Unfortunately, moreover, the reports heretofore required from railroad companies under state authority, have been of the most imperfect and unsatisfactory character. The form prescribed is not only deficient in detail, but indefinite in arrangement and purpose. STATE LINES AND THEIR EXTRA-STATE CONNECTIONS. It is clear to us that no satisfactory solution of the question of railway obligations to the public can be attained without a more intelligible basis of estimate than has hitherto been ascertained, of the exact relations of these companies to those portions of their lines lying without the state. Most of the charges relating to irregular management and expenditure refer to these collateral lines and to the contracts under which they were acquired. The statistics we have presented hereinafter will sufficiently illustrate the results, at least, of some of these complications. They show that roads are often purchased or constructed outside the state which bear no just proportion of the general burden of expenditure, and which, for all present time, certainly, must serve simply to consume the receipts from more profitable, if not actually less costly portions of the line. Indirectly, but nevertheless actually, the extra burdens thus imposed upon the older and more remunerative portions of the road, become a tax upon our own people. It is true, that extensions of our railway system, by means of legitimate purchase or other expenditure, are most ardently to be desired. Ultimately, at the worst, such extensions are undoubtedly to become a source of profit to the general company which promotes them, and also a means of facilitating personal communication and commercial exchanges. How far these extensions should be promoted at the cost of home lines, is a question of policy deserving serious consideration. Certainly, no merely speculative expenditure in this direction should be recognized as a proper charge upon our domestic interests; but it is equally clear that the promotion of the general interest, by every legitimate enlargement of our railway system, and an extension of the sources of profit for home lines, is not to be captiously discouraged. STATISTICAL Summary. The reports of Wisconsin railway companies for the year ending December 31, 1873, show the following totals: With the purpose of facilitating a more complete investigation of the inter-state relations of our railway system in future, and of promoting uniformity in classification and legislation, in August last, the Wisconsin commissioners accepted an invitation to meet the commissioners of Illinois and Minnesota, at Dubuque. A second meeting was held at Madison in September, and a third is appointed to be held at Springfield. The practical utility of this method of informal co-operation cannot be over-estimated. AMENDED FORM OF RAILWAY REPORTS. Among the fruits of the consultations held, is the adoption of a form of railway report, substantially uniform as to time and character for the several states represented. This form is embraced in the Appendix of this report, and will be found to require from the railroad companies a methodical statement of every material fact of public concern bearing either upon the local or general affairs of the railway corporations. Substantially this form is already in force in the states of Illinois and Minnesota, and public action the ensuing year will be largely determined by the information thus ascertained. It is earnestly recommended that the modification of the annual reports of companies we have suggested, especially as to the matter of date, be hereafter enforced by law. It should be understood, however, that the adoption of the form and date of annual report to the commissioners as stated, has no reference to the date or form of annual report of gross receipts to the State Treasurer, upon which last mentioned report is predicated the annual charge for licenses. UNIFORMITY IN CLASSIFICATION AND LEGISLATION. The efforts made by the Commissioners for promoting uniformity in the classification of freights, and also in general railway legisla tion in the several states named, have not yet assumed a form sufficiently definite to justify us in reporting to you special conclusions. We are impressed with the conviction, however, that the intelligent prosecution of this purpose is fraught with consequences of great practical importance, both to the public and to railway management. CHARACTER AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE RAILROADS. The law under which the commissioners act does not impose upon them the duty of making an inspection of the railroads of the state. Nevertheless an actual knowledge of the character and condition of the roads was deemed so manifestly important that the several members of the board availed themselves of such opportunities as could be had for examining them; and one of their number passed one or more times over each and all of the roads in Wisconsin, noting all such facts as were deemed most essential. It is natural, if not almost necessary, that railways built in a new state and through districts but sparsely settled should be both less perfectly constructed and less completely equipped than in the older states. The amount of business that can be done for many years, under such conditions does not warrant the building of very expensive roads, or the supply of elegant station-houses and costly equipments. There