The first installment of a treatment of railway rate theory with regard to the following considerations: (1) the nature of the laws of increasing and diminishing returns; (2) value in a régime of monopoly; (3) value in a régime of duopoly; (4) the incidence of taxation in a régime of monopoly; (5) the regulation of railways by government. The present section deals with the first of these mathematically, and from a general, rather than from a railway point of view. Major attention is given to the distinction between a primary and a secondary definition of the laws of increasing and diminishing returns, the former being based on ratios and the latter on averages. Emphasizes the importance of the primary definition though the secondary one has been largely employed by economists.

HANEY, L. H. Railway regulation in Texas. Journ. Pol. Econ., June, 1911. Pp. 19.

Discrimination has been largely removed, population distributed, and undue concentration of power in a few urban centers checked. But there is noted a recent tendency to pay too exclusive attention to the immediate interests of producers rather than to consumers, and also a desire to maintain control over the situation by preventing economically desirable consolidations. A belief on the part of capitalists that the terms of capitalization are too restrictive has retarded construction during recent years.

HARRISON, F. Government ownership of railways. Ry. Age Gaz., Aug. 4, 1911. Pp. 4.

By the president of the Monon. The interest of the public can be and is protected by regulation. Government management almost inevitably leads to bureaucracy. Its greatest positive danger lies in

politics.

JOHNSON, R. D. Uniform classification in India. Ry. Gaz. (London), June 9, 1911.

An account of railway methods.

LANSBURGH, A. Hohe Finanz. Die Bank, July, 1911. Pp. 13.

An account of the reorganization of the Oesterreichische Südbahn, with a history of the events leading up to it and a critical examination of the plan of reorganization.

LAWRENCE, C. C. Are the railroads overpaid for carrying mails? Moody's Mag., Sept., 1911. Pp. 5.

Present arrangements, based on inadequate pay, quadrennial weighings, free transportation of postal employees, and free messenger service in making delivery at post offices, involve a loss of $20,000,000 a year to the railways.

Marshall, C. H. The federal regulation of American railroads. Am. Rev., of Rev., May, 1911.

Briefly describes how the enforcing of the Interstate Commerce Act by the commission has killed vicious practices. The action of the commission in denying certain railways authority to advance their freight rates is just.

MORRISON, C. J. Maintenance of equipment costs. Ry. Age. Gaz., June 9, 1911. Pp. 5.

A series of 23 charts comparing maintenance of equipment costs upon selected railways. Complete analysis hindered by the failure of the Interstate Commerce Commission to separate, in their statistics, charges for labor from material charges.

MUNDY, F. W. Federal regulation of railroad stock and bond issues. Moody's Mag., Aug., Sept., 1911. Pp. 12.

Favors regulative legislation of the issue of securities along the lines of greater publicity. If restrictive legislation must be had, let a law be enacted which will prevent a railway from selling bonds unless it shall have shown for a number of years a certain surplus earning capacity over and above its fixed charges, including interest on the new bonds ("Margin of safety"). Financial pyramiding, as developed largely by the dangerous use of collateral trust bonds would be effectively restricted. In acquiring stocks of another company, no more than, say, 25 to 40 per cent should be financed by the issue of bonds.

ROBERTSON, M. The railways of India. Nineteenth Cent., July, 1911. Pp. 20.

The railways of India should be given greater financial independence. The divisional system of organization should be adopted, and steps should be taken to reduce thievery and accidents. Careful watch needs to be kept on future extensions of the metre gauge, as it is already a source of confusion. Discusses the future development of the network.

STROMBECK, J. F. Distance and freight rates. Ry. Age. Gaz., June 16, 1911. Pp. 12.

A railway freight rate must cover (1) terminal expenses, (2) cost of hauling between stations, increasing directly as the distance increases, and (3) a contribution towards indirect costs which will be the difference between (1 & 2) and the maximum rate the traffic can bear.

