The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 924031 289378 Cornell University Library arV18775 Railway revenue: 3 1924 031 289 378 olin.anx RAILWAY EEVENUE: A Treatise on the Organization of Rail- roads AND THE COLLECTION OF Railway Receipts. Containing Rules and Regulations necessary to ensure faithful accounting, and explaining, generally, the object and extent of railway accounts and the necessity of their being organized upon scientific principles. BY MARSHALL M. KIRKMAN. SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED AND REVISED. PUBLISHED BY THE RAILROAD GAZETTE, No. 73 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 1879. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by THE RAILROAD GAZETTE, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PRESS OF THE EVENING POST, 208 Broadway, N. Y. To ALBERT KEEP, Esq., President of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company, THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, WITH THE RESPECT AND ESTEEM OF THE AUTHOR. PREFACE This volume (divided for convenience of statement into three books) is based upon the. observation and ex- perience of the writer, extending over a period of some twenty-three years, in connection with the financial affairs and accounts of railroads. It is not claimed that the method of accounting des- cribed in the second and third books is perfect, but it is believed to be comprehensive and impartial in its appli- cation ; it is, above all, practical in its working, and as simply and inexpensively arranged as is consistent with reasonable efficiency and security. Under a system similar to it in many respects,, the writer collected, with the aid of an efficient organization, over one hundred and fifty millions of dollars of railway receipts. This was done without the loss of a dollar from delinquent agents, so far as known. The collection extended over a period of ten years, and passed through the hands of some four hundred constantly changing agents. Table of Contents. V — BOOK I. Page. Preface, v CHAPTER I. The Morale of ourJRailway Organizations, ■ i CHAPTER II. The Organization of our Railway Companies, 9 CHAPTER III. The President, 18 CHAPTER IV. The Secretary, 32 CHAPTER V. The Treasurer, 44 CHAPTER VI. The General Manager, 59 CHAPTER VII. "The Division Superintendent, 78 CHAPTER VIII. "The Chief Engineer, 85 CHAPTER IX. The Solicitor t 95 vm TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. Page. The General Ticket and Passenger Agent, ioo CHAPTER XI. The General Freight Agent, 1 1 1 CHAPTER XII. The Purchasing Agent, 120 CHAPTER Xni. The Accounting Officer, 124 CHAPTER XIV. Necessity of Defining the Duties and Responsibilities of the Accounting Officer ; the Cost of Accounts, etc., 142 CHAPTER XV. Necessity of Organizing the Accounts under the Direction of a Competent and Responsible Head, 148 CHAPTER XVI. Unavoidable Antagonism between the Manager and the Ac- counting Officer ; the Former Positive, the Latter Nega- tive ; Necessity of Sustaining the Latter in the Just Pre- rogatives of his Office ; the Former able to Sustain him- self, ,. ._ 154 BOOK II. CHAPTER I. The Extent and Object of Railway Accounts 161 CHAPTER II. General Description of the Manner of Collecting the Rev- enue 170 CHAPTER III. Cash Collections— Remittances of Agents, 191 ■ TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER IV. Page. The Revenue Blanks of the Company used at Stations and elsewhere on the Road, with a description of each — Freight Blanks 199 CHAPTER V. The Revenue Blanks of the Company Continued — Passenger Blanks, 238 CHAPTER VI. The Revenue Blanks of the Company Continued — Miscella- neous Blanks, 270 CHAPTER VII. Miscellaneous Receipts — Special Claims due to Railroad Com- panies — (''Various Persons' or Debtor Accounts,"), 280 CHAPTER VIII. •Instructions to Traveling Auditors ; their Duties ; the Reports Required from them for each Agent Examined ; the Treatment of Delinquent Agents ; Supervision of the Monthly Accounts Current ; the Necessity of the Prompt Collection of Charges on Freight, etc., etc., 284 CHAPTER DC. a Instructions to Traveling Auditors Continued — The Special Instructions to be imparted by them to Agents in Refer- ence to the Accounts ; the Manner of Checking the Same when Out of Balance ; the Responsibility of Agents in Connection with the Receipts of the Company, and the Special Duties Required of Them, 304 CHAPTER X. Directions to Traveling Auditors in Reference to the Examina- tion of Station Accounts — General Rules to be Observed by Agents in connection with the various Departments, etc., ; 333 x TABLE OE CONTENTS. . CHAPTER XI. Page. Instructions to Traveling Auditors in Reference- to the Instal- lation of New Agents and the Transfer of the Accounts from the Agents Leaving the Service of the Company — The character of the bond required from Agents, the rules governing the same, etc.,. . : 357 CHAPTER XII. Instructions to Traveling Auditors in Reference to the Ac- counts at the Junctions with other Roads, and the Special Duties required of Agents at such points, 375 BOOK III, CHAPTER I. General Office Accounts and how they are grouped ; the Di- versity that exists ; Summary of the System contempla- ted herein, 384 CHAPTER II. The Remarkable Utility of the Ledger— Its Superiority over all other Books of Account ; the General Ledger and its Satellites the Subsidiary Ledgers, 400 .-, CHAPTER III. The Journals Required ; the Relation of the General Journal to the Subordinate Journals ; the Necessity for Clearness ; the General Bookkeeper i IO CHAPTER IV. Journal VouchersNind the Necessity for their Preservation. . . 416 CHAPTER V. Ticket Accounts ; the Records made in the General Ticket Department, and the Returns Required from that De- partment by the Accounting Officer ; Cash Collections of . Conductors, . T „ TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER VI. Page. The Return Ticket Department ; its Organization and Duties and the Relation it bears to the General Ticket Depart- ment .*- 430 CHAPTER VII. Freight Accounts, and the Returns made of the Same to the Accounting Officer by the Freight Auditor, 450 CHAPTER VIII. The Journals used for Entering Audited Bills Due by the Company ; for Various Persons' Bills Due to the Com- pany : and the manner of treating Drafts drawn on the Treasurer by Agents, 463; CHAPTER IX. Auditing of the Disbursement Accounts and the Books Re- quired, 469, CHAPTER X. Cash — The Necessity for Frequent [and Prompt Remittances ; to whom Cash should be Remitted ; Disputes in Refer- ence to the Count ; Statement Required from Bank of Cash Receipts ; the Entry of Remittances and the Ac- knowledgment returned by the Treasurer ; the Cash Book for Agents and Conductors ; the General Cash Book, 475 CHAPTER XI. The General Balance Sheet, Income Account and Division of operating Expenses 487 Contents of Appendix. FORMS FOR RAILWAY REVENUE. NO. OF FORM. Agent's Cash Remittance Slip, I Report of Drafts Drawn on Local Treasurer by Agents for Advanced Charges, and for other purposes, 2 Cash Book for Station, 3 Conductor's Cash Remittance Slip, 4 Conductor's Report of Fares Collected, 5 Agents' Requisition for Small Change, 6 Stop-Over Check, «i# 7 Stop-Over Check Envelope, 8 Receipt for Advanced Charges, 9 Receipt for Freight Received for Shipment, ; 10 Check Tally Book or Blotter for use at Stations, n Freight Way-Bill for use at Stations, . . . „ 12 Live-Stock Way-Bill, with Stub for Station use, 13 Correction Sheet for Freight Way-Bills for Agents' use, 14 Correction Sheet, for Freight Auditor's use, 15 Freight Forwarded Book for Station use, 1 6 Freight Received and Receipt Book for Station use 17 Agents' Notice to Consignees of the Arrival of Freight 18 Freight Expense Bill for Station use, 19 Freight Transfer Way-Bill (used at Junctions), 20 Station Abstract Book, Freight Forwarded and Received, ... 21 Agents' Monthly Abstract Freight Forwarded, - 22 Agents' Monthly Abstract Freight Received,.' 23 Agents' Monthly Report Freight Forwarded and Received, 24 xiv CONTENTS OF APPENDIX. NO. OF FORM. Agents' Daily Report Freight Earnings, 25 Freight Overcharge Book, for station use, 26 Agents' Quarterly Report of Freight Overcharges, 27 Agents' Freight Tracing Sheet, 28 Agents' Freight Report for " Short " Freight, 29 Agents' Freight Report for " Short "Freight Received 30 Agents' Freight Report for " Over " Freight, 31 Agents' Freight Report for "Over" Freight Accounted for, 32 Agents' Monthly Report of Freight Over, Unclaimed and Refused, , 33 Agents' Freight Report for " Bad Order " Freight, 34 Milk Ticket for use at Stations 35 Agents' Monthly Report of Milk Tickets, 36 Notice to Forwarding Agents of Extensions of Way-Bills Ac- companying Grain in Bulk and for other classes of freight the quantity of which cannot be ascertained at point of shipment, 37 Station Record of Bulk Grain Delivered Elevators, 38 Agents' Requisition for Tickets, 39 Local Card Ticket 40 Round-Trip Ticket, 4 1 Book Ticket, 42 Inter-Division Ticket,' 43 Excursion Ticket * 44 Local Ticket Book for use at Stations 45 Coupon Ticket Book for use at Stations, 46 Agents' Daily Ticket (Earnings) Report, 47 Agents' Weekly Local Ticket Report 48 Agents' Monthly Local Ticket Report ; 49 Agents' Monthly Coupon Ticket Report, 50 Suppositional Transfer Balance Sheet," form used by Traveling Auditors in transferring Agents, . . .' .' 51 Specimens of Balance Sheet made by Station Agents, 52 Agents' Monthly Report of Cash Credited him' by Local Treasurer during the month 53 Agents' List of Uncollected Freight Bills at Station, ....:.... 54 CONTENTS OF APPENDIX. NO. OF FORM. Form of Station Agent's Bond 55 Form of Shop Clerk's and Storekeeper's Bond, 56 Conductors' Train Report of Freight Carried, 57 Record Book of Local Coupons, for use at the General Office, 58 Monthly Statement of Tickets Sold, for use at the General Office, . , 59 Record Book of Foreign Coitpons, for use at the General , Office 60 Railroad Companies' Ticket Journal, for use at the General Office, 61 Agents' Ticket Journal, for use at the General Office 62 Conductors' Journal, for use at the General Office, 63 Agents' Freight Journal, for use at the General Office 64 Railroad Companies' Freight Journal, for use at the General Office, 65 Railroad Companies' Car-Mileage Journal, for use at the General Office, 66 Record Book of Advanced Charge Checks and Drafts out- standing unpaid, for use at the General Office, 67 Details of Miscellaneous Accounts on Railroad Companies' Ledger, for use at the General Office, . 68 Register of Vouchers, for use at the General Office 69 Register of Various Persons' Bills, for use at the General Office, 70 Journal of Miscellaneous Labor, for use at the General Office, " 71 Journal of Disbursements for Pay-Rolls, and for Material dis- bursed at Shops, Storehouses, Track and Roadway, for use at the General Office, 72 Record of Cash received from Station Agents and Conduetqr s on the Dates specified (monthly), for use at the General Office 73 General Cash Book, for use at the General Office, 74 Notice to Agents of Differences in Monthly Balance Sheet, ... 