is a minimum cost, however, below which it is never economy to go, under even the most unfavorable conditions as to traffic and travel. The safety of passengers and a reasonable security of the property carried, as well as of the rolling stock of the company, are considerations that cannot be ignored on any account. And to guarantee these, requires the most careful and conscientious attention to many matters-requires that the road-bed be broad, firm and substantial, the culverts and bridges well built of good material, the rail of good quality and properly laid. These are some of the essential characteristics. Without them no road should ever be opened for public use. There are still other characteristics, which, even more than those above named, determine the cost of transportation. These will be found discussed in another connection. Just here, however, it is proper to say that the roads of Wisconsin bear a fair comparison with the other roads of this country. They were much more cheaply graded than many of those located in the eastern and such other states as have a rougher surface, but less cheaply than those of Illinois and some of the other western states. With but few exceptions the gradients are easy and the curvatures all that could be desired. If in many cases the culverts and bridges are less enduring than is desirable, and trestle-work has been too often substituted for embankments, it is doubtless because they were built only for temporary use and are to be replaced by stones, iron and earth as soon as the financial condition of the companies will warrant. The same may be said of the rail used. In some cases the necessities of companies have led them to lay down iron of a very poor quality, and lighter than was really economical. And the result has been numerous accidents, and sometimes serious losses that might have been avoided had the importance of good iron and sufficient weight been duly appreciated. Sometimes it may be economical to lay rail below the ordinary weight, -as has been done on some of the recently constructed roads in this state,—especially where the abundance of timber admits of using an extra number of ties; but it is difficult to suggest circumstances that warrant the use of a quality of iron against the breaking of which no certain provision can possibly be made. The commissioners have been reminded of this principle in their travels over some sections of road forced through under a financial pinch. Where the traffic is light, as it must be for a time, along the line of the new roads, 50-pound iron will possibly answer the purpose, if of good quality and well tied. But where the business. is heavy at any season of the year, 60-pound iron is light enough for either safety or economy. Care in laying rail appears not to have been more justly appreciated here than elsewhere as an essential of good construction and economical working. It is not uncommon to see the end of a rail battered down while the body of it is still almost as good as new. This is owing sometimes to a lack of uniform firmness in the material of the road bed. But it is oftener the result of neglect-first, to make a smooth-surfaced bed; secondly, a total or partial neglect to ballast; and thirdly, neglect to make the connection carefully and keep the ends firmly in juxtaposition with fish-bar fastening. It seems not to be fully realized that in addition to the depreciation of rail, and the increased liability to accidents consequent upon such neglect, there is a constant and very considerable damage to engines and rolling stock generally that necessitates very large expenditures in the repair shops, that for every dollar saved by cheap and careless construction, a loss of tens and hundreds is likely to be entailed. These remarks apply equally to Wisconsin roads and to those of the other states; all are alike obnoxious to criticism. It may be supposed that, when all our roads are laid with steel, which will be the case at no distant day, all these matters will claim more nearly their due share of attention. Meantime, they are all the more essential. The mileage of our roads already laid with steel rail is as follows: COMPANIES AND LINES. Miles. lbs. wt. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul R. R., Mil. & La Crosse Line Wisconsin Central (mileage not given). Total mileage reported Of the quality of road equipments we are able to speak in more favorable terms. On some of the roads—the Chicago and Northwestern and the Milwaukee and Chicago Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, more especially-they are equal to the best to be found anywhere in the country. Indeed, it may be a question whether some of our best coaches for passengers and railway officers are not more elegant and expensive than they ought to be. Nothing essential to comfort should be spared; but that thousands of dollars may be properly expended in mere decoration, thus making a railway coach cost the price of a handsome residence, while at the same time lives are endangered for want of repairs to track, is hardly a matter of question; it is pretty clearly wrong. Would it not be better to curtail a little on garniture and add something to the neatness and comfort of station-houses, very many of which, like the Union Depot at Milwaukee, are mere shells or overgrown shanties, neither gratifying the taste nor providing even the bare comforts for the traveling public. |