STATISTICS OF FREIGHT JULIUS H. PARMELEE, Ph D. LASALLE EXTENSION UNIVERSITY CHICAGO (6-12) 545027 Copyright, 1913, 1916, 1920 All Rights Reserved in All Countries LASALLE EXTENSION UNIVERSITY CONTENTS STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC Introduction Definitions Statistics of Railway Mileage. Equipment Statistics of Railway Capitalization. Railway Revenues and Expenses Freight Traffic Statistics Practical Significance of Freight Statistics.. 1 3 12 17 19 22 24 30 STATISTICS OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC INTRODUCTION 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 transportation 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 passenger business is most extensively advertised throughout 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 |