75 Form of General Ledger Journal used, 76 Form of Ledger used, 77 RAILWAY REVENUE BOOK I. OHAPTEE I. The Morale of our Railway Organiza- tions. A GREAT railway is in many respects like a great government. It is essentially despotic in its construction and manner of procedure, and is animated and controlled by a single mind with the combined wisdom and sagacity of many men. The colossal character of its affairs ; the mo- mentous interests involved ; the activity and circumstance attendant upon the conduct of so great a business without pecuniary risk ; the ceaseless changes ; the strife for power ; the in- trigue for preferment, all combine to surround it with a charm more fascinating to high-spir- ited men than the mere possession of wealth ; yet, so continuous and absorbing are its de- 2 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. mands upon the nervous energies, so harassing in its effects upon the mental life of those ac- tively engaged in it, that, as a rule, they become old and broken down while they should yet be in the vigor of middle age. A railway possesses for those connected with it all the insidious charm that characterizes an active political life, but without its attendant publicity and gross vilification. Its attaches, while striving zealously for the common good, are all actuated by motives more or less selfish ; loyal without exception to their company, they are rarely embarrassed in their official life by any friendships except those of convenience ; weighing, with the precision of consummate courtiers, the probabilities of this or that faction in the management, they are ever ready to wel- come the victor. The chief that has embar- rassed his administration and alienated many supporters, in his efforts to surround himself with men personally devoted to his fortunes, sees eventually with apprehension and shame that the support of his most trusted friends is governed by policy and their friendship dic- tated by self-interest. The officer who is saluted upon every hand with cordial recognition to- day is passed by to-morrow with cold indiffer- ence or positive neglect. His star, by some fortuitous circumstance for an instant in the ascendant, excited attention and speculation ; RAILWAY REVENUE. 3 but the evolutions of a day, sometimes of an hour, are sufficient to destroy the prospects and blasfthe hopes of the most aspiring, or call from obscurity to positions of. conspicuous trust men apparently without friends or ultimate pros- pects of advancement. In every railway organization, underneath the surface the most active rivalry exists between the servants of the company. The strife to which this rivalry gives birth, while rarely pre- judicial to the company interested, renders the life of a railway officer one of continual sur- prises and harassing perplexities. This is, of course, to be expected where so large a number of* men are brought into immediate contact, without previous acquaintance, who possess the peculiarities of education, temper and object that characterize the officers of our railway companies. The stratagems that are employed by them in the internecine warfare which they wage for the possession of poAver and place ex- cite passions and engender hatreds that are not unfrequently life-long in their continuance. The finest administrative ability to be found in our country animates and controls our great railways. Doing a colossal business, extending sometimes over several States, and employing frequently ten thousand men in the prime of life, restless, energetic and ambitious, moving in their places with the precision of trained sol- 4 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. diers, yet each animated by a high and mighty resolve to -succeed, it requires for their proper management abilities of the very highest order. How to control these myriads of men with- out destroying their individuality and : pride, how to throw around them, and the officers that control them, the safeguards that are essential to the due protection of a company's interests, without destroying or weakening the discipline so necessary to the force, are questions that oc- cur naturally to all who desire that the resources of the property, with all its accessions, shall accrue to the owners and to no one else. The organization of the different railway com- panies of the country appears, to a superficial observer, to be substantially the same ; yet the widest diversity exists. The authority exer- cised by the several operating officers on dif- ferent roads varies materially. Those roads situated in the immediate neighborhood of the proprietors possess, usually, a conservative and well-balanced organization, each particle held in its place and under proper restraint by the easy means of communication possessed by all with the owners. Now, the organization that may, perhaps, be safely left to watch over the interests of a prop- erty located in the immediate vicinity of its owners might and would be fatal to a road situ- ated at a remote distance from such owners. RAILWAY REVENUE. 5 Roads remote from the proprietors not unf're- quently pass by easy and imperceptible stages under the complete domination, practically, of one or perhaps two operating officer's: men ostensibly working zealously in behalf of the proprietors, but really intent only upon their own personal aggrandizement. The danger of demoralizing the force of a road by a division of authority, or by placing ade- quate checks upon its affairs, in many cases deters the directors from any practical attempt at it whatever. Now, while absolute authority is essen- tial to the management of the physical life of a railway, its exercise nevertheless not unfre- quently degenerates elsewhere into the most shameful excesses — into an utter disregard of the commonest principles of business, hesitating not an instant in establishing precedents fatal in their^cope and ultimate consequences ; in inaug- urating policies so weak that a word is suf- ficient to dispel them if there is but one inde- pendent man cognizant of them and courageous enough to utter that word. Manifestly the check that is requisite, and that may be so essential to the safety of a company, cannot be expected where the whole power rests absolutely in the hands of a single operating of- ficer. It is possible by a division of authority hap- pily regulated and balanced — as we shall explain 6 RAILWAY REVENUE: more fully hereafter — to secure independent ac- tion in all matters of administration without such division being in any way detrimental to the material interests of a company. And as such division can be secured without danger, it should never, in a single instance, be neg- lected. Men cling with desperate tenacity to every species of power, though its exercise may be contrary to the plainest dictates of reason and good business usage. Satisfied, perhaps, of the rectitude of their purpose and indifferent to the uses that may be made by their successors of the power they have secured, they stoutly re- sist to the very last every effort at reform. Every measure of reform in railway adminis- tration, to be successful, must be brought before the right person and at an opportune time, and must appeal with an unmistakable force to the good sense and justice of such person, otherwise in the hurry and confusion of affairs it is over- looted or ignored. It not unfrequently happens in the adminis- tration of railroads that the official, or body of officials, whose duty it is to correct the evils that constantly menace every great corporation is incapable of judging of the necessity or prac- ticability of changes that may be suggested. It consequently falls out many times that projects the most grave, and reforms the most urgent, RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 7 are delayed for years, and perhaps finally aban- doned, in consequence of a contemptuous allu- sion, or the emphatic assertion of the practical man that " It is inexpedient or impracticable." Now, inexpedient or impracticable too often means, as all railway men are aware, that the project is not consistent with the prerogatives of a particular office, or interferes with certain private views or well-nurtured hobbies, or de- stroys some long cherished objects of a personal nature. If the man that stands in the way of the contemplated reform is one of those men who, Alison tells us, are so much sought after for their pliant ability (and men of that character enjoy a particularly felicitous life upon our rail- ways), he Will perhaps illustrate the apparent absurdity of the contemplated project by a story happily inspired, the effect of which is designed to put off the suggested innovation, and render its instigator absurd or unpopular. For it is true with the railway service, as it is with poli- tics, that those in control have an instinctive aversion to appearing ridiculous, and to give a matter in which they are called upon to act a tinge of absurdity effectually chills their enthu- siasm, and is very likely to enlist them in the ranks of its direct enemies. Notwithstanding all these obstacles, great ad- vances are constantly being made in the science and practical working of our railways ; but every 8 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. effort to organize the responsibilities of the dif- ferent departments upon a basis purely imper- sonal in character, providing alike for the good, the indifferent, and the positively bad, has ever met with the most strenuous opposition, and, when temporarily effected, the battle must ulti- mately be fought over again, for the destruction of such a system enlists in its support the hearty co-operation of the arbitrary, the inefficient and the designing. Still, the effort to surround with salutary checks the practical working organization of our railways enlists the hearty sympathy and active support of railway property-owners everywhere, and that it will ultimately be com- pletely successful there can be no reasonable doubt. OHAPTEE II. The Organization of our Railway Companies. The Board of Directors of a railway com- pany possesses supreme authority over its affairs and over the officers and employes entrusted with the management of its property, subject to the provisions of the company's charter and the laws of the country. The number of directors varies upon differ- ent lines.* , The directors are elected annually by the holders of the capital stock of the company. f In some instances bondholders are, for special reasons, entitled to vote the same as the holders of the stock ; this privilege, however, is an un- usual one. In several States directors are elected for three years. The period for which they are elected is regulated by law. When they are * The Nashua & Lowell Railroad has four directors ; the Indianapolis, Cin- cinnati & La Fayette Railroad has nine directors ; the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad has seventeen directors. ■f " The annual meeting of the stockholders and election of directors shall be held on the first Wednesday in June in each year, at the office of the company, in the city of Chicago." — By-laws Galena -morrow shrunken and depressed. If the officer possesses aggressiveness and tact, he very likely enlarges the field in which he labors, or he is quickly destroyed by some one stronger than himself; if timid and^ vacil- lating, his power is filched by others, and he finds his discretion more and more circum- scribed with each succeeding year. Changes are constantly occurring, from causes other RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 15 than these, the official affected by them, in the generality of cases, neither accelerating nor se- riously retarding their force or direction. Upon a few of our lines the principal operat- ing officers are appointed directly by the direc- tors ; but in the majority of cases such appoint- ments are left wholly to the discretion of the President ; this power he, in turn, delegates as he thinks proper to the members of his staff, of which the General Manager, may be said to be the chief. No arbitrary rule is observed. The character of the officers themselves, and the cir_ cumstances that govern the affairs of each com- pany, are all-important in matters of this kind. Generally, it may be said that the ability and fitness of the older and more experienced officers of our railway companies are very accurately represented by the positions they severally occupy. They are sometimes loth to believe this, but it is nevertheless true. The officers of a railway are greatly depend- ent upon each other in everything