IHE ^3 P5 liiii Cornell University Library HE 2355.P3 Statistics of f reiglit traffic 3 1924 014 544 393 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014544393 INTEllSTATE COMMERCE AND RAILWAY traffic; COVRSE / rrep^recl Undfer E^ti^rial SupervinQn of > - Samuel MkeGlifttoclc,Pli.lb. The, eqbjecta Usted belo^ (Constitute 'the basip material of f' coi^rse m liift^^te -Commerce and Hiajlway Traffic, lliia cQursd is e^edaUy: d^li^i^Vto me^ the c^istantl^ ' growing' demaiid for effitaeotly ''t^am^dVmen in Tajlroad and* iddustri^l tr^c^wdrk; to afi^t students to; pass the'^cam- .inaiion^-^forj'royerjiroent^praxic^ the -latetptate* Cpm^ meree ; Cbtaipussioji| ajad" to' meet the demand fqi* ^lea «om-? ■petent' to ^ecl^ -the work of, <;'omme^ciaJl :^r|anizatioiis and /traffip; bureaus.' ■'^tli 4;]^e-ex^e^!^tqf ^ t^^ bif E^ilway TJafflfe Maps, the jsubjecta listed belo# are o6yei;ed fix an average of approximately 200 pages e^atah. ' : Atlais of Rwlway Traffic Maps y . i Traffic GloS^iy / , ■ . ■ "■ • ";■.."■■; ' ':' ' "- ,, , _;',/'^y Fre^ight Classificiation;^ine Ways of pLeducing Freight j. 'Frisiip*tr,Ratiest Western T^tpryjBastt for Freight Fi??igJiTt!^;Eatesj Official Giassifiai,lib4.T . V' -Eaiftetn Canada; Industnar Traffic Dq>artiiient Ftei^ Rates: Southern Teiritory , Pubpcatipn and Filing of Tariffs "^ - , Freid?t ClaiigJs ; Investigation bff Freight Claims; : Rbutiiji^' Freight Shipments*. The: Bit! of LacUog; ' A I'riitiutfy Ijess^^ Transit;, Dranurrage ' . Railway Organi:^^on;. Sttttistiis; of Ffe Railway Accounting, ',; ,: Tlie, Egress Service, and Rafes (^ Ocean Traffic and Trade J, ^■> • Railway 'Regiilaition-.V'-:-'/, ■-•Aitv. . ' ^ >r ■->,,'■ ^The Act tb^R^ulate Cbminerc^ d Supplemental Acts Conf^encie Ruluigi! ; .l^ojp^ulre' Before t^e Inltersiiite Commerce Cbimra^m^''; GroUn^ of Proof in ;Rate;Cases ■ 'h^.^^'.:-'''' ',■, '. '- Application of Agency Tariffs ' The Law of ^l^rriefs of Goods Practical Traffic Prb^ems , t ' - , > i^AIlE EXTEJ^SON PNJYEksETY' ' STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC JULIUS H. PARMELEE, Ph D. Statistician, Bureau of Railway Economics lasalle extension university CHICAGO 1917 9-107 CONTENTS Statistics op Freight Traffic Introduction 1 Definitions 3 Statistics of Railway Mileage 12 Equipment 17 Statistics of Railway Capitalization 19 Railway Revenues and Expenses 22 Freight TrafiBc Statistics 24 Practical Significance of Freight Statistics 30 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC Inteoduction Modern railway transportation in the United States may be classified roughly under three heads: 1. Transportation of merchandise and other goods by freight train. 2. Transportation of passengers. 3. Incidental duties undertaken in connection with the principal branches of transportation work — among others the transfer of small parcels by express, the trans- portation of personal baggage of passengers under the checking privilege, and the carriage of the federal mails. To a casual observer the passenger business of the railways probably appears the most important part of their many functions. Passenger trains are the only trains to appear at our great terminal stations ; the pass- enger business is most extensively advertised through- out the newspapers and periodicals of the United States ; recent legislative regulation of railways has appealed^ perhaps more strongly to the public in their capacity as railway travelers than as shippers of freight. Freight trains, on the other hand, come and go from terminal yards as unobtrusively as possible; they are switched onto sidings to make way for fast passenger trains, so far as it may be possible, and are largely run at night 1 2 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC when passenger service is at a minimum ; it is also true that the freight business of the railways receives rela- tively little public advertisement. It is hardly strange that the freight activities of our railways are discounted in the mind of the layman. Yet from the point of view of railway officials and em- ployes -and of railway security holders, certainly also from the point of view of the student of railway prob- lems, the freight business as a whole is far more impor- tant than the passenger business and other incidental features of railway transportation. In the matter of revenue, for example, receipts from freight represent more than two-thirds of the aggregate railway receipts of the United States. In the matter of number of trains, the freight business represents a very large part of the total railway business, while the aggregate number of miles covered by freight trains each year is considerably greater than the number covered by passenger trains. In the matter of traffic, the railways of the United States in 1911 transported over twice as many tons of freight as they did passengers, and inasmuch as the average ton of freight is carried more than four times as great a dis- tance as the average passenger, freight traffic is clearly more important and extensive than passenger traffic. Freight service holds still another point of superiority over passenger service. Not only is the freight business more important than the passenger business, considered ia mere physical units, but it may fairly be regarded as of greater social value. Few people consider the vital part that freight transportation plays in their daily lives. With the fewest exceptions, nothing we wear or use from day to day but is brought to us in the finished state, or is carried in half-finished state from mill to STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 3 mill, or is taken in raw state from mine or quarry or forest or farm to factory, by freight. Millions of the inhabitants of the United States do not ride as passen- gers on railway traras from New Tear to New Year. Few of us are constant travelers by rail. But we all depend for our daily existence upon the freight service performed by the railways. It is a part of the compli- cated fabric woven into the very life of modern society. The importance of the freight business of the rail- ways is further emphasized in the minds of railway men by the claim, frequently made, that it is the only paying factor in the railway transportation business. This claim cannot be substantiated until the accounting methods of the railways are placed on the most minute cost basis, but it is almost universally advanced by experienced rail- way men. If true, then the freight business' of the rail- ways plays a dual role in that it provides not only the revenues out of which the expenses of freight transpor- tation are paid, but also furnishes the net revenue out of which the deficits encountered in the passenger and other branches of the railway business may be made up. Further, if true, net revenue from freight must meet not only the deficits from these other branches, but all the fixed charges on railway property as well, and must provide in addition for necessary improvements and enlargements, for dividends on stock, and for a reason- able surplus against the proverbial rainy day. Definitioks Before entering upon a discussion of freight traffic statistics, a brief explanation may be made of the terms used throughout this treatise, in order that there may be no confusion of ideas. 