STROMBECK, J. F. Car capacity and freight rates. Ry. Age. Gaz., June 30,

1911.

A failure to distinguish between the direct and indirect costs of railway transportation has led to error in the application of the element car-capacity, and the present tendency to increase car capacities causes a decrease in the carriers' revenues that go to pay indirect costs. At the same time, light and bulky articles have been given too high rates as compared with those of great density, and less than carload shipments as compared with carload lots.

THOMPSON, S. A. The cost of rail and water transportation. Letter to the editor. Ry. Age. Gaz., June 30, 1911. Pp. 21⁄41⁄2.

A reply, by the Field Secretary of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress, to a letter of Mr. H. G. Moulton, appearing in the issue of June 2, 1911. Denies several of the statements made by Mr. Moulton,

and observes that, in determining the total cost of railway transportation, account must be taken of free gifts of land and money made to the railways.

THOMPSON, S. A. Rail versus water transportation.

Letter to the editor.

Ry. Age. Gaz., Aug. 11, 1911. Pp. 2. A reply to an editorial of June 30. Since we have many rivers which are wider and deeper than those of Europe, and on which hauls may extend to thousands of miles, the assumption is justified that much lower transportation rates are possible on our rivers than on those of Europe.

THORNTON, H. W. Some aspects of the railway of today. Pro. Ry. Club of Pittsburgh. Jan. 27, 1911. Pp. 14.

To secure closer coöperation between the technical and commercial sides of railway administration, and better regard for local interests, large railroads should be divided into districts in accordance with geographical and traffic conditions, with a manager in entire charge of each district (maintenance, transportation, traffic, etc.). The five cardinal points of railroad administration, all of equal importance, are: (1) net earnings, (2) maintenance of the property, (8) development of the property, (4) relations with the public, (5) relations with employees.

WANG, C. The Hankow-Szechuan railway loan. Am. Journ. Intern. Law., July, 1911. Pp. 12.

Gives details of the diplomatic juggling connected with the financing of the Hankow-Szechuan railway.

Arnold report on Providence transportation conditions. Electric Ry. Journ., Aug. 19, 1911.

Extracts from Bion J. Arnold's report to the joint committee on railroad franchises of the Providence City Council. The report deals fully with the local street railway service from the aspects of equipment, frequency and speed of service, routing, etc. During the last thirty years, the earnings of the street railways of Providence have increased nearly as the square of the population, thus conforming with the results already found in fifteen of the larger cities of the United States. A British commission on railway agreements and consolidations. Ry. Age. Gaz., July 14, 1911. Pp. 12.

A convenient abstract of the report of the Departmental Committee of the Board of Trade, appointed to consider this subject. For further reference, see under "Documents, Reports, and Legislation."

The cost of rail and water transportation. Ry. Age. Gaz., June 30, 1911. Pp. 12. Criticizes Mr. Thompson's comparison (vide his letter of the same issue) of rates by rail with those by the freighters of the Great Lakes, as well as other statements made by him. Points out that the total average cost per ton per mile of inland waterway transportation is, in France, 10 mills; in Germany, 6 mills; and, in Belgium, 11 mills, as against an average railway cost in the United States of 7.68 mills.

The death of railway competition in England. The Economist, May 13, 1911. Pp. 2.

Discusses the recommendations of the Board of Trade Department Committee on Railway Agreements and Amalgamations (Cd. 5681), and urges that, in view of the throttling of railway competition, the power to compel concessions and improvements will need to be exercised by some body of an executive or administrative nature, possibly on the lines of the remodelled Interstate Commerce Commission.

German accident statistics. Electric Ry. Journ., Sept. 2, 1911.

Pp. 2. Contains several interesting charts analysing the nature and extent of accidents happening on German street and interurban railways. Fatal injuries appear to vary from 1 per 80 million to 1 per 50 million passengers (five years ending 1909). The smallest number of accidents occur during the dangerous winter months of December to February.