they do. Inefficiency cannot exist in one department without influencing the efficiency of neighbor- ing departments. This is intensified when the duties of the various officers are not clearly de- fined. In attempting, therefore, to fix a system for collecting railway revenue, it will be well, per- haps, to define beforehand the duties and pre- 16 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. rogatives of the various officers^ so far as we can, consistently with the differences that are known to exist. This description will possess the considerable merit of enabling us to form something of an estimate of the characteristics which the various officers of a railway company severally and col- lectively possess, the power they exercise, and the duties they perform outside of the accounts. A full understanding of the subject of accounts is impossible without this knowledge. Some of the officers, it will be found upon examin- ation, have apparently no relation whatever to the immediate duty of collecting the revenue. Each, however, is a positive force in the or- ganization, and his influence is felt in every department of the service. When not directly engaged in the duties appertaining to the re- ceipts of a company he is nevertheless an aux- iliary aid, and as such may not be omitted from any description of railway revenue and its col- lection. A description of the various general officers has this further merit, that from it we may glean many interesting facts in relation to railway revenue and other matters pertaining to railroads that are not accessible in any other way. And in connection with this description I am not prepared to say that the system of accounts I propose attempting to describe fur- ther on is the best that can be devised, or that RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 17 it is without serious defect ; nevertheless I feel fully assured that a poor system well understood and rigidly enforced is preferable to a good system imperfectly understood or clumsily ex- ecuted. CHAPTER III. The President. The Vice-President in the absence of the President possesses usually all the authority of the latter, so that any description of the duties or characteristics of one, applies with equal force to the other.* " In the absence of the President and Vice- President from any meeting of the board, or, if from sickness, or from any other cause, both of these officers shall be unable to perform the duties of their respective offices, a member of the board may be chosen, who for the time being, shall execute and perform the duties * * imposed upon these officers.''^ The President is elected yearly. It is one of the privileges of his office that he may convene the board of directors whenever he sees fit. At one period the presidents of our railway companies were rarely if ever active participants in the practical working of the property ; always men of wealth and respectable standing, they * In England the railway officer known by us as President is called the; Chairman of the company, t By-Laws Galena & Chicago Uwion Railroad Co., l8^g, p. 6. RAILWAY REVENUE. 19 were chosen rather with a view to the effect their names would have upon investors and the public at large, than in. consequence of the knowledge they possessed of railway polity. The managers, or superintendents as they were then called, exercised undisturbed the great power that their position of autocrats gave them ; these nominally inferior officers consulted with the President from time to time, and listened with attention to his wishes when expressed, but these expressions of the' executive applied, as we may readily suppose, only to general mat- ters of policy or unimportant details. The responsibility that rested upon the Pres- ident in the early history of railroads was merely nominal. He performed the dignified but not exacting labors usual to the office he held. It was the privilege of his place to call the Board of Directors to order and preside at their meetings ■( as the presiding officer he declared all measures proposed for the action of the board by any of its jnembers, and when such measures were properly seconded, he submitted them to the vote of the directors, and in con- clusion stated the-result of the vote to the meet- ing. As President, he constituted a member (though frequently only an ex officio member) of all committees appointed by the board through him as its chairman. These are the prescribed duties of all railway presidents. In some cases 20 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. the President affixes his signature to the certifi- cates of the company's capital stock, signs its bonds, contracts and leases, besides writing its published reports. More frequently, however, these details are performed by his coadjutor, the Vice-President.* The duties of the chief executive officer — and among these duties we may include a gen- eral supervision over the company's affairs — do not render his presence in the immediate vicinity of the property imperative. On the contrary, the financial interests of a company may and do frequently require that its Chairman should have his residence at the-money centre of the country, and that he should be a man well and favorably known to capitalists and to the public. Indeed, all of our great companies now esteem it impor- tant that they should have an alert and able rep- resentative at one or more of the financial cen- tres. This representative is frequently, however, only a minor officer. When the property of a railway company is * In England the Chairman is expected to make a speech to the stock- holders whenever they are convened, and they interrogate him in reference to his policy and measures in the same manner that members of the Parliament of Great Britain personally interrogate the representatives of the Government in the House. But it must be remembered, in this connection, that the capital stock of the English roads is owned by English citizens, who attend the meetings of the stockholders with scrupulous regularity. As one utterly unaccustomed to such a state of things, we cannot but believe that it must be a very interesting, if not an instructive, sight to see a great railway Chairman sharply examined, perhaps denounced, before a large body of people by an obscure and friendless holder of a few shares of capital stock. RAILWAY REVENUE. 21 owned largely by one man, or is under the ab- solute control of one man, he is usually the per- son selected for its President unless for personal reasons, of which he is the judge, some one else is appointed. It is rarely, however, that this last named contingency occurs. The dignity, circumstance and power of the office justly con- fer a high distinction upon its occupant, and for that reason it is much sought after by men fond of affairs. When the ownership or control of a road is represented by a diversity of interests not easily harmonized except in a practical way, it has be- come much the custom of late years to make the officer immediately in charge of the prop- erty its President. Many cogent reasons for such a course naturally suggest themselves ; the jealousy of ownership is allayed by such a course, and the stockholders act with better feeling and in greater harmony ; the company derives the benefit of the prestige that attaches to the office in its local operations and in its in- tercourse with connecting t lines ; the greatness of the office appeals to the highest aspirations of the person filling it, and in other ways is be- lieved to ,affect favorably his character and sur- roundings. Aside from this, many important operations of business are facilitated by the 22 \, RAILWAY ^ REVENUE. personal presence of the company's chief execu- tive officer.* However, a minute and busy interference in all the petty details of local management is thought by many to be inconsistent with the grave responsibilities of the President ; it dis- turbs his mental equilibrium, restricts his vision and renders it difficult if not impossible for him to act dispassionately. The mechanical labor su^i a course of inquiry involves, the time it oc- cupies, and the disquietude it renders inevitable, do not permit the person so busied the capacity to exercise good judgment and decorum in the higher duties required of him, and herein lies one great objection to the appointment of a man versed in the practical affairs of railways to the. chair of the chief executive. It is a misfortune in many respects to a com- pany to have officers whose zeal in its interests impel them to the accomplishment of the duties of offices impossible to one man. However com- mendable the sentiment that gives birth to this * " In some cases, the President of the railway company acts as Superintend- ent ; a method that may answer on short or unimportant railways, but cannot be recommended for other cases. The President should be the organ of the Board of Directors, and so far as he gives attention to the operating depart--- ment, it should be as the medium of the board, and the general executive head of the institution, in which capacity he would confer with, advise and direct the Superintendent. The two officers should be kept distinct, as admitting a better organization, with salutary checks, and especially as between those general officers appointed by the Board of Directors, and those appointed by the Superintendent, which is important in securing harmony and efficient co-opera- tion." — "Railway Property" by John B. Jerm's, -C. E., pp. 252, 253, 1861. RAILWAY REVENUE. 23 tow.ering ambition, it is nevertheless quite as destructive to the usefulness of him who pos- sesses it as idlensess on his part would be. It is possible for a man to become so bur- dened with details as to destroy the contem- plative faculties of his mind. A lailway officer, to be able to perform the highest service of which he is capable, should not permit himself to be burdened with details to an extent that preclude his devoting a con- siderable portion of time, each day, to a retro- spective and prospective view of the company's affairs. A high conception of his duties and re- sponsibilities is impossible otherwise. Nor must he crowd his office desk with work that may be done with greater facility by inferior and less expensive agents. The over zeal that leads an . officer to commit such an offense against good sense is attributable to various causes. Some- times it arises from his anxiety to make himself indispensable,* sometimes from a superabundant energy, a genius lor work; sometimes from a sensitive fear les^pie be thought idly inclined and neglectful of his duties ; and sometimes from an inability to consummate results through the instrumentality of others. Not unfrequently it arises from a misconception of the requirements * It has always seemed to me that the highest service-a railway officer can perform for the company he serves, is to so organize and direct the affairs of his office that no avoidable loss or disturbance will be occasioned by his death or dismissal. ** 24 RAILWAY REVENUE. of his office. Some men are born clerks., and their conceptions never rise higher than those of a mechanical order. The full development of the executive office requires that the President should blend in him- self all the happy qualities that we find in the observer, the thinker, and the man of decisive action. Upon roads the management of which is esteemed able, we find the duties of President and Manager practically consolidated under the former title, the assistants being traffic managers and superintendents ; and upon them, it is pre- sumed, devolve the petty details and such active management of the properfy as the President may see fit to allow them. The nature of the organization upon a road where the President takes an active part in its daily affairs, and is permitted the discretion that belongs to the office, is characteristic of the man's mind and the habits of his life. If bred a merchant, banker, lawyer, or soldier, or if he is a man of large conception, we rarely find him busying himself with petty details ; he is satisfied to exercise a careful, general supervision over its affairs and the officers connected with it, per- mitting the latter great latitude in their various departments. Conscious of his power and secure in the local strength of his position, he exercises his authority with moderation and discretion. RAIL WA V RE VENUE. 