4 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC A manufacturing company has a plant or group of plants in which it carries on its business. In the same way a railway company, which may be said to manufac- ture transportation, operates a definite plant, consist- ing of track, equipment, and buildings. The principal terms applied to these several factors of the railway plant may be described as in the following paragraphs. Track. — ^Miles of line or road are the statute miles of single track of a railway between the two places which it connects. For example, a railway running between the cities of A and B, 100 miles apart by rail, has 100 miles of line. These miles of line are sometimes called single-track mileage, measured along the one track of the railway if it is a single-track road, and along the original or principal track if the road is double or multiple- tracked. Suppose this railway, which we will call the A & B BaUway, to be a double-track line. Each of its two tracks is a main track, in that it serves for the passage of reg- ular trains running in one or the other direction. The A & B Railway therefore has 100 miles of line and 200 miles of main track. If quadruple-tracked it would still have 100 miles of line, but its main-track mileage would amount to 400 miles. In addition to the regular or main tracks of a railway it is necessary to build many incidental tracks, which serve as cross-overs from one track to another, as feeders from manufacturing plants or from junction points with other railways, as facilities for switching trains in the yards, for shunting cars back and forth, and for the storage of locomotives and cars. These tracks, commonly grouped under the head of "yard track and sidings," are included with the main tracks STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 5 under the term all tracks. If the A & B Eailway has 200 miles of such yard track and sidings in addition to 200 miles of main track, its total trackage amounts to 400 miles, made up of 100 miles of line, which may be regarded as the first main track, 100 miles of addi- tional main track, and 200 miles of yard track and sidings. Equipment. — Track is laid in order that the railway may be able to run trains. Trains consist of locomotives and cars. Although locomotives are built primarily for use as freight or passenger locomotives, their employ- ment in either the passenger or the freight branch of the railway service is more or less optional with the railway. That is, a heavy freight locomotive with small driving wheels designed to pull heavily loaded trains at a slow rate of speed may be assigned to the passenger service, there to pull a passenger train ; on the other hand, a passenger locomotive built primarily for speed, with driving wheels of large diameter, may be assigned to pull heavy trains in freight service. A writer has put this point as follows: "Coal engines may not haul fast expresses, nor express passenger engines coal trains; but each of them will eke out their own proper work with the haulage of the large intermediate class of fast freight and slow passenger trains." A third general class of locomotives consists of those built primarily for switching. These represent a smaller type of locomotive than the freight or the passenger type, being designed for short-distance work under close control. When old or obsolete, both passenger and freight locomotives may be assigned to branch lines, to mining or lumber service, or to switching service, to perform whatever duties may be demanded of them. 6 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC In other words, it may be said generally that while freight and passenger locomotives represent different types of equipment, the line of demarcation is not very clear, and oftentimes disappears. One of the few excep- tions to this rule is found in the so-called Mallet type of locomotive, which is a freight locomotive exclusively. The distinctive features of the Mallet locomotive are two sets of frames mounted on separate trucks, one set carrying high-pressure cylinders and the other set low- pressure cylinders. This type is coming into favor for heavy freight work ; the number in service increased more than 8 per cent during 1914, while the number of all other locomotives increased only slightly more than 2 per cent. With respect to cars, the line of demarcation between freight and passenger types is well defined and rarely deviated from. A freight ear is a freight car and will seldom or never be utilized for the carriage of passen- gers, while a passenger car will practically never be degraded to the level of carrying freight. Locomotives and cars, therefore, may be divided according as they are designed for and employed in the freight or the passenger service, respectively. Freight locomotives have no special sub-classes, but are subject to the same classification as that which per- tains to all locomotives. This classification, as laid down by the Interstate Commerce Commission for utilization by the railways of the United States, first divides loco- motives into three groups, according as they are single- expansion, four-cylinder compound, or two-cylinder com- pound. Each of these groups is subdivided into approxi- mately thirty classes, according to the number and arrangement of driving-wheels and trailers. Freight cars are subdivided by the Interstate Com- merce Commission into six general classes, as follows: STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TEAFFIC 7 box cars; flat cars; stock cars; coal cars; tank cars; refrigerator cars. Briefly described, box cars, the most familiar type of freight cars, are exactly what the term implies — ^long boxes set on trucks. Flat cars are platforms mounted on trucks. Stock cars, designed for the transportation of live stock, may be described as roofed pens on wheels. Coal cars comprise numerically the largest class of freight cars, next to box cars'^ many of these are of the self -discharging hopper type. Tank cars are exactly described by, their name. Refrigerator cars are built specially for the speedy transportation of perishable food products at low temperature. Buildings. — That part of the railway plant which con- sists of buildings is chiefly comprised of passenger and freight stations, freighthouses, warehouses, and in some cases buildings used as railway offices. A railway may also own grain elevators, ferry houses, buildings con- nected with