601,390 |
| Dead weight | 10,498,482 | 73,877,400 | 84,375,882 | 256,833,896 |
| Total gross | 10,983,165 | 77,288,992 | 88,272,157 | 493,435,286 |
| Tons dead weight per ton revenue | 21.7 | 21.7 | 21.7 | 1.1 |
| Per gross ton mile (cents)— | ||||
| Gross earnings | 0.438 | 0.805 | 0.759 | 0.369 |
| Operating expenses | 0.877 | 0.877 | 0.877 | 0.197 |
| Earnings over operating expenses | — | — | — | 0.172 |
| Operating expenses over earnings | 0.439 | 0.072 | 0.118 | — |
| Taxes and interest on bonds | 0.214 | 0.214 | 0.214 | 0.048 |
| Surplus | — | — | — | 0.124 |
| Deficit | 0.653 | 0.286 | 0.332 | — |
| Per cent of operating expenses to earnings | 200 | 109 | 115 | 53 |
| Gross expenses to earnings | 249 | 135 | 144 | 67 |
| Figures exclude dividends, betterments and additions, etc. | ||||