Down Grade

The railroads of the country continued last week to puff protestingly down the long earning decline which began after the market break last fall. The first 46 roads to report their March earnings rolled down the staggering decrease of 39.5% in net operating income, and 12.7% in gross revenue, as compared with March last year. Outstanding among roads that have reported March earnings to date were the following (figures are net operating income for March):

Santa Fe (but more than 50% of the road's steel for the year has already been laid): 1930, $634,000; 1929, $4,028,000.

Great Northern (whose president, hard-working Ralph Budd, sails for Russia on June 1 for a three months' "vacation" during which he will incidentally reorganize the railroads of Russia along U. S. lines): 1930, $506,000; 1929, $2.837,000.

Rock Island (which, remarkably, shows a slight gain in March earnings): 1930, $1,845,000; 1929, $1,749,000.

Union Pacific (whose wealth, already notable among U. S. railroads, was revealed in its annual report as distributed among other railroads thus: $24,807,000 in New York Central stock; $8,073,000 in B. & O.; $4,420,000 in Chicago & Northwestern common; $31,725,000 in Illinois Central stock, and its subsidiary, Railroad Securities Co.; $12,972,000 in Illinois Central stocks): 1930, $1,627,000; 1929, $2,923,000.

Baltimore & Ohio (whose motor bus service for passengers from Manhattan to its Jersey terminals has raised a national railroad issue: the right of a railroad to provide such service. The I. C. C., which has already ruled against such service in freight traffic, is studying its legality in passenger traffic.): 1930, $2,764,000; 1929, $4,182,000.

Lackawanna (whose line, capitalized at the high figure of $440,000 per mile, is one of the best-built and most scrupulously maintained main lines in the country. On its comparatively short stretch [New York to Buffalo] are to be found two remarkable railroad formations: the 2,230 ft. Tunkhannock Viaduct, largest concrete bridge in the world; and the 3-mi. Pequest Fill, largest railroad embankment in the world): 1930, $558,000; 1929, $826,000.

New York, New Haven & Hartford (whose executive committee has recently lost the late Dr. Arthur Twining Hadley: of Yale, and gained Albert H. Wiggin of the Chase National Bank) : 1930, $1,848,000; 1929, $2,463,000.

New York Central (whose recent construction work has included not only prosaic tracks and embankments but also the gigantic New York Central Building in New York and the striking new Buffalo station): 1930, $4,724,000; 1929, $8,316.000.

Wabash (which is the first of the trunk lines to approve of the I. C. C. Consolidation Plan. Shrewd Chairman William H. Williams lately advised the Commission that he had been authorized by his directors to "acquire" the railroads allocated to the Wabash in the Final Plan.): 1930, $680,000; 1929, $1,220,000.

Southern Pacific (which last month received a check from the Government for $1,012,000. Reason: the Southern Pacific, urged by President Roosevelt, in 1908 spent $1,113,000 in closing a break in the Colorado River to protect California's Imperial Valley. After bringing suit, the railroad was finally awarded $1,012,000, which Congress got around to authorizing last year -- much to the relief, doubtless, of Guy V. Shoup, brother of President Paul Shoup, who heads the Southern Pacific's legal staff.) : 1930, $2,766,000; 1929, $4,904,000.

Pere Marquette (which dropped 14 1/2 points on the New York Stock Exchange one day last week, to a new low for the year of 145. Other lows for the year were registered for B. O., Lackawanna, Rock Island, Erie, Great Northern, Missouri Pacific, Northern Pacific, Nickel Plate, Reading and Southern Pacific.): 1930, $442,000; 1929, $1,018,000.

Illinois Central (whose president, L. A. Downs, said last week: "Our April business will show about the same decline from a year ago as was reported for March.") : 1930, $2,071,000; 1929, $2,438,000.

Southern (whose annual report struck an exceedingly gloomy note: "For the first time in the company's history the charges for the maintenance of the property exceeded the cost of conducting transportation." Largely responsible were unusually heavy charges for flood damage and for writing off obsolescent freight cars and rail.): 1930, $1,394,000; 1929, $2,185,000.

Northern Pacific (whose president, Charles Donnelly, last week declared his road's traffic to be well below that of a year ago and prophesied that April earnings will be off proportionately. Continuing, he remarked: "At present there are no signs of a pick-up in business in the Northwest. Grain is moving slowly. The lumber business continues quiet."): 1930, $758,000; 1929, $1,858,341.

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