25 If, on the contrary, the President be an officer promoted from the ranks, it is possible, though perhaps not probable, that he will absorb at once in his own person every species of power, making his subordinates merely attendants upon his suggestions. Such a course cannot be too severely denounced ; it evinces an indifference or an in- capacity to understand the requirements of the office ; it lowers the purpose and accomplish- ment of an organization to the level of a single man's conception, for the reason that it destroys the pride, weakens the personality and saps the intellectual, power of the officers to whom the affairs of a company are matters of immediate knowledge and concern. The martinet system of management, it may be said, while admirable in many respects, ren- ders a high grade of ability in subordinate officers impossible, and otherwise destroys, in a noticeable degree, the esprit de corps of an organ- ization in which it is practiced, The knowledge of railway affairs possessed by operating officers does not in many cases ex- tend beyond the limits of the department or branch of the service over which they preside. This seems surprising ; yet it is nevertheless true. Many officers do not have the leisure to study ; others are too egotistical ; still others too indo- lent ; others again too dull. If an officer whose information is restricted to a branch of the ser- 26 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. vice be appointed to the office of President, it is quite likely that he will concentrate the whole strength of his new position on the department with which he is most familiar.* The effect of such a course cannot be otherwise than disas- trous. From what we have said in reference to the office of railway president the impossibility of defining the duties of the President with any accuracy of statement is clearly apparent. The office, it may be said, is peculiar, and its oppor- tunities such as to give scope to the largest ability. Its occupant, to be successful, must possess in an important degree all the great elements that when combined constitute true statesmanship. " The management of an important railway involves arduous and responsible duties, calling for large business experience and qualifications in judging of men and things, and the most competent and upright directors will find ample scope for the exercise of their best faculties. Their first and most important duty is to select from their number a man to preside over their deliberations, and to take the administrative charge of the executive. department of the affairs * I have known financial . men appointed to the position of President who, in thejr new office, still continued to write wjth their own hands many of the vouchers, and insisted afterwards in many cases upon personally disbursing the money required to pay them. An accountant made President would still be an accountant ; a cashier made President would always remain a cashier, a delver in details. RAIh WA V RE VENUE. 2? of the institution. Upon this officer the prosper- ity of the institution will greatly depend ; not, however, as is often supposed, by his vigilance and attention to mere details — though on a short and unimportant railway he may consistently give much attention to details, and perhaps save the duty and expense of some other agent ; but on what may be termed important railways, his attention should be directed to the general in- terests of the institution, and especially to see that he has over each department of service men competent and faitjiful to carry out in the most efficient manner their respective duties. It is in this last duty that he will find the most im- portant field for his care and vigilance ; and all his examination of details should be with refer- ence to know how far he has been successful in this feature of his administration. Here lies the foundation of sound railway management. In the varied and numerous matters involved, it is idle for the chief executive officer to at- tempt much personal knowledge of details, and in devoting himself to these, except on occasion of special examination in reference to the duties of subordinates or as they come incidentally or by complaint to his notice, he will probably neglect his more appropriate and important duties. His first duty will be to present to his board for appointment, as heads of the several departments, men who have education in the 28 RAIL WA V RE VENUE. different branches of service to be provided for. His talent as a business man will be amply proved in the discharge of this duty. If he proves himself a discreet man, with an eye single to the prosperity of the institution, having a frank and high-minded sense of duty, he will gather around him a class of men that will produce order, regularity and efficiency through every department of the business of the institution. He may not succeed fully in the outset of his engagement, but he will ultimately produce the most favorable management.^" Descending for a moment to details we find in the practical working of railways that many of the acts of subordinate officials are secretly in- spired by the President ; that many orders and appointments that emanate from lesser officers, decided upon apparently by them without the knowledge or prior consent of the President, really originate with him or have his positive concurrence. His personality permeates every act of his subordinates. The indefiniteness as to the real source of authority in any given case, it may be said, constitutes much of the power of minor railway officers, making their influence so considerable that it is rarely if ever ques- tioned by the great army of subordinates that patiently and laboriously transact all the myr- iad details of a railway company's affairs. And * Jervis, pp. 330, '1, '2, '3. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 29 in those rare cases where an officer's authority is questioned, the executive hastens to confirm it, lest the precedent should prove detrimental to the service by producing- insubordination and consequent demoralization of the company's force. So that it frequently happens that while the information vouchsafed - by the suboi'dinate is not for a moment lost sight of, still the des- truction of the informer is as certain as if his charges were false and malicious. This fact is well understood by railway men. Hence it is possible that the most pernicious practices may become habits of daily occurence, known to many without their ever coming to the knowl- edge of the President or board of directors. Thus the timidity or conservatism of capital conspires to bring about its own ruin. It may be said, generally, that our presidents rest secure in the incorruptibility of their mo- tives. They believe heartily in the honest loyalty and sagacious judgment of their agents, and herein lies much of their strength ; for it is a noticeable fact that distrustful men nowhere ever rise to great power or long possess author- ity or friends. It is noticeable that a railway organization once perfected under a President usually re- mains substantially unchanged during his con- tinuance in office ; general disintegration rarely ever takes place prior to his overthrow. When 30 RAILWAY REVENUE. the management for any reason becomes lax or unpopular, it may perhaps be found necessary to offer up a prominent official as a propitiation, but necessities of this kind are infrequent or are not recognized if they occur. When they do transpire, however, the elimination of the official, we may believe, is not delayed by anything ap- proaching delicacy or maudlin sentimentality. Many quaint and kindly things concerning the presidents and vice-presidents of our roads are found floating around amongst the subordinate officers and employes,; the peculiarities of many of them have become legendary upon the roads they once controlled, and in the lulls of bus- iness the obscure employe, outwardly dull and uninteresting, delights to recount the legends that have come down to him of the great officers of the company who have existed and passed away. The car of the Presidents like a meteor shooting at infrequent periods through the quiet country, animating the line, and exciting the active curiosity of every employe. The homage he everywhere receives is as sincere as it is marked. Finally and generally it may be said that the presidents and vice-presidents of our railway companies possess abilities of the very highest order, and their acts are, as a rule, characterized by sagacious foresight, wise discretion and un- flinching fidelity to the interests of the com- panies they represent. They, with the boards RAILWAY REVENUE. 31 of direction of which they are the head, shape the policy of the companies, and no act of mate- rial importance is performed without their con- currence. Possessed of absolute power over the destinies of the company's servants, their wishes are law. Exercising the prerogatives of the great offices they fill with wisdom and justice ; kindly and considerate of the feelings of subordinates; animated by no jealousies ; controlled by no cliques, they receive the sturdy, unthinking sup- port of every element of disposition and tem- perament that enters into the composition of our railway companies. Frequently knowing but little if anything of the details of the practical operations of a railway, rarely seen by its army of operatives, they are yet thought of with awe and are spoken of with profound respect. The office they fill on one of our extended lines is not inferior in dignity and power to the most exalted position in the land ; their duties not unfrequently being of so grave a nature that the material interests of immense districts, some- times of the whole country, are accelerated or retarded as they may in their eminent discretion decide. Pursuing the quiet tenor of their way, court- ing seclusion rather than notoriety, they realize our conception of great rulers, animated by exalted ideas, dignified in their execution, and unsoligiting an( J upright in their mode of life, CHAPTEE IV. The Secretary. The Secretary is the trusted and confidential clerk of the board of directors. His discre- tion in all the delicate matters incident to his office is of such impenetrable stuff that it may be said to be impregnable alike to the assaults of time or the wiles of insidious gossip. It is the-duty of the Secretary to be present at the meetings of directors and of the various committees of directors. All documents coming before these bodies are usually read by him. While in attendance he makes such notes and memoranda of the meetings as may be necessary to enable him at a subsequent period to spread a faithful record of each measure that passed, upon the books of his office ; the action of the stockholders at their annual or special meetings healso transcribes upon his records. It is especially the duty of the Secretary to wait upon and, so far as possible, anticipate the wants of the directors, and in every way facili- tate a full and correct understanding upon their part of the affairs of the company they repre- sent. RAILWAY REVENUE. 