Statistics show that the proportion of the passenger revenue to the total earnings is roughly constant, and yet it varies considerably in the different groups. This is best shown in Table VI.

Table VI. Public Service Of Railways, By Groups (1900)

By examining this table in connection with the map of the United States (Fig. 4) showing the different groups, much may be learned regarding the character of these groups, and the effect of that character on railroad earnings. For example, in Group I (the New England States), although the gross earnings per capita are smaller than the average, the passenger earnings per capita are large, and this is in spite of the fact that the average journey per passenger (18.46 miles) is less than in any other group. Freight earnings, however, have a lower percentage in this group than in any other. The average haul per ton and the number of tons in a train is less than any other group. On the other hand, Group VII (see Table VI), which includes the States of Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and portions of Colorado and the Dakotas, pays a larger amount per capita to the railroads than any group in the United States. This is largely due. to its enormous freight business, which furnishes nearly three-fourths of the total earnings with a gross amount equal to $25.77 per capita. Even the passenger earnings are $6.60 per capita, which is more than 50% of excess of the average for the United States. The average journey per passenger was 91.48 miles, which is far in excess of that in any other group and between three and four times the average for the whole United States. The railroads in Groups IV and V have the lowest earnings per capita. The percentages of passenger and freight business are in each case about equal to the average for the country, but the earnings per capita are very small. Another rare and abnormal case is found in Group X, the Pacific Coast States. This section of the country has "magnificent distances." The average haul of each ton of freight is 237 miles, which is nearly twice the average, and the average freight and passenger earnings per capita are in each case about 50% in excess of the average. Such differences in the characteristics of the various sections of the country must be kept in mind when making any estimate of the expected traffic on a proposed line.

45a. Train-Mile Statistics

The I. C. C. reports for 1910 do not give the per capita earnings for the various groups and therefore Table VI, based on the figures for 1900, has been retained. Certain train-mile statistics for 1910 also show the characteristic differences between the traffic in the several sections as follows:

Table Via. Average Train-Mile Statistics In Various Groups For The Year Ending June 30, 1910

456. Proportions of various classes of commodities carried. The figures in Table VI6, from the 1910 1 C. C. report, give some idea of the relative proportions of the freight business done in carrying various classes of commodities. It should be noted that carrying the products of mines, chiefly coal and iron ore, is over one-half of the entire tonnage; that manufactures come next except in the Western and Southern States, where the products of the forests, chiefly lumber, is a strong second; and that the products of agriculture are very important in the Western States and comparatively unimportant in the East.

Table Vib. Percentages Of Freight Traffic Movement Tonnages, By Class Of Commodity, Originating On Line Of Reporting Roads

A very instructive statement regarding the traffic in certain important commodities is given in the following table, which, although it covers only 54% of the mileage of the country, may be considered as typical of the whole.

Table VIC. Summary Of Selected Commodities For The Year Ending June 30, 1910

It should be noted that coal pays the lowest rate per ton per mile and also that the "products of mines" constitute 56% of the tonnage for the whole United States. Lumber and grain, the next two items in gross revenue, also pay low rates per ton mile.