electric light and power plants or gas works, and other classes of buildings, but these are incidental to its transportation business proper, and need not be en- larged upon in this connection. Transportation Units. — ^A train consists of one or more locomotives drawing one or more cars of whatever de- scription, with an assigned train crew on board. Sepa- rate sections of a passenger or freight train are consid- ered as separate trains if each carries a train crew. This is in accordance with the instructions of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Trains may be either passenger trains, devoted to the carriage of passengers, baggage, mail, and express, or to any one of these exclusively; freight trains, devoted exclusively to the carriage of merchandise or other 8 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC goods ; or mixed trains, which represent a combination of freight and passenger trains and may comprise freight, passenger, baggage, mail, and express cars, or so-called combination cars in which both goods and passengers are transported. A freight train may haul milk, bag- gage, express, or any cars other than passenger or bag- gage, and remain a freight train; it may carry passen- gers in its caboose and remain a freight train ; but attach a passenger or a baggage -car, and it becomes a mixed train. Similarly, a passenger train may include passen- ger, milk, baggage, express, or other than freight cars and remain a passenger train; but attach a freight car of any kind and it becomes a mixed train. A train-mile is the term employed to denote the work involved in moving a train the distance of one mile. If the A & B Railway runs a train over its 100 miles of track, the service so performed is represented by the term "one hundred train-miles." A freight train in action is gen- erating freight train-miles, while a passenger train gen- erates passenger train-miles. It is clear that one freight train-mile differs from an- other in the degree that the respective trains vary in the number and character of cars attached, in the extent to which the cars are loaded, and in the character and value of the material carried. A freight train-mile in a moun- tainous region, where grades are heavy and trains are necessarily light, is a very different thing from a freight train-mile on a level roadbed. Similarly, a freight train- mile in a coal-carrying region differs in character from a freight train-mile in a manufacturing or an agricultural region. So also does a freight train-mile vary in char- acter as between the United States and different for- eign countries. STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 9 When a railway transports a car a distance of one mile, the work is defined as a car-mile. If it be a freight car, the term used is freight car-mile ; if a passenger car, it is a passenger car-mile. A freight train running the 100 miles from A to B with a train of thirty cars adds 30 times 100 or 3,000 freight car-miles to the performance statistics of the A & B Railway. If the train runs with empty cars, the car-miles are called empty car-miles ; if with wholly or partially filled cars, the car-miles are called loaded car-miles ; if there is a caboose on the train, the performance of that particular car is measured in terms of caboose-miles. In the same way, a locomotive running a distance of one mile creates a locomotive-mile. If a freight loco- motive, it is a freight locomotive-mile. A locomotive running light (i. e. without a train at- tached) is manufacturing locomotive-miles alone. If it has a caboose or other freight car attached, and there is a train crew aboard, the combination is a freight train; each mile covered by the train represents one locomotive- mile on the part of the locomotive, one train-mile on the part of the train, one caboose-mile on the pairt of the ca- boose, and one freight ear-mile on the part of the freight ear. Attach a dozen additional freight cars to the train, and each, as the train proceeds will grind out a car-mile of its own particular kind, either empty or loaded. If two locomotives are required to draw the train, two loco- motive-miles are generated for each train-mile traversed. Traffic Units. — ^A ton of freight carried a distance of one mile is given the traffic denomination of one ton- mile. If a freight train carries fifty tons of freight on its trip from A to B it performs a traffic service of 50 times 100 or 5,000 ton-miles. In the same way a passen- 10 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC ger carried one mile represents a traffic unit of one pas- senger-mile. The restrictions already mentioned as surrounding the use of the train-mile unit do not apply in the same degree- to the car-mile and in even less degree to the ton-mile or passenger-mile traffic unit. While a freight train-mile may represent one car-mile or a hundred car-miles, ac- cording as there is a single car or a hundred cars in the train, there is less variation between different kinds of car-miles, especially when statistics of empty and loaded car-miles are separately returned. It is true that cars vary somewhat as to maximum capacity and as to the character of goods carried, but the variations in these regards are not potentially so great as between a freight train of one car and a freight train of a hundred cars. This being true, it is clear that the ton-mile is an even more satisfactory traffic unit, in that it refers to a con- stant avoirdupois weight carried a standard distance, the only possible variations being those of bulk, character of goods, and value. Similarly, a passenger-mile is practically a uniform unit, a passenger being to the rail- way a, standard unit varying but little as to bulk, weight, or transportability. Certain averages are computed upon the basis of the different freight units described, some being based upon track mileage, some upon revenue, and some upon other factors. Thus, freight train density is represented by the number of freight train-miles handled during a given year for each mile of line. It is ascertained by dividing the average number of miles of line in operation during the year into the aggregate freight train-miles for the year and may be concretely pictured to the mind as the average number of freight trains that pass any given STATISTICS OP FREIGHT TRAFFIC 11 point on the line during the year in question. Put dif- ferently, it expresses the freight-train movement of the year in terms equivalent to the total number of freight trains running the whole distance of the railway. Simi- larly, freight density is represented by the number of ton-miles handled per year for each mile of line, and is the result of dividing average miles of line operated into the aggregate ton-miles. This may be pictured mentally as the average number of tons of freight that pass any given point during the