33 In reference to the innumerable petty inci- dents that attend the deliberation of the direc- tors and that surround every mqasure proposed by them or to them, his memoranda and his books are silent. His minutes simply tell us that such and such a measure was passed, and that such and such directors voted for or against it. Here he stops. The light skirmishing and the. dalliance that preceded the meeting are un- noticed in his minutes ; the secret caucusing held in remote angles of dark and gloomy cor- ridors ; the subdued and cautiously guarded discussions carried on in the seclusion of half- concealed windows ; the modifications to which the measure was subjected during the sitting, in the informal chat of the directors, he says noth- ing about ; the confidential murmurs that passed between various members during the meeting ; the action of that mysterious and formidable man, the President, sitting alone at the head of the room, grim and observant ; the sagacious nod of ' recognition often indulged in by one particu- lar director, and as often answered by the raised eye-brows and protruding lips of a neighbor across the way ; the bursts of temper and the hot denunciation of an old and irascible director sitting at the centre of the table ; the lazy indif- ference of another; the attention paid to his necktie and boots by a third ; the silence and the look of determined resolve that shone in the 34 RAILWAY REVENUE. face of a fourth ; the preternatural attentive- ness of a fifth ; the sharp, ringing cry, " I second it," of a sixth— about all these delicious details, . so much dearer to us than the dry minutiae of business,_the discreet Secretary is silent — silent as the old and gloomy books, worn with usage and musty with the dampness of years, over which he spends so much of his time in silent and meditative labor. While poring over these old tomes, pregnant with so much that interests him, we observe that he is always preoccupied, sometimes ab- stracted. His thoughts at such times are busy with the directors far away. It is only when cheered by their presence that he is really alive to all the incidents of life. When in their pres- ence the wrinkles in his face unfold one by one, his brow becomes smooth and polished, and his eyes, usually dim and half concealed, shine with an attractive lustre. The fallacies and the pal- try obligations of the infinitesimal world that is subordinate to the directors do not interest him, and seldom occupy his attention. This is nat- ural. The courtier who dwells in the presence of the king and amid the splendors that evince his power feels but a feeble interest in the afflic- tions of those who pursue life in a colder atmosphere. .Warmed by the rays that diverge from the throne itself, he thinks but idly of the cold and half-starved fires that glimmer in less favored places. RAILWAY RE VENUS. 35 It is weaknesses such as these that attach us to the Secretary. He is but human, a kindred spirit after all. To him the board of directors is the guiding star- — the luminous power that lights up the sombre recesses of his busy life. The cold affability and unconscious absence of manner we notice in him is observable every- where, in society and in the affairs of business. The patient but scarcely concealed contempt with which the Secretary regards those less favored in position than he is not a character- istic peculiar to him ; it permeates all the grades and crevices of railway service, just as it is ob- servable in all the curious ranks and petty divis- ions of society. It is singular that it is so, but so it is, that the real grievances of life never give rise to half the disturbances that are occasioned by the purely imaginary distinctions in which man con- tinually seeks to envelop himself in our favored country to the exclusion of his less fortunate fellows. The Secretary, in the unconscious re- gard which he pays to the power of the direc- tors and to the facilities of his own office, sim- ply evinces a trait of character inherent in man. This may be a very weak trait and utterly un- worthy, of our regard, nevertheless it is quite as observable in our country as it is in Europe, where different grades are recognized and scru- pulously respected. 36 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. In England, when railway companies were in their swaddling clothes, the Secretary was a mighty man in their affairs, the most consider- able person, in fact, in their service. Various circumstances conspired to bring about such a result. The knowledge he brought to the con- sideration of railway affairs was definite and conclusive, and herein he differed from his fel- lows, who acknowledged their ignorance while continuing to contrive, to experiment, to in- trigue. All the details of railway organization, includ- ing the laws applicable to the same, were famil- iar, to the courteous and attentive Secretary. The different companies sprung into existence under his immediate eye ; he perfected their affairs and gave them direction. No one else fully comprehended the intricacies of method and procedure that attended the inception and working of corporate bodies. This information, in its paramount importance to the directors of railways, gave him a shadowy prestige that was denied his fellows, whose labors were isolated, and for a time remained unnoticed. The power of the Secretary was mighty ; his orders were everywhere scrupulously obeyed, and his slight est suggestions listened to with rapt attention. He was thought to possess the secret of wealth. The joint-stock companies that sprung up on every hand, and that enriched all who partici- RAILWAY REVENUE. 37 pated in them, he alone fully understood. Hence his power. But the basis of his power was, after all, only a species of knowledge easily acquired ; its ex- istence did not, therefore, outlast the supersti- tion that gave it birth. With the increase of joint-stock companies and the publicity that at- tended the organization and conduct of their business, the knowledge of necessary details, before known only to the Secretary, becairie general with railway men and capitalists ; this diffusion of knowledge was fatal to his power, and from a person of influence and direction he became simply a servitor, glad to earn his bread in obscurity and comparative disgrace. In reciting the history of the English Secre- tary, we recount that of his cousin in the United States. The English Secretary, however, still retains a nominal control over the accounts of railways, but in the United States this distinc- tion, if it may be called a distinction, is, except in isolated cases, not allowed him, the control ol the accounts, where he possessed it, having been filched from him by the rapacious officers who control the departments in which alone a thor- ough knowledge of the details of accounting can be acquired or retained. The duties of Secretary, as we understand them, may ,be said to relate exclusively to the convenience of the board and to the fulfillment 38 RAILWAY R£ VENUE. of the legal obligations necessary to preserve the life and prerogatives of the company he serves. It is particularly his duty to prepare and cause to be published the notices of meetings of stockholders that the customs of the country and the by-laws of the company require.* The notice that it is usual to send to directors of the meetings of the board and of the com- mittees in which they are interested have also to be prepared and sent by the Secretary. The elaborate preliminaries that these meetings ren- der necessary devolve wholly upon him. The minutes of the meeting immediately preceding the one to be convened must be ready, at hand for use at the opening of the session ; the records of the preceding meetings must also be" available for reference, if desired. He must also bear in remembrance the business left unfinished at the last meeting. The accounts and other data that the meeting is likely to require he must be familiar with and have ready at his hand. ' The reports of the various committees and officers of the company required to make returns, and all communications addressed to the directors, no matter from what source, he has filed and in * " Notice of the time and place of the meeting (of stockholders), signed by the President or Secretary, shali be published in two of the daily newspapers of the city of Chicago, apd in one of the daily papers published in the city of New York and the cities of Rockford and Galena in the State of Illinois, at least thirty days previous to the day of meeting." — By-laws Galena & Chi~ cago Union Railroad Company, 185Q, p. j"„ RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 39 his possession for presentation to the board in the due sequence of business. The resolutions of a formal nature that characterize, to a greater or less extent, all meetings of stockholders or di- rectors, are in his possession, ready to be offered at the opportune moment. He also interests himself in the ballots that are to be cast by the stockholders, especially those that have the offi- cial, sanction of the existing organization. It is his duty to furnish the tellers or persons in charge of the polls at the meeting of stock- holders with a carefully prepared list, duly at- tested and drawn up in alphabetical order, of the stockholders and bondholders that are en- titled to vote. The records of .bonds and stocks are written up under his supervision. The books in which the records are kept of the registered bonds and capital stock transferred are under his charge, and no share of Stock or registered bond is per- mitted by him to be transferred, unless duly and properly authorized by the owner of the same, and in all cases "the bond or certificate of stock that is taken up in lieu of the one issued therefor he causes to be duly and properly canceled. It frequently happens that the transfer of stocks and bonds is conducted under the direction of some banking house or other fiscal institution ; in such cases the responsible duties of the Sec- retary are greatly lessened. He has, however, 40 RAILWAY REVENUE. still to sign the company's bonds and certificates of capital stock preparatory to their delivery in blank form to the agent appointed to make transfers.* The Secretary is required to keep a list of the names and addresses of all the directors and registered bondholders, and, so far as possible, of the stockholders of the company, so that communication may be had with them when occasion requires. As the period for the an- nual election of directors approaches, we fre- quently find him in friendly communication with the various proprietors, requesting the proxies of such as are inclined to favor the party in power. The Secretary is intrusted with .the care ofthe corporate seal ofthe company, and his signature, in conjunction with such seal properly affixed, is necessary to give legal form and status to the bonds that may be issued. All coupons attached to these bonds have also to be "authenticated by his signature or that of the Treasurer. All leases, and the more important contracts and agreements, bear his attestation ; and in reference to this last rule there should be no exception whatever. The necessity that he should attest all such papers will serve to bring them direqtly before him. In this way no lease, contract or agreement can escape his * Where this practice is observed the countersignature of the fiscal agent is requisite to give the stock or bond validity. