| 1910 | Revenue per ton mile. (Cents) | Freight density. | Av. haul per ton. (Miles) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New England— | |||
| New York, New Haven & Hartford | 1.417 | 1,057,000 | 93.4 |
| Boston & Maine | 1.08 | 1,046,000 | 102.8 |
| Southern— | |||
| Atlantic Coast Line | 1.273 | 365,000 | 145 |
| Southern R.R. | .957 | .. | .. |
| Louisville & Nashville | .751 | 1,124,000 | 170 |
| Illinois Central | .589 | 1,445,000 | 238 |
| Western and Transcontinental— | |||
| Denver & Rio Grande | 1.279 | 532,000 | 104 |
| Southern Pacific | 1.232 | 745,000 | 256 |
| Union Pacific | 1.011 | 1,091,000 | 364 |
| Northern Pacific | .900 | 940,000 | 297 |
| Great Northern | .822 | 814,700 | 244.1 |
| Granger— | |||
| Chicago & North Western | .891 | 729,000 | 141 |
| Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul | .843 | 709,000 | 173 |
| United States, all roads | .753 | 1,071,000 | 146 |
| Trunk Lines— | |||
| Erie | .626 | 2,808,000 | 146 |
| New York Central & Hudson River | .625 | 2,548,000 | 195 |
| Pennsylvania Railroad | .580 | 5,139,000 | 168 |
| Baltimore & Ohio | .577 | 2,711,000 | 191 |
| Lake Shore & Michigan Southern | .515 | 3,911,000 | 171 |
| Coal and Ore— | |||
| Philadelphia & Reading | .765 | 4,506,000 | 97 |
| Lehigh Valley | .646 | 3,288,000 | 174 |
| Hocking Valley | .458 | 4,014,000 | 125 |
| Bessemer & Lake Erie | .453 | 8,051,000 | 118 |
| Norfolk & Western | .447 | 3,456,000 | 264 |
| Chesapeake & Ohio | .407 | 3,161,000 | 267 |
The nature of the traffic handled by a carrier is the most important consideration to be kept in mind in interpreting revenue per ton mile data. This is most clearly shown by comparison in the table between the group of coal and ore roads and the New England systems. The revenue per unit of service on a road whose traffic is largely of low grade most necessarily be low. Probably the lowest average ever reported in the United States was for the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1899—the low point in the general movement of freight rates—when its ton-mile revenue touched O.362 cents. Whenever the business of a carrier consists largely of coal, grain, lumber or other low-grade commodities on which the freight charges must necessarily be exceedingly low in order that the freight shall move at all, the revenue per ton mile must consequently stand at a low figure. Bald comparison of any such revenue with a corresponding figure for high-grade roads is obviously misleading and fallacious. It does not mean that the latter necessarily charges more for the same service; but its higher revenue per ton of freight moved one mile may be, and very likely is, merely due to the fact that much of its tonnage is capable of bearing higher charges. From this circumstance it also follows that comparisons from year to year either for single roads or for the entire railway net, must be made in the light of variations in the proportion of high and low grade tonnage. The trend seems to have been steadily downward in this regard year by year. A steady increase, relatively, in the volume of low-grade traffic has long been under way.[490]
The development of the last twenty years in the United States has certainly been in favor of a great increase in low-grade traffic. This is shown by the following table, giving the per cent. of tonnage in various classes upon the trunk lines from New York to and beyond Chicago.
Per Cent. of Tonnage in Each Class of Freight on Trunk Lines, Westbound[491]
| Class | 1878 | 1880 | 1885 | 1890 | 1892 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30.4 | 26.4 | 24.8 | 21.0 | 19.9 |
| 2 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 7.1 | 6.4 | 5.4 |
| 3 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 12.3 | 11.3 |
| 4 | 57.9 | 50.1 | 29.3 | 12.7 | 10.4 |
| 5 | 0.0 | 10.6 | 34.6 | 10.0 | 9.6 |
| 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 37.6 | 43.4 |
| Special | 0.0 | 1.8 | 0.0 | .. | .. |
| 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
From this it appears that "sixty per cent. of the tonnage is now (1893) carried in fourth, fifth and sixth classes.... Prior to 1886 no considerable number of articles were permanently assigned to the fifth and sixth classes; they embraced usually a few commodities which had been assigned a special rate." Further consideration of this table shows that first-class freight, forming thirty per cent. of the tonnage in 1878, declined to less than twenty per cent. in 1892; while at the same time sixth-class freight ran up from nothing to 43.4 per cent. in 1892. Fourth-class freight declined during the same period from 57.9 to 10.4 per cent. These figures simply mean that a great deal of traffic is now carried upon American railways for long distances which a generation ago it was believed could not be profitably moved at all. The utility of the railway service, once supposedly confined entirely to freight of the higher classes, has been gradually extended until today there is no commodity too cheap to be handled with the improved facilities. This vast increase in the amount of low-grade traffic is undoubtedly responsible to some degree for the apparent decline of freight rates so often instanced. Fortunately upon this point we have the specific testimony of traffic managers of long experience. On the other hand, in justice to the railways it must be admitted that the proportion of local business at high rates, which would tend to increase the average revenue per ton mile, has steadily increased with the growth of the country; and, moreover, as has already been shown, in times of exceptional prosperity the movement of high-grade freight has increased in more than its due proportion.[492] Nor are these facts adduced in criticism of American railway policy. They are simply intended to draw attention to the fact that, while changes of freight rates have undoubtedly been considerable, they have not been as great as is oftentimes plausibly stated. As for comparisons with foreign countries, they are practically invalidated by the difference in local conditions, as, for instance, in England where local delivery is involved. In the United States such service is charged in addition, either as drayage or express.
The increased diversification in the freight tonnage of American railways, always in the direction of a larger proportion of traffic from general business rather than from the movement of staple commodities, is also of great fiscal significance. It means not only more business, but better and more permanent traffic. The difference, moreover, between the charge which high-grade freight, such as merchandise, will bear by comparison with the highest rate upon grain or coal, is much greater than any difference in the cost of service. The profit, therefore, attendant upon the movement of traffic other than low-grade commodities is strikingly great; although, of course, profitableness is a question of relativity between operating cost and revenue. Heavy train loads of coal at 4 mills per ton mile may be better business than merchandise in light carloads at a rate five times as high. At all events the tendency toward higher grade tonnage has been notable, especially since 1900. Many western roads and even the trunk lines, formerly dependent in a great measure upon the movement of crops, are now affected only indirectly in this regard, by reason of their influence upon general business. The growing diversification of traffic because of its financial importance merits more concrete illustration.