year, which is equivalent to the same number of tons carried from one end of the line to the other. The distance traversed by a freight shipment, multi- plied by the number of tons in the shipment, gives the number of ton-miles represented by that particular ship- ment. When a large number of shipments are taken into consideration, aggregating many tons, the average distance in miles traversed by each ton of the aggregate may be ascertained by dividing the total number of ton- miles by the total number of tons. This is called the average haul. To ascertain the average number of tons carried per freight train it is necessary to divide aggregate freight train-miles into aggregate ton-miles. This gives the num- ber of ton-miles per freight train-mile, or, what is the same thing, the average number of tons per freight train, commonly referred to as tons per train. This average is regarded as of the greatest importance, for it serves as one measure of the efficiency with which any railway or group of railways is conducting its freight business. This point will be elaborated later in connection with a discussion of freight traffic statistics. 12 STATISTICS OP FREIGHT TRAFFIC The revenue derived by a railway from its freight busi- ness is termed freight revenue. To ascertain what are the average receipts of a railway for any particular unit of freight traffic, the aggregate of such units is divided into freight revenue. Thus, freight train-miles may be divided into freight revenue to ascertain the average re- ceipts per freight train-mile, while in the same way ton- miles may be divided into freight revenue to ascertain average receipts per ton-mile. Statistics of Eailway Mileage Mileage and Population. — The total mileage of the steam railways of the United States on June 30, 1914 (the latest date for which the official statistics of the Inter- state Commerce Commission are available), was 252,231 miles of line. The distribution of mileage in 1911 ac- cording to the states of the Union, the number of miles of line per 100 square miles of territory in each state, and the number of miles of line per 10,000 inhabitants in each state, are shown in the following table. RAILWAY MILEAGE BY STATES : 1911 Mii^s or Line, June 30, 1911 Per 100 State square miles Per 10,000 Aggregate of territory inhabitants Alabama 5,259 10.26 24.24 Arizona 2,123 1.87 99.92 Arkansas 5,288 10.07 33.03 California 7,885 5.07 31.96 Colorado 5,587 5.39 67.72 Connecticut 1,001 20.77 8.82 Delaware 335 17.05 16.41 District of Columbia 36 59.95 1.07 Florida 4,556 8.30 58.78 Georgia 7,174 12.22 27.09 Idalio 2,458 2.95 71.85 Illinois 11,980 21.38 20.94 Indiana 7,447 20.66 27.39 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 13 Miles of Line, June 30, 1911 Per 100 State square miles Per 10,000 Aggregate of territory Inhabitants Iowa 9,856 17.73 44.31 Kansas 9.090 11.12 53.07 Kentucky 3,607 8.98 15.65 Louisiana 5,657 12.46 33.59 Maine 2,278 7.62 30.49 Maryland 1,434 14.43 10.98 Massacliusetts 2,115 26.31 6.18 Michigan 8,943 15.56 31.39 Minnesota 8,932 IIM 42.37 Mississippi 4,459 9.62 24.47 Missouri 8,108 11.80 24.48 Montana 4,326 2.96 111.11 Nebraska 6,066 7.90 50.35 Nevada 2,299 2.09 267.67 New Hampshire 1,246 13.80 28.82 New Jersey 2,267 30.16 8.71 New Mexico 3,038 2.48 89.21 New York 8,475 17.79 9.11 North Carolina 5,072 10.41 22.67 North Dakota 4,450 6.34 73.81 Ohio 9,128 22.41 18.91 Oklahoma 6,076 8.75 34.84 Oregon 2,657 2.78 38.03 Pennsylvania 11,341 25.30 14.54 Rhode Island 212 19.88 3.83 South Carolina 3,509 11.51 22.89 South Dakota 4,193 5.46 69.64 Tennessee 3,881 9.31 17.63 Texas 14,777 5.63 37.11 Utah 1,999 2.43 52.21 Vermont 1,072 11.75 30.00 Virginia 4,581 11.38 22.00 Washington 5,288 7.91 43.90 West Virginia 3,575 14.88 28.66 Wisconsin 7,399 13.39 31.35 Wyoming 1,644 1.68 108.71 United States 244,180 > 8,21 26.10 As indicating the progress of railway construction, in the gross and in relation to population, during the past 'The report for 1914 is practically identical with the above figures, as the changes in each state are very alight. The total for the United States for 1914 is 252,231 miles of line. 14 STATISTICS OP FREIGHT TRAFFIC ten and twenty years, respectively, it may be noted that on June 30, 1894, the total steam railway mileage (i. e., miles of line) of the United States was 178,709, while on June 30, 1904, it was 212,243. On June 30, 1914, it was 252,231. The rate of increase from 1894 to 1904 was 18.8 per cent, from 1904 to 1914, 18.8 per cent, and from 1894 to 1914 a total of 41.1 per cent. The number of miles of line per 10,000 inhabitants was 26.22 in 1894 and 27.99 in 1904. In 1914 the corre- sponding figure was 25.64. There was an increase in this respect from 1894 to 1904 amounting to 6.7 per cent, while from 1904 to 1914 there was a decrease of 8.4 per cent. From 1894 to 1904 population and railway mileage have grown at about the same rate; so 'the miles of line per 10,000 inhabitants averaged practically the same in 1914 as in 1894. The number of miles of line per 100 square miles of territory averaged 6.02 in 1894 and 7.14 in 1904. By 1914 it had risen to 8.48 miles. In this respect the rate of increase from 1894 to 1904 was 18.6 per cent, and from 1904 to 1914, 18.8 per cent. The increase for the twenty years as a whole amounted to 40.9 per cent, or nearly one-half. Inasmuch as the territory of the several states was practically the same in 1914 as 1904 and 1894, it is clear that the rates of increase in total miles and in miles per 100 square miles of territory would be approximately the same for any given decade. Briefly summarizing the last three paragraphs, rail- way mileage in the aggregate is growing at the rate of about 2 per cent a year, railway per square mile of area is growing at about the same rate, or 2 per cent a year, while railway mileage per capita is neither increas- ing nor decreasing, but remaining almost stationary. For the better understanding of railway conditions in STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 15 the United States, the Interstate Commerce Commission compiles railway returns in three groups, correspond- ing to the three principal sections of the United States. These sections are the Eastern district, comprising the states east of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and a line drawn from Chicago to St. Louis, and north of the Ohio and the Potomac rivers ; the Southern district, east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio and the Potomac rivers; the Western district, west of Lake Michigan, of a line drawn from Chicago to St. Louis, and of the Missis- sippi south of St. Louis. The miles of railway line in the Eastern district on June 30, 1914, amounted to 61,184 miles ; in the Southern district to 51,099 miles ; in the Western district to 139,948 miles. In other words, 55 per cent of the total mileage lies in the West, 25 per cent in the East, and 20 per cent in the South. Mileage Operated. — The railways of the United States operated on June 30, 1914, 256,547 miles of line. The slight variation discernible between this jSgure and the 252,231 miles of the table is due to the fact that two or more railways frequently combine in operating over the same miles of line. The usual process is for the railway owning the line to grant other railways track- age rights over that part used by them. As each railway operating over this part includes the mileage in its report of operated mileage, the result is a certain amount of duplication. Of these 256,547 miles of line 27,609 were double tracked, 2,696 had also a third track, while there were in addition 2,071 miles of fourth, fifth, and sixth tracks, making the total miles of additional main track on June 30, 1914, 32,376 miles. In -addition, there were 98,285 miles of yard track and sidings, which brings the total mileage of all tracks operated to 387,208 miles. 