It will be seen the statistics of Michigan street railways given in the foregoing table differ from those in the preceding table prepared by this bureau. The reason for this will be apparent when it is remembered the bureau table is compiled from official reports which bring the statistics up to January 1, 1896.

The article mentioned in the editorial from Street Railway Journal, on page xvi, is republished here. Its value will be understood when it is known that the writer, Mr. Edward E. Higgins, is recognized as authority on street railway statistics.

OPERATING STATISTICS OF AMERICAN STREET RAILWAY PROPERTIES.

The difficulties of combining the operating statistics of a large number of street railway companies in such a way as to obtain comparative results of real value are so great as to make it practically impossible to form any such general idea of street railway operation in the United States as can be obtained of steam railway capitalization, mileage, etc. No uniform system of accounting is prescribed by any official bureau similar to the Interstate Commerce Commission at Washington, and methods of making up reports, therefore, vary not a little, particularly in the South and West, in which there is no attempt even at state control of street railway corporation statistics. The following figures are, therefore, useful only within the limitations set down in each particular case, and any attempt to obtain a complete statement of all the street railway corporations of the United States must be deliberately abandoned, at least until the next census year.

COMBINED OPERATING REPORT OF 109 AMERICAN COMPANIES FOR THE THREE YEARS ENDING AT VARIOUS DATES IN 1894-5.

There are 976 operating companies in the United States reported in "American Street Railway Investments." Out of this number, 109 have been first selected as presenting complete reports for the past three years. By carefully combining these reports it will be possible to show how these roads, as a whole, have prospered during the three years, and in this way to get some slight indication of the general trend of gross and net earnings throughout the country. The value of these figures, even for this purpose, is limited, however, by the fact that 103 out of the 109 roads are in the Eastern and New England States, only five are in the Central, one in the Western, and in the Southern States no road whatever is reported (for three years). It must not be forgotten, though, that about 40 per cent of the total number of street railway companies, and of the total mileage as well, are found in the Eastern and New England States.

The 109 roads selected represent about 22 per cent of the total mileage of the country. Their capital stock, according to the latest returns, amounts to $200,497,681, their funded debt to $193,844,145, and their gross capital liabilities to $394,341,826. This capitalization is about 30 per cent of the total capitalization of American street railways. The combined operating report of these 109 roads is as follows:

It will be seen from this report that the gross receipts in 1893 greatly exceeded those in both 1892 and 1894, the 1893 gross being 12 per cent greater than that of 1892, as against an increase of less than 2 per cent shown in the 1894 report over that of 1892. A similar result is shown in the statement of operating expenses, the expenses for 1893 being about 9 per cent greater than those of 1892. The 1894 expenses are, however, less by nearly 3 per cent than those of 1892, and by over 10 per cent than those of 1893. The general result is shown in the percentage of operating expenses to gross receipts, in which there is a steady falling off from year to year, being only 62.7 per cent in 1894, as against 65.6 per cent in 1892. This interesting result is due, doubtless, partly to the increasing proportion of mileage equipped by electricity, and partly to the rigid economies made absolutely necessary by so large a reduction in gross receipts during the "hard times." The percentages compare most favorably with steam railway prac tice, but it is probable that they are made on a much less conservative basis.

The fixed charges show a steady increase from year to year, and are seen to be 15.7 per cent of the gross receipts in 1892, 16.4 per cent in 1893, and 19.4 per cent in 1894. This is a natural increase due to the increasing use of electricity and the increasing taxes and funded debt incurred.

The returns of net income are similar to those of gross receipts and operating expenses, inasmuch as in the 1892 and 1894 reports are substantially the same, while the 1893 report is much larger.

It is seen that the net income of these 109 corporations was apparently sufficient to pay a dividend of 5.2 per cent on the capital stock in 1892, 6.4 per cent in 1893, and 5.1 per cent in 1894.

COMBINED OPERATING REPORT OF 146 AMERICAN COMPANIES FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDING AT VARIOUS DATES IN 1894-5.

In addition to the 109 roads, which present full reports for the three years, as stated, "American Street Railway Investments" contains the reports of 37 additional roads for the two years ending at various dates in 1894-5. Combining these 37 reports with the 1893 and 1894 figures given in the table above for the 109 roads, we get the following comparative report for 1893 and 1894 of 146 companies, now operating 3,934 miles, amounting to about 29 per cent of the total mileage of the country.

The capital stock of these 146 companies is $240,477,324, the funded debt is $231,091,645, and the total capital liabilities are $171,568,969. These capital liabilities are about 36 per cent of the total capital liabilities of the country:

These percentages in this report do not vary greatly from that of the first 109 companies, except that the percentage of net income to capital stock is somewhat less in the larger combination due to the inclusion of the newer and less developed properties. In this connection it may be said that the gross earnings of nearly all American steam railroads, as shown by the report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, for the year ending June 30, 1894, were less than those for 1893 by 12.07 per cent, the operating expenses were 11.66 per cent less in 1894 than in 1893, and the earnings from operation were 13 per cent less. The net income available for dividends showed a decrease of nearly 50 per cent in 1894 from the previous year, as against but 23 per cent shown above. From these comparisons it will be seen how closely the street railway and steam

railway statistics compare with each other with respect to the falling off due to hard times, though the advantage is with the street railway properties, particulary in the matter of net income.

COMBINED OPERATING REPORT OF 232 AMERICAN COMPANIES FOR THE LAST FINANCIAL YEAR.

In addition to the 146 roads whose operating statistics are already shown in combination for the last two years, "American Street Railway Investments" contains single year (1894-5) reports of 86 companies. The following report is a combination of these 232 properties, operating 5,120 miles of track, or about 38 per cent of the total mileage. The capital stock of these 232 companies is $316,762,149, the funded debt is $278,995,755 and the capital liabilities $595,757,904 this last named figure representing about 46 per cent of the total capital liabilities of the American properties.

Here again the percentages do not vary greatly from those shown in the two previous reports, except in the percentage of net income to capital stock, which is substantially less in amount, and undoubtedly for the same reason, than that given before, viz., the incorporation of the newer roads in the combination report. The variations in the percentages of these tables, are in fact, so slight, that it would not be difficult, though it would be quite unwise, to draw the inference that the tables are a fair indication of the entire industry of the country. It should be remembered, however, that it is much easier to obtain the reports of prosperous companies than of unsuccessful ones-that a large majority of the reporting companies are in the most prosperous sections of the country, and that 60 per cent of the total mileage is not reported. Nevertheless, the results are of great interest and of considerable value within their limitations, and it is not difficult to estimate that the street railways of the United States are earning in the neighborhood of $125,000,000 to $140,090,000 per year gross, and $18,000,000 to $20,000,000

net.

It is highly interesting to note that in the last census year, 1890, the gross earnings of about 650 companies was reported at about $92,000,000 only, the operating expenses at $62,000,000, the fixed charges at $14,000,000, and the net income at about $16,000,000. The enormous growth of the industry since 1890 is very clearly shown in this comparison.