Excerpt from Cost of Railroad Transportation, Railroad Accounts, and Governmental Regulation of Railroad Tariffs In 1865 - 66 the net freight earnings were per cent and in 1873 - 74 only per cent of the gross earnings. It would be erroneous to conclude from this that the road was operated with less economy in the past year. It will be observed that the gross earnings per ton-mile in 1865 were cents; in 1874 they were only cents. Had the gross earnings per ton-mile in 1874 been the same as in 1865, the net earnings would have been 74 per cent instead of per cent of the gross earnings. It would, however, be equally erroneous to conclude that in 1865 less economy was exercised in the operation of the road than in 1874. The differences are accounted for by other reasons. In 1865 the bulk of the freight was local, carried over short distances of the road; since that time it has become mainly-through business, which goes over the whole length of the road. The latter is transacted at less expense. Since 1865 the amount of business on the Main Stem has more than trebled. This increase causes a reduction in the operating expenses. There is a certain class of operating expenditures that do not increase with the amount of business; they are fixed expenses which have to be incurred whether a small or a large business is transacted. It follows that when only one third of the number of tons of freight were moved in 1865 as compared with 1874, the cost per ton-mile for this class of expenditures would be three times greater than in 1874. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.