16 STATISTICS OP FEEIGHT TRAFFIC Corresponding statistics for 1904 and 1894 are as fol- lows: On June 30, 1894, the railways of the United States were operating 175,691 miles of single track, 12,163 miles of additional main track, and 41,941 miles of yard track and sidings, or a total of 229,795 miles of all tracks. Comparable figures for June 30, 1904, are 212,243 miles of single track, 18,338 miles of additional main track, and 66,492 miles of yard track and sidings, or a total for all tracks aggregating 297,073 miles. The rates of increase from 1894 to 1904 and 1904 to 1914, respect- ively, may be shown as follows : Percentage of Increase 1894 to 1904 1904 to 1914 Single track 20.8 20.9 Additional main track 50.8 76.5 Yard track and sidings 58.5 47.8 All tracks 29.3 30.4 A glance at the rates of increase from 1904 to 1914 shows that the supplementary tracks of the railways are increasing much faster, at the present time, than the original or single track mileage. In other words, the building of new or the extension of existing railways is not so important a factor in railway growth as the improvement of older railways by means of additional main tracks, yard tracks, and sidings. Another way of expressing this feature of recent rail- way development is to call it an intensive growth, an evolution from within. The growth of yard facilities and of terminal tracks in or near our growing industrial centers has represented an important share of this devel- opment, and for these increasing facilities the tremendous demands of the freight traffic have been in a large measure responsible. STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 17 Equipment The equipment utilized by the railways of the United States in the operation of 387,000 miles of all tracks con- sisted on Jime 30, 1914, of 64,760 locomotives and 2,503,- 822 cars. About €0 per cent of the locomotives, or 38,752, were freight locomotives, that is, locomotives assigned to the pulling or pushing of freight trains. Of the Mallet type of engine, there were 775. The remaining locomo- tives were assigned to passenger train service, to switch- ing service in yards, and to miscellaneous duties. Of the total number of cars 2,325,647, or about 93 per cent, were freight cars. The remaining cars were partly pas- senger cars and partly cars utilized for the service of the railway companies themselves, such as work cars, official and paymasters' cars, etc. Freight cars were distributed among the different classes as follows in 1914 : Number Per cent of Total Box cars 1,043,796 44.8 Flat cars 146,133 6.3 Stock cars 82,971 3.6 Coal cars 899,314 38.7 Tank cars 8,530 0.4 Befrigerator cars 48,886 2.1 Other cars 96,017 4.1 Corresponding equipment statistics for 1894 and 1904 are as follows: On June 30, 1894, the railways of the United States had in service 35,492 locomotives, of which 20,000 were assigned to freight service; 1,278,078 cars, of which 1,205,169 were assigned to freight service. On June 30, 1904, the railways had in service 46,743 locomotives, of which 27,029 were assigned to freight service; 1,798,561 18 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC cars, of which 1,692,194 were assigned to freight service. The rates of increase from 1894 to 1904 and from 1904 to 1914 were as follows : Percentage of Increase Locomotives : 1894 to 1904 1904 to 1914 Freight 35.1 43.4 Total 31.7 38.5 Cars: Freight 40.4 37.4 Total 40.8 39.2 Still another factor in the growth of equipment is its development in point of size, power, or capacity. Not only is the gross number of locomotives and cars on the increase, but they are larger and capable of greater service. Thus the average capacity of freight cars, expressed in tons, has risen in seven years from 35 in 1908 to 39 in 1914, while the average tractive power of locomotives, expressed in pounds, has risen from 26,350 to 30,420. This average refers to passenger as well as freight locomotives, inasmuch as the returns for freight locomotives are not separated; but there is little reason to doubt that the increase in power has been approxi- mately the same for freight as for passenger engines. A statement of the gross number of locomotives and cars in service means little until related to the miles of line over which they run. The greater the mileage pos- sessed by a railway, the more equipment is needed to operate over it, other things being equal. The average number of locomotivies per 1,000 miles of line on June 30, 1914, was reported by the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion as 256. The corresponding average for June 30, 1904, was 220, and for June 30, 1894, 202. Cars per 1,000 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 19 miles of line averaged 9,743 on June 30, 1914; 8,474 on June 30, 1904; and 7,275 on June 30, 1894. It is clear from these statistics that the railways have been increas- ing their equipment at a considerably faster rate than their mileage, especially during the past ten years. Statistics op Railway Capitalization The gross capitalization of the railways of the United States on June 30, 1914, was $20,247,000,000, of which $8^681,000,000 consisted of stock, and $11,566,000,000 of funded debt, the greater part of the funded debt, or about three-fourths, being represented by mortgage bonds. It is impossible to ascertain what proportion of the total capitalization is assignable to the freight busi- ness and what proportion to the passenger business. Even in the case of equipment trust obligations, which are issued to finance purchases of equipment and are secured by the equipment, it is impracticable without a tedious statistical investigation to ascertain what proportions are properly assignable to freight and what to passenger service. Together with other features of the railway business in the United States, the capitalization of the