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 41 notice. . This is very important. The records of his office should contain careful transcripts of all such papers, and whenever they have rela- tion, no matter how remotely, to the business of one or more of the departments of the company, it should be his duty to furnish a careful copy or digest of all such papers, without delay, to the various officials interested. He should also be required to "do this in reference to any resolu- tion of the board, or any of the committees, so far as they affect officers other than himself. The extent and variety of the leases, contracts and agreements in force, upon a road of even the second class, is so great that the accurate knowl- edge which the Secretary possesses in reference to them makes his services more and more val- uable each year, until ultimately he becomes a veritable storehouse of knowledge ; this knowl- edge possesses a value to him, and the company he serves as well. But this fact should not per- mit him to omit duly and systematically to register and index his books of record, so that, in the event of accident or retirement, no avoid- able trouble would be encountered by his suc- cessor and no unnecessary loss would accrue to the company in consequence of the change. When these precautions are neglected by the Secretary, great embarrassment, and sometimes considerable losses, arise in consequence. While the Secretary is the proper custodian of 42 RAILWAY REVENUE. the documents affecting the company's interests, it should be his especial duty at all times to keep the various officers of the company fully advised of such matters as belong to the various depart- ments over which they have control. He must be careful, in emergencies of business such as these, that his desire to make himself indispen- sable does not lead him to confuse and mystify the functions of his office. The Secretary, like the tutor of Louis XIV., should strive by the efficiency and the heartiness of his service to make himself useless to those he serves. The duration of his service will be greatly prolonged by such a course. Officers of railways cannot learn too early in their lives that no man is really of any great permanent importance to a com- pany. We know that delusions upon this sub- ject are very frequent, and that they oftentimes result very unfortunately to all concerned. There are periods, without doubt, in the life of almost every officer of any prominence when he may be said to be indispensable to his company, but such periods occur at infrequent intervals, have but a momentary existence, and are soon forgot- ten or ignored. The great expectant throng outside that jostle and crowd each other in their strife for place and power can always be de- pended upon to furnish a man equal to every emergency. The official who to-day fills every eye will, the week after his retirement, be RAILWAY REVENUE. 43 scarcely mentioned, and a month, or a year per- haps at farthest, will suffice to consign his mem- ory and the acts of his life to an oblivion from which nothing can ever permanently rescue them. While an officer can by honest and intel- ligent service over a series of years make himself valuable to the company he serves, he can never hope to become so important a factor in its affairs that his loss will be seriously anticipated or long noticed after it occurs. CHAPTER Y. The Treasurer. Ui'ON this officer devolves the responsible supervision of the company's financial affairs; he is the custodian of its funds, its assets and its collaterals, and it is his duty to watch incessantly over their safety. Upon him devolves the labor of collecting and -disbursing the company's rev- enue. This labor is not relatively the same upon different roads. The work of gathering the revenue is increased or diminished just as the agents are efficient or otherwise. In reference to the disbursements, the per- plexities of the position of Treasurer are greatly lessened when the company is so happily situ- ated as to possess a generous surplus over what is demanded for working the line and for meet- ing its sinking funds and the interest on its bonds. A large percentage of the income of every company is not available. It consists of uncol- lected earnings and earnings in course of collec- tion and transmission to the Treasurer. The amount thus outstanding varies with the extent of the road and the nature of the business trans- RAILWAY REVENUE. 45 acted. Upon many lines it will amount under the most favorable circumstances to quite four per cent, of the gross earnings. Proper consid- eration is never given this fact in the actual op- erations of a company. In the declaration of dividends the total net income is frequently apportioned. The property has earned it, and the owners are entitled to it. There is nothing wrong in the declaration ; it is right and proper. Nevertheless, while the company has consist- ently earned the dividend it declares, still the money is not in the possession of the Treasurer. It will all come in perhaps, within thirty days ; but while the old vacuum is being filled a new one of equal magnitude is being created, so that the finances are not perceptibly better. This discrepancy between the net income of a com- pany and the cash actually in its vaults is one of the many fruitful sources of irritation to the Treasurer. In addition to the large amount of outstanding earnings, which the Treasurer never sees except prospectively as we look at an object inversely through a telescope, he is called upon daily and hourly, much to his discomfiture, to make dis- bursements out of the revenue of the company for purposes foreign to the legitimate expenses of working and maintaining the property as the same is charged to income. Every cent so ex- pended lessens his ability to meet the just obli- 46 RAILWAY REVENUE. gation that is due to stockholders as it is expressed in the form of dividends. As.arule the money required to purchase material and fuel is borrowed from the net income ; this is also frequently the case with the " Miscellaneous Assets ;" in this way large amounts are absorbed. There are other channels of expense ; new equip- ment has to be purchased, new buildings are to be erected and supplied with the necessary furniture and fixtures, new and permanent bridges must be bought to take the place of temporary structures, diminutive spurs and ad- ditional sidings have to be provided, increased depot facilities must be secured, telegraph lines have to be strung, tunnels' have to be bored, viaducts have to be erected, cuts through hills and mountains have to be deepened and widened, and embankments have to be heightened and strengthened. Additions such as these are com- mon upon all roads, and, singularly enough, they are more frequent upon lines just com- pleted than upon lines long in existence. Iso- lated, no one of the construction items that we have named will, perhaps, require a large sum of money, and the amount it would need might be borrowed, temporarily, from the net income without great inconvenience ; but taken as a whole the aggregate annual additions of a permanent character are very great.* * I assume that a property or construction account is kept by every company separately from its working account. This must be the case unless the pro- RAILWAY REVENUE. 47 When the construction of new lines, or con- siderable branches or extensions, is undertaken by a company, the money required to pay for the same is usually provided for at the incep- tion or during the progress of the work ; this is also the case with extraordinary improve- ments of a local nature ; but systematic pro- vision is rarely made by a company for the petty additions to its property that are being made from year to year, and the result is that the finances of opulent companies are habitu- ally embarrassed in consequence of this neg- lect. The remedy lies in the creation of a " Working Fund," never to be disturbed, equal in amount to the uncollected earnings, supplies, assets and unfunded property account. It is noticeable that the more conservative the man- agement the more adverse it is to the procure- ment of the necessary means to meet improve- ments and additions by the sale of securities. In some cases it is impossible to make sales without suffering a large discount; it seems justifiable therefore under such circumstances to borrow of the stockholders, as the discounts prietors desire, for themselves and their successors, to relinquish to the public the right to earn a reasonable dividend on the actual cost of their property. The disposition to charge expenditures of ^ permanent character to income account is more prevalent than would be supposed. Thus, in its report for 1878, the Illinois Central R. R. Co., says: " The Board has also directed that $i, 000,000 more be deducted on the one side from the surplus account and on the other from the valuation of the property." This method of financiering is supposed by some to strengthen a company's credit and enhance the value of its securities. 48 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. suffered must eventually come out of their pockets. Contingencies such as we have mentioned are of daily and hourly occurrence, and they tend greatly to increase the burdens of the Treasurer. While the income of a company is frequently limited to the capability of the property to earn money, its expenditures are based on the wants of the property irrespective of its resources. The Treasurer thus finds himself not unfre- quently in the position of a debtor, without the means of answering his obligations except by multiplying and extending them. It seems, superficially, as if the dullest school- boy's sense ought to be superior to the idea of incurring expenditures before provisions had been made for their payment. Nothing is so simple. How trite and well-worn the ancient maxim — " Pay as you go ! " Its truth is always apparent to us ; so apparent, indeed, that its practical application is never for a moment thought of in the philosophy of railway finance. We go on improving and extending, reluctant to increase annual interest by selling bonds, and afraid of destroying our credit by issuing stock. Notwithstanding the apparent absurdity of such a policy, it is yet consistent with the highest and besjt interests of a corporation, and in many instances it is the only policy that can safely be pursued. The stockholder of the present is lost SAIL 1VA Y RE VENUE. 49 sight of in the stockholder of the future. But such a policy, no matter how imperative or desirable, is none the less a source of embar- rassment to the Treasurer in this, that it leaves him without the means of satisfying the just obligations of the company he serves, or render- ing to the current stockholder the income that the property has justly earned. Aside from these extraordinary expenditures, the wants of the operating department may be said to crowd closely upon the resources of a company ; they sometimes anticipate the re- ceipts by weeks and months. The Treasurer has, therefore, to keep himself advised at all times of the probable cash receipts of his company for a considerable period in ad- vance, and must so arrange his payments as to conform thereto.* The office of Treasurer with a poor company is an exceedingly irksome one. Its necessities compel its incumbent to resort to every admis- sible subterfuge, and constrain him to accept with cheerfulness all sort of affronts, if, thereby, he may eke out his scanty resources. He early learns this truth, that his position is" systemati- * Directly succeeding the panic of 1873, the Treasurer of one of our promi- nent roads, the net earnings of which at that time did not exceed $950,000 per annum, was able, without injury to the credit of his company, to g^fy-a tloat- ing debt of some $5,000,000 for two years, until a readjustment of its affairs could be effected. This incident in the' life of a particular company illustrates the value of credit and shows how it may be retained under the most adverse circumstances if skillfully handled. 