Notes on interurban freight and express traffic in New York State. Electric Ry. Journ., Aug. 12, 1911. Pp. 22.

A short account of the freight facilities provided by certain interurban railways in the Mohawk valley.

The Pacific Coast case decision. Ry. Age. Gaz., July 28, 1911. Explains the purport of the decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission in the Reno and Spokane Cases (June 22, 1911). No higher rates must be made from the Missouri River to points intermediate than are made to the Pacific coast terminals.

Railway agreements and combinations. Ry. Age. Gaz., July 14, 1911. Pp. 1.

The recent favorable report of the English Board of Trade Departmental Committee on permitting railway agreements and consolidations is taken as the text of an argument for the repeal of the anti-pooling clause, subject to further power being given to the Interstate Commerce Commission in the matter of advancing or preventing reductions of individual and joint rates.

The relation of railways to the Board of Trade. Engr. (London), June 9, 1911. Pp. 1.

A concise treatment of the development of the powers of the English Board of Trade in supervision of new railway works, accidents, etc. Statistics of various railways. Archiv. f. Eisenbahnw., July

Aug., 1911. Denmark (1909-10); France (1908); Hungary (1909); Japan (1909); Sweden-Private (1909), State (1909); Würtemberg (1909). The transcontinental rate cases. Ry. Age Gaz., Sept. 22, 1911. A criticism of the decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission in the Spokane Case (June 22, 1911). The percentage adjustments ordered are based neither on the principle of what the traffic will bear nor on the cost of service, but represent a wholly artificial and arbitrary adjustment.

The Uniform Classification Committee and its work. Ry. Age Gaz., Sept. 8, 1911. Pp. 12.

The Uniform Classification Committee, organized by the railways about three years ago has done about forty per cent of the work delegated to it. A great deal of attention has been given to the determination of uniform minimum weights. Uniform classification is bound to bring increase of ratings to some shippers just as it will bring reductions to others.

Water vs. rail transportation again. Ry. Age Gaz., Aug. 11, 1911. Pp. 22.

A reply to Mr. Thompson's letter in the same issue. The difference in railway rates here and abroad accounts for the failure of water competition in the United States. The government taxes the public to subsidize water competition, and, at the same time, permits boatowners to commit every form of discrimination which the railways ever committed. Whatever the government may spend on inland waterways, if it imposes the same restrictions on the making of rates by water as it imposes on the making of rates by land, the railways will be able to secure as large a proportion of the total traffic as they do now.

Quelques réflexions à propos de revendications des agents des chemins de fer français. Rev. Gen. d. Chemins d. Fer., Feb., 1911. Pp. 18. This article originally appeared in the December, 1910, number of the "Revue politique et parlementaire." The anonymous, but, apparently, eminent author examines the demands of the railway men, expenses, hours of labor, and minimum wage, as put forward by the socalled National Syndicate, and requiring an additional expenditure of 250 million francs annually, as against an actual surplus of 110 million francs, 88 million of which is required to pay the guaranteed minimum dividend of the five great companies. Condemns them as spelling financial disaster to the companies and the state, and leading to the imposition of a heavy burden upon the public in the form of increased rates.

-Erweiterung und Vervollständigung des preussischen Staatseisenbahnetzes im Jahre 1911. Archiv f. Eisenbahnw., July-Aug., 1911. In accordance with the practice of the Archiv, this article gives the estimates, placed before the Prussian landtag, for the building of new lines and additional tracks, as also for the electrification of certain lines, and for the provision of equipment. A total expenditure of 268 million marks is represented.

Public Utilities

(Abstracts by A. N. Holcombe)

BROOKS, S. Aspects of public ownership. N. Am. Rev., Aug.-Sept., 1911. Argument in favor of regulation, showing no acquaintance with work of state public utilities commissions.

BURDICK, C. K. The origin of the peculiar duties of public service companies. Columbia Law Rev., June, 1911.

Essay in early legal history.