railways has considerably increased during the past two decades. On June 30, 1894, total railway capitalization amounted to $10,796,000,000 and on June 30, 1904, to $13,213,000,000. This represents a rate of increase from 1894 to 1904 of 22.4 per cent, while the increase from 1904 to 1914 was 53.2 per cent. The twenty-year increase, from 1894 to 1914, was 87.5 per cent. The foregoing paragraphs have dealt solely with total or gross capitalization, no allowances being made either 20 STATISTICS OP FREIGHT TRAFFIC for railway capitalization "assigned to other proper- ties," that is, capital issued to provide for the acquisition of other than railway property, or for railway securi- ties owned by the railways themselves. A moment's consideration will make it clear that securities issued by railways to provide for the purchase of outside in- vestments, such as mines, manufacturing plants, etc., are hardly railway securities, and should not in strict jus- tice be included in railway capitalization proper. It is also clear that when the securities of one railway com- pany are purchased and held by another railway com- pany, there are two sets of railway securities outstand- ing that cover the physical railway property covered by the purchased securities of the first company. These two sets are (1) the purchased securities of this first com- pany, which were originally issued to cover the property in question, and (2) such securities of the second com- pany as were issued or utilized to provide money for the purchase of the securities of the first company. To eliminate the effects of the duplication resulting from intercorporate holdings of the kind described, it is a common practice to deduct the par value of railway se- curities owned by the railways themselves from the total outstanding capitalization of the railways as a whole. The difference is known as net capitalization and repre- sents capitalization in the hands of the public, the term "public" here referring to individuals and to corpora- tions not engaged in the railway business. Unfortunately the statistics of the Interstate Com- merce Commission have not until recently been compiled in such manner as to afford anything but an approximate figure of net railway capitalization. With this qualifi- cation in mind, we may glance at the net capitalization STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 21 of the railways of the United States for 1894, 1904, and 1914, and see what have been the increases from decade to decade. On June 30, 1914; net railway capitalization amounted to $15,759,093,000 ; on June 30, 1904, to approxi- mately $10,711,794,078, and on June 30, 1894, to approxi- mately $7,884,000,000. This represents an increase of about one-third from 1894 to 1904 and about one-half from 1904 to 1914. Aggregate capitalization statistics tell only a partial story with respect to railway growth. It is not until capitalization is reduced to an average per mile of line that we know whether the increase in capitalization is the result of increase in mileage, due to the building of new railways, or whether it results partly from new mileage and partly from increased capital expenditures upon mileage already built. That the latter is the case appears when capitalization is reduced to a per mile of line basis. On this basis, the average net capitalization of the railways of the United States in 1914 per mile of line was $66,661. The records of the Interstate Com- merce Commission show that the corresponding average was $62,657 in 1910, $59,259 in 1909, and $57,201 in 1908, an increase in six years of $9,460 per mile, or nearly one-sixth. This increase represents financially the inten- sive development already described, which in physical terms is represented by improvements in roadbed and track, betterments in stations, buildings, and terminal facilities, and higher grade equipment. Exact figures of net capitalization are not available for the three districts separately; but it may be stated that the greater proportion of additional main and yard tracks in the East, and the generally more expensive terminal and other facilities, make the net capitalization 22 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC of the Eastern railways probably at least twice that of the Southern railways, and nearly twice that of the Western railways. Eailway Ebvenxjes and Expenses During the fiscal year 1914 the total operating revenues of the steam railways of the United States aggregated $3,047,000,000. Freight revenue made up $2,114,000,000 of this amount, or something more than two-thirds. Passenger revenue amounted to $700,000,000, or about one-fourth of the total, while the remaining $233,000,000 of revenues were made up of receipts from the government for carrying mail ($55,000,000), receipts from express ($75,500,000), receipts from the carriage of excess baggage and of milk on passenger trains ($17,- 100,000), and receipts from various incidental operations. The aggregate cost of operating the rail"sv^ays of the United States, known as operating expenses, amounted in 1914 to $2,215,000,000. The cost of the different branches of railway operation is not ascertainable, owing largely to the inherent diflSculties underlying a prac- ticable cost-accounting system for the railways of the United States. Operating expenses, as a whole, cover- ing the cost of operating the freight, passenger, and other functions of the railways, claim from 65 to 75 per cent of the operating revenues each year. This per- centage commonly goes by the name of the operating ratio. The operating ratio was 72.22 per cent in 1914 as compared with 67.79 per cent in 1904 and 68.14 per cent in 1894. If it is true that the freight business is the only profitable branch of railway transportation, then it fol- lows that the ratio of freight expenditures to freight receipts is less than the ratio of total expenditudes to total STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 23 receipts, and that the ratio of passenger and other expenditures to receipts must be considerably greater than 65 to 75 per cent. Sixty-five per cent of $2,114,- 000,000, the aggregate freight revenue for 1914, is approximately $1,374,000,000, which may be regarded as a maximum estimate for the annual cost of freight trans- portation in the United States. Large as these figures appear, the freight revenue when distributed over the nearly hundred million inhabi- tants of the United States represents an annual charge of but twenty dollars per capita. Certainly not an extravagant levy upon the American citizen when we con- sider how necessary and vital an element in his daily existence is the bringing to him of his necessities and his luxuries. The operating ratio, it should be noted, covers the bare expense of maintenance and of operation, and does not provide for fixed charges such as interest on funded debt and other interest payments, for rents, for taxes, or for other forms of overhead charges. Comparing the financial returns of the railways for 1914 with the corresponding statistics for 1904 and 1894, the total operating revenues in 1904 amounted to $1,975,- 000,000, freight revenue to $1,379,000,000, and operating expenses to $1,338,900,000. Total operating revenues in 1894 amounted to $1,073,362,000, freight revenue to $699,491,000, and operating expenses to $731,400,000. Increases in these several factors were the following: Total operating revenues, 84.1 per cent from 1894 to 1904 and 54.3 per cent from 1904 to 1914; freight revenue 97.3 per cent from 1894 to 1904 and 53.3 per cent from 1904 to 1914; operating expenses 83.2 per cent from 1894 to 1904 and 65.4 per cent from 1904 to 1914. 