50 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. cally misunderstood by the public. They ascribe his dilatoriness to personal contumacy or abso- lute neglect of duty. Erroneous impressions such as these cannot be corrected without com- promising the credit of his company ; he,, conse- quently, encourages their propagation. Com- pelled to ask credit in the most trivial cases, he lingers reluctantly over the settlement of every claim. When accounts have run their allotted period, he has frequently to lengthen their life by renewals in a different shape. Thus, a book account, when due, he supplements, if the credit of his company be good, by note or acceptance. This is considered permissible. An open ac- count that is due may be extended without sen- sible loss of credit. It is, however, different with a note or acceptance. This distinction seems to be very nice— hardly perceptible, even to an expert ; it nevertheless exists and is well understood. The commercial world agree sub- stantially in looking at the renewal Of a note or acceptance as an indication of mismanagement or as being the avant courier of bankruptcy. For this reason the Treasurer who values his own reputation or the credit of the institution he serves, will never for a moment contemplate the renewal of a note or acceptance. He will, on the contrary, draw the original with such wholesome margin that when due it can be met RAILWAY REVENUE. 51 and paid without thought Or suggestion of ex- tension. The duties of the Treasurer require that he should make provision for interest as it falls due and for such dividends as may be declared, and upon him also rests the responsibility, while at- tending immediately to these payments, to sur- round them with such checks and safeguards as are necessary to protect the company and se- cure, as well, an accurate and prompt fulfillment of its duties to its creditors. The sinking funds which the mortgage bonds of the company provide for have also to be looked after by the Treasurer, and as they are frequently made payable in the bonds of the issue for which the sinking fund exists, he must go into the market and make such purchase as he needs in anticipation, and at such favorable figures as he can. The duties of the Treasurer require him, in conjunction with the board of directors or the President, to negotiate -all loans, whether of a temporary or permanent character, that the affairs of the company render necessary. The difficulties surrounding this labor are apparent without elaboration. The sales of its securities and assets are also negotiated by him, and_when the accumulation of funds ; will permit, it is his business to loan the same for short periods or on demand, when he can do so with perfect S2 RAILWAY REVENUE. safety, and at rates of interest that justify the .transaction. The performance of the duties just named are the most delicate that appertain to the office. They require the exercise of an ex- tended knowledge of financial affairs and a sound discretion. It is, however, in connection with the collec- tion of the revenues of a company, arising from transportation performed and from the sale of supplies and labor, that the most vexatious re- sponsibilities of the Treasurer are to be found. These collections are the subject of his untiring thought ; he follows them with the most pains- taking pertinacity through all the ramifications of the service until they finally reach the treas- ury. All the avenues of trust have to be guarded, from the performance of the original contract by the company to the final rendering of the money its agents receive in connection therewith. The performance of this important service necessi- tates the possession by him of all the sources of information that may be available, however slight they may appear. His representatives must have unimpeded access to the books and accounts of agents and others at all times ; and to enable him to possess a full and correct knowledge of the duties of his office, it is thought essential by many that all the accounts should centre immediately in his hands, or be directly contributory to his department. RAILWAY REVENUE. 53 The prominence and strength of the Treas- urer's position, as the financial officer of the road and the nominal custodian of the company's purse-strings, gives him a power and prestige in the organization not possessed by any other officer of equal rank ; he is thought, therefore, by many to be in a position to exercise a pres- sure in behalf of intelligent accounting that cannot be secured uniformly elsewhere. It is apparent that, without the information afforded him by the accounts, his supervision over the receipts and expenditures is merely pas- sive. The accounts are also necessary to en- able him to accurately forecast the receipts and disbursements ; without them he has no definite assurance that the receipts are not delayed or alienated, or that the payments are bona fide. However, this assurance may be possessed by others, and the supervision over the details of collecting and disbursing may be, and is, in fact, upon many lines exercised with intelligence and zeal by officers outside of the treasury depart- ment, j The Treasurer is the custodian of the securi- ties deposited by agents and others for the faith- ful fulfillment of their duties to the company. The vicissitudes of business require that these should be carefully scrutinized by him at short intervals of time, to prevent the retention of those that may have become worthless. 54 RAILWAY REVENUE. The conduct of affairs in the treasury depart- ment is attended with many incidents that try the courage and test the forbearance of the Treasurer. It is the duty of his office, for in- stance, to pay the coupons on the various classes of bonds as they become due and are presented for redemption. It will sometimes occur that these coupons will-be lost by the owners, or rep- resentations to that effect will be laid before the Treasurer. Iu such cases he manifestly cannot pay without adequate protection. Neverthe- less, claimants will persist that other security than their word is unnecessary. Stockholders who have, through ignorance or neglect, allowed their certificates of stock to stand upon the register in the name of former owners, will arro- gantly claim the proceeds of dividends without feeling it incumbent upon them to establish the authenticity , of their statement. Counterfeit interest notes will be presented at his counter for payment, and spurious stocks aud bonds will be brought to him by innocent holders to be ex- changed for bona fide issues. The Treasurer may be said to dwell amidst constant alarms, and his official existence is shadowed by a never quieted trepidation lest some mishap befall the interests entrusted to his care. The petty vexations that beset him are numerous. Urgent claims crowd upon his notice for pay- RAILWAY REVENUE. 55 ment at inopportune times ; when engaged in providing the money for paying the force of operatives employed, settlements will be de- manded for people killed, for injuries, for losses, for damages, for legal services, for doctors' bills, for coroners' fees, for rebates, for discounts, for taxes, and for other claims of a similar character. • Each department and petty branch of the ser- vice, ignorant of the wants of other departments and branches of the service, or esteeming their particular favors more imperative than all others, will resent as discourteous or lacking in cooper- ative interest any delay that characterizes him in the payment of bills contracted by them. In his efforts to collect the resources of the company, debtors will artfully prolong the life of accounts by avoidance of his agents ; patrons of the line will clamor with a thousand voices for a few days or weeks in which to settle for services rendered. Creditors will importune him, sometimes- justly but frequently without reason, and fail- ing to force a compliance with their wishes, will seek to override" the prerogatives of Ms office through the medium of superior officers ; many creditors will seek to have their claims anticipated ; others will stick for the minute fulfillment of their contract, while others again will voluntarily grant him such margin as the necessities of his position sometimes require. 56 RAILWAY REVENUE. His good judgment, and the extended knowl- edge of forms and customs which he has, will continually be brought into requisition in shap- ing the form and wording of the receipts he re- ceives in return for the disbursements he makes. He will be scrupulously careful neither to receive himself, nor to permit others to receive on his account, moneys, without the formal ren- dering of a receipt in return. He will continually watch the records and books of his office to see that they are in all res- pects complete, and that the connection and sense of the entries that are made are so clearly and fully apparent that a dullard may unravel them long after the Treasurer who inspired them has been retired. It is the Treasurer's experience that the delays in the settlement of claims occasioned by the red-tape and dilatoriness of other departments, in the preparation of such claims, are, as a rule, attributed to him. ' His daily life is filled to the full with incidents peculiar to his office. Impecunious operatives waylay him, in the most absurd and out-of- the-way places, for the purpose of extracting from him wages that are yet to be earned, and that probably never will be earned ; constables lie in wait to serve notice upon him of the gar- nishment of the wages of employes ; claims already settled in full will, through the inadvert- HA IL WA Y RE VENUE. 57 ence of others, come before him a second time and their payment be demanded with brazen ef- frontery ; mendicants will'haunt his footsteps, im- postors will claim his aid, and the agents of elee- mosynary institutions will approach his office just as they would a sacred shrine ; poor, dilapi- dated boarding-house keepers, shrunken trades- men, and horny-handed washer-women with piping voices, and frowsy men will importune him, by day and by night, to save them from threatened losses for petty credits unwisely ex- tended to irresponsible employes. More seri- ous than these petty annoyances* unscrupulous and desperate men will seek to blackmail him, or, failing in that, to blast his character. The venal will seek to corrupt him. The extremely politic will seek personal advantage of him through the medium of attentions more or less surreptitious, and -ke will be persistently importuned to extend favors to one that he does not extend to all. His trusted friends, even, conspire to- make life a burden to him. Preter- naturally zealous subordinates pour into his weary ear suppositious tales of collusion and theft — present or contingent — manifest on the line ; incidents teeming with darkly suspicious circumstances are thrust upon his attention. Like a prosecuting attorney he is for ever made the custodian of unhappy secrets, of information that disturbs and excites him ; until, in the lul- 58 RAILWAY REVENUE. ness of time, his nervous system, his digestion and his power to be useful all become things of the past, and he is finally succeeded in his office by a stronger and fresher man to whom the details of such a life are not a burden. OHAPTEE VI. The General Manager. In the olden time he whom the railway world now recognized with deferential regard as the General Manager was known among men as the Superintendent ; time passes on and we hear of him as General Superintendent ; from this he advances by easy and natural stages to the modest title of Manager, and from that to the more sonorous designation of General Manager. Where this progressive state will terminate it is impossible to tell. The animal life with which our railroads abound may be said to have its centre in the General Manager. To the myriads engaged in the practical details of operation he is the em- bodiment of fate; the man oh horseback; the arbiter of the destinies of many men. His smile animates ; his frown destroys. A man of brawn, of toughened fiber, destitute of nerves, inured to strife, accustomed to command, he rides down with merciless