24 STATISTICS OF FEEIGHT TRAFFIC Fbeight Tbaffio Statistics Train-miles. — The total freight train-mileage handled by the railways of the United States in 1914 was 605,900,- 000. The total number of freight locomotive-miles amounted for the same year to 695,000,000. The reasons for the greater number of locomotive-miles than of train- miles is (1) that heavy freight trains are frequently drawn by two locomotives, so that for each mile trav- ersed by the train two locomotive-miles are added to the statistics, and (2) that locomotives are frequently sent over the line "light," that is, without trains back of them. A locomotive may grind off locomotive-miles whether or not it has a train attached, but contrariwise it is impossible for a train to generate train-miles with- out a corresponding access of locomotive-miles. Freight train-miles amounted in 1904 to 535,100,000 and in 1894 to 446,800,000. The rate of increase from 1894 to 1904 was 19.7 per cent and from 1904 to 1914, 13.3 per cent. Statistics of mileage covered by locomo- tives are not available for 1904 or for earlier years. Car-miles. — Total freight car-miles amounted in 1914 to 20,797,000,000. About two-thirds of the total num- ber, or 13,669,000,000, represented loaded car-miles; nearly a third, or 6,520,000,000, were empty car-miles; the remaining car-miles were caboose-miles and miscel- laneous. Freight car-mileage statistics for 1904 amounted to 14,354,000,000, of which approximately the same pro- portions were loaded and empty car-miles as in 1914. The rate of increase in freight car-miles from 1904 to 1914 was nearly 50 per cent. Car-mile statistics are not avail- able for the year 1894. Tons and Ton-Miles. — The total number of tons of freight carried during 1914 was 1,949,000,000, while the STATISTICS OP FREIGHT TRAFFIC 25 total number of tons carried one mile was 288,000,000,000. Corresponding statistics for 1894 and 1904 are the following : 1894 1904 Tons of freight carried 638,187,000 1,309,899,165 Tons carried one mile (ton-miles) 80,335,105,000 174,522,090,000 The rates of increase in tons of freight were 105.3 per cent from 1894 to 1904, and 48.8 per cent from 1904 to 1914; in ton-miles, 118.8 per cent from 1894 to 1904 and 64.6 per cent from 1904 to 1914. Ton-miles per mile of line amounted in 1914, to 1,122,601, while the number of ton-miles per freight train-mile, which corresponds to average tons of freight carried per train, was 452. Corresponding statistics for 1894 and 1904 are as follows : 1894 1904 Ton-miles per mile 457,252 829,476 Tons per train 180 308 The average number of tons carried per freight locomo- tive in 1914 was 50,163 tons, while the average number of ton-miles per freight locomotive amounted to $7,368,- 713. Each freight locomotive traveled on the average 17,000 miles during the year, or between forty-five and fifty miles a day. The total number of ton-miles handled by the rail- ways of the Eastern district in 1914 was 144,428,000,000; by the railways of the Southern district, 50,132,000,000 ton-miles; by the railways of the Western district, 93,760,000,000 ton-miles. These immense figures give little idea of the freight business done in the three dis- 26 STATISTICS OP FREIGHT TRAFFIC tricts until reduced to per-mile averages. The ton-miles per mile of line of the Eastern district averaged 2,300,588 ; in the Southern district the average was 1,089,013 ; in the Western district 689,442. These statistics of freight den- sity show that the freight traffic of the Eastern railways is much more closely concentrated than that of the South- ern or Western railways. Where more than two million tons of freight passed a given point in the East during 1914, only 1,000,000 tons passed a given point in the South, and only 700,000 tons in the West. Here again the differences between East and South and West depend upon differences in density of population, in the pro- portion of additional main and yard tracks, and in gen- eral railway facilities. Statistics of average tons per train for the three dis- tricts throw light on the loading of the average freight train of those districts. In the East the tons per train averaged 457 tons in 1911, in the South 337 tons, and in the West 322 tons. A freight train in the East carries a load nearly half as great again as in the South or the West. Preliminary Statistics for 1915. — The increase in net operating income per mile over 1914 was. almost 38 per cent. The cost of road and equipment per mile increased from $74,781 in 1914 to $75,682 in 1915. The net oper- ating income per mile for the railways of the country in the last six months of 1915 was given at $2,425, a return of 3.09 per cent in the property invested, as compared to $1,767, a return of 2.36 per cent in 1914. In regard to increase of railway mileage it may be stated that the year 1915 saw less new railroad construction in this country than in any year since the Civil War. STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 27 Average Length of Haul. — ^It is possible to ascertain the average length of haul of freight over the railways of the United States by dividing the total tons carried into the total ton-miles. This computation for 1914 produces a result of 148 miles, approximately the distance between Washington and Philadelphia. A freight shipment that passes over the lines of two or more railways is re- ported by each as a separate shipment. The result is that a ton of freight carried over several lines appears as many times in the aggregate, which accounts for consider- able duplication. This duplication is avoided by securing from each railway a statement of the tons of freight originating on its line. By this means a net figure of tons of freight carried is obtained, which, divided into aggre- gate ton-miles, gives the actual average haul of freight in the United States. The Interstate Commerce Com- mission calls this the average haul of freight over all the railways of the United States considered as a single railway system. This average haul in 1914 was 260 miles, or approximately the distance between New York and Boston. The average haul is growing longer from decade to decade, as is shown by the statistics of a preceeding paragraph, whereby increase in ton-miles has been at a higher rate since 1894 than increase in tons of freight. Commodity Statistics. — The statistics of tons of freight originating on the several railways of the United States, upon the basis of which the average length of haul for all the railways considered as a single system is com- puted, are themselves classified according to the kind of commodity handled. This makes it possible to show ton- nage statistics for the principal commodities carried by the railways. 