severity all obstacles that impede his course. The General Manager is a man of comprehen- 60 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE sive views and rare administrative ability ; quick to analyze, rapid in decision, and as immovable in his opinions, when once they are formed, as the seven hills of Rome. Like a general in the face of the enemy, he must be incessant in application and resolute in action, distinguishing at a glance the material from the immaterial ; full of expedients, self- possessed and attentive when all others are ex- cited, keeping his forces always well in hand and calmly surveying the whole field of action, but not too much engrossed to give the most minute details thoughtful consideration. He is the very incarnation of activity and en- ergy. The men engaged in the practical operation of a road look constantly to him to indicate the general policy to be pursued. Trained to obey, they rarely assume the initiative. In conse- quence of this he rapidly assumes all power, holding himself but lightly so long as there is one independent officer who stands between him and absolutism. * In thus seeking to centre in himself every species of power, it does not by any means fol- low that he is animated by any unworthy pur- pose ; on the contrary, his motives may be and are, undoubtedly, of the most exalted character. He comprehends more clearly than any one else can that it is only by active co-operation, at RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 61 once animated, cordial and united, that great re- sults can be accomplished. Impressed with this knowledge he does not always stop to consider nicely the necessity or desirability that his office, like the others, should be impartially weighed. Animated by a lofty ambition, he is impatient of restraint.: nevertheless, it is important that he should be weighed in the balance with the others. To permit this it is essential that the operations, of the company should be impartially reported. Whether they are so reported or not rests with the Accounting Officer. If this of- ficer is expected to render an impartial state- ment of the operations of the Manager, it is essential that he should be independent of him : the good of the service does not suggest nor require the subordination of the Accounting Officer ; its necessity is purely, imaginary. The support of the Accountant is immaterial to the Manager, and the subordination of the former to the latter is a fatal absurdity. The approval or disapproval of the Accounting Of- ficer is of no possible consequence to the Man- ager or to the efficiency of the service, so long as the duties are creditably and faithfully per- formed. It is not likely that the Accounting Officer, if made dependent upon the Manager for his official existence, will at all times be able to proceed with his duties as a faithful histo- 62 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. rian with the imperturbable calmness that should always characterize his action. On the contrary he will constantly seek to give every exhibit he makes a fictitious coloring favorable to the per- son to whom he is indebted for employment ; to do otherwise would be to risk his position-. This he will not do ; hence, instead of being a valu- able aid to the direction in enabling it to judge of the efficiency of the management he helps to mislead it.* If the results of the operations of a road, as recorded by its Accountant, are to be accepted by the board of direction as trustworthy and conclusive, he must be left to exercise the func- tions of his office without constraint or embar- rassment. In referenceto the General Manager, it is no disparagement to the other officers engaged in the practical operation of our railways to say that he is in all respects their superior. The . necessities of his position compel him to be a man of the most versatile knowledge and happy intuitions. He must be generally familiar with every department and branch of the service, and * It may be truthfully said that in those cases where the directors of a com- pany are most likely to make such a division of responsibility between the Man- ager and the Accounting Officer as I have mentioned, it is the least likely to be required. Indeed, upon many roads, upon the great bulk of them I may truth- fully say, the General Manager is so honorable and upright in his character that all the operations of a road, including the accounts, may be safely left to his dis- cretion. In advocating a division of responsibility, I simply advise the adop- tion of a system of management that provides for all the contingencies to which a company may, with the lapse of .time and the change of men, be exposed. RAILWAY REVENUE. 63 he must be able to shape the policies of the great departments under him, and exercise the responsibilities of minute direction in the innu- merable questions that arise daily in every branch of the service. No company, no matter how favorable its sit- uation, can long enjoy prosperity if its manag- ing officer is lacking either in ability or fidelity to its interests. He must also be experienced and familiar, by long acquaintance, with every phase of its affairs. A man somewhat noted as a railway manager has remarked, in effect, that an officer of infe- rior capacity, long in the employ of a railway company, is capable of rendering it much better service than a new officer of far greater ability. This is undoubtedly true, and explains the indis- position of our railway companies to change the personnel of their organization when once it has been perfected. Isolated changes are, of course, unavoidable, but they are made as few as possi- ble consistent with the general efficiency of the service. Possessing, as our managers do> the highest executive ability that finds employment in the service of railway companies, the bulk of the work done by them is performed by other hands. It is only occasionally that we find a Manager possessing an organization so unhap- pily constituted that it is unable to place the. 64 RAILWAY REVENUE. drudgery of business upon the heads of the va- rious subordinate departments. The Manager's duties are much like those of the President, already described, and his greatest usefulness is in directing and supervising the work of others. In selecting his subordinates, the Manager is governed by a desire to secure the most efficient assistants possible. Once their selection is per- fected, he should allow to each the fullest lati- . tude consistent with the harmonious working of the whole organization. In this way he in- creases the understanding and heightens the in- dividuality and the self-respect of his staff. Such a policy, consistently pursued, will bring together men of the best type, and secures from them the highest service of which they are capable. It is noticeable that whenever the supervision of the Manager of a railway descends to a fussy interference with the duties of his subordinates, the effect is to destroy the dignity and the sense of responsibility of the persons over whom this unwise surveillance is exercised. They lack in- terest in their work, and as a rule are inert and inattentive, except as they are acting under the immediate inspiration of the Manager. The paternal form of management, although admirably adapted in many respects to railway service, is yet the occasion of many grievous evils. Its head, the Manager, resents, not mali- RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 65 ciously, perhaps, but from the mere force of his strong and active temperament, all independent thought or active suggestions upon the part of subordinate officers.' They consequently cease to think for themselves, and fall rapidly into the more comfortable role of automatons, Such a state of affairs is to be regretted, no matter how great the ability or how wide the experience of the chief manager; he can ill'afford to dispense with the observation and sense of his staff. They comprise the cream of the service, and are always men of superior intelligence, force and vigor. Naturally aggressive, they are some- times arrogant and always proud ; it is impossi- ble to make puppets of such men without des- troying them. Where the paternal system of management exists, instances are continually arising in the routine of business where the officers of the staff must put off or refuse to consider many in- teresting and important problems that are pre- sented to them, or they must acknowledge to their inferiors and to the public, whose respect they desire to retain, that they are not permitted the slightest discretion by their chief, the Man- ager ; that they have, in fact, none of the pre- rogatives that men esteem ; that they are simply clerks or messengers for conveying information to the Manager and for. delivering his behests. Rather than make so humiliating an acknowl- 66 RAILWAY REVENUE. edgment of their impotence, they put off or suppress, from time to time, matters of the greatest consequence to their company. Thus public dissatisfaction is engendered, and the prestige of the force lessened. Undoubtedly such a course is wrong and excessively weak upon the part of officers- practicing it ; but it is a characteristic noticeable in all able, high-spir- ited men, and only that class of men is fitted to control interests so important as those centered in our railways. The high qualities of manhood that carry men forward and upward to positions of such prom- inence and responsibility as that occupied by the managers of our railroads cannot brook re- straint. In many cases tfie men occupying the office find it impossible to share with others, even with their subordinates, any species of power. Absolutism is with them one of the concomitants of their' existence ; when denied them, their usefulness is impaired by the inces- sant strife and intrigue that they submit them- selves to in order to obtain it. Hence every- thing pertaining to the active physical life of our railroads should be left absolutely to the discretion of the Manager, be he President or otherwise. While the directors may not cease to make active inquiries in reference to their property and its management, they should not interfere actively in the operations of the road, RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 67 except through the Manager. The authority of the Manager being fixed and unquestioned, he is much more likely to use his power with dis- cretion than if it is liable to be called in question at any moment. *As a rule, men occupying positions analo- gous to our railway officers are unjust and brutal only when struggling for recognition and place. Generally when these are attained they exercise the prerogatives of their office with mildness and good judgment. No position in life that occurs to us requires greater application or the exercise of a nicer discretion than that of the Manager of a great railway. His duties are of the most diverse character, and their highest fulfillment requires him to possess the grace of manner that char- acterizes a gentleman as well as the-discernment of a good business man. We cannot attempt to follow the Manager in the round of his duties, nor fitly describe their number, or per- formance. There is no perceptible interlude between the performance of one duty and the commencement of another. His mind is trained to address itself to the present, to the entire exclusion of that which has already been ac- complished. His method is progressive in its character. He advances like a locomotive, with- out haste or interlude, but requires, seemingly, no propelling power to give force or continuity 68 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. to his work. One moment we find him busied with the introduction or perfection of some en- terprise or improvement that he considers valu- able ; turning abruptly from this, we