28 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC The Interstate Commerce Commission distinguishes seven main groups of commodities offered to the railways for transportation. These classes, and the tonnage per- taining to each in 1914, are as follows : Products of agriculture 102,200,000 Products of animals 27,138,000 Products of mines 626,076,000 Products of forests 110,878,000 Manufactures 149,183,000 Merchandise 41,474,000 Miscellaneous 37,174,000 The aggregate of these seven groups of commodities is slightly less than a billion tons. These are the net tons offered to the railways by shippers, eliminating all trans- fers of shipments from one railway to another in transit. The tonnage for 1914 of the principal commodities in- cluded in these seven groups are the following: Products of agriculture : Grain 46,016,000 Fruits and vegetables . •. 16,796,000 Products of animals : Live stock 14,811,000 Products of mines : Anthracite coal 76,006,000 Bituminous coal 307,876,000 Coke 31,345,000 Ores 101,975,000 Stone, sand, and other like articles 93,983,000 Products of forests: Lumber 71,055,000 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC 29 Manufactures : Iron, pig and bloom 12,429,000 Bar and sheet metal 13,316,000 Cement, brick and lime 41,050,000 A glance over these statistics will show that on the basis of tonnage, bituminous coal was the most important commodity handled by the railways of the United States in 1914. Ores of different kinds were second in the list, then stone and sand, then anthracite coal. This has no reference to the value of the goods carried, or to the receipts therefrom, but only to the gross tonnage. Freight Receipts. — The total receipts from freight traf- fic aggregated $2,114,697,629 in 1914, which was equiva- lent to $8,596 per mile of line, $3,308 per freight train- mile, and 7.33 mills per ton-mile. Average receipts per ton of freight amounted to $1,069. Comparable averages for the year 1904 are as follows : Freight receipts per mile of line $6,572.00 Eeceipts per freight train-mile 2.427 Eeceipts per ton-mile — mills 7.80 Eeceipts per ton of freight 1-073 A glance at these comparisons will show that while the freight receipts of railways per mile of line have increased considerably since 1904, this increase is not due to any appreciable increase in freight rates, for the aver- age receipts per ton-mile have remained almost station- ary during the ten years. The increase in freight receipts per mile of line must therefore be due solely to increased business done; that is, more tons have been carried over each mile of line. That this has actually been true is shown by statistics of tons of freight per mile, which 30 STATISTICS OF FEEIGHT TKAFFIC increased 25.2 per cent from 1904 to 1914, while ton- miles per mile increased 38.4 per cent. Similarly, the increase in average receipts per freight train-mile from 1904 to 1914 has been due to an increase in number of tons carried per freight train; this also has been shown in an earlier paragraph, where it appeared that the num- ber of tons per train increased from 281 in 1901 to 383 in 1911, or 36.3 per cent. There has been'a small steady increase since. In brief, the railways of the United States are constantly improving their plants and are utilizing them more widely and more efficiently every year. Pbacticai. Significance of Fbeight Statistics Aside from the general value of freight statistics as indexes of business conditions in the country, in general, and of the country's second largest business, the rail- roads, in particular, these statistics are used freely in rate cases before the Interstate Commerce Commission. A few rather common grounds of proof used in rate cases before the Commission are comparisons with other rates, cost of service to the carrier, and comparative dis- tances. In some cases, effective arguments have been prepared by means of comparative statistics, while in others statistics have been woefully abused. A thorough knowledge of the terms used, the bases of statistics, and the soundness of comparisons is not only desirable, but highly essential to the effective use of statistics in rate cases before the Commission. TEST QUESTIONS These questions are for the student to use in testing his knowledge of the assignment. The answers are not to be sent to the University. 1. In what physical respects may the freight service per- formed by railways be said to be more important than the passenger service? In what social respects? 2. Distinguish between railway line, main track, and all tracks. 3. What are the principal classes of locomotives ? Of freight cars? Describe each class. 4. Describe the Mallet type of locomotive. 5. Define the term "train." What is a mixed train? 6. Define the following terms : train-mile ; car-mile ; ton-mile. 7. How many different kiads of transportation units may a freight train generate, and what are they ? 8. Why is the ton-mile a better standard freight unit than the train-mile or the car-mile? 9. Define freight train density ; freight density. 10. What does the term "tons per train" represent, and why is this an important factor in railway operation? 11. Is railway mileage keeping pace with population in the United States? 12. Describe the general boundaries of the Eastern, tha Southern, and the Western districts. 13. What is meant by the statement that the chief feature of railway progress during recent years is the iatensive development of Railway mileage? 14. State in a general way the proportion of locomotives and of cars that pertain to the freight service. 15. Distinguish between gross and net railway capitalization. 16. Name the principal sources of railway revenue. 31 32 STATISTICS OF PEEIGHT TRAFFIC 17. Why is freight density greater in the East than in the South or the West? Which district carries the heaviest train- loads ? 18. Describe the two methods of ascertaining average length of haul, and explain the difference. 19. Name the six main classes of commodities carried by rail freight. What are the more important sub-classes under each? 20. State in general terms what are the average receipts of the railways per mile of line, per train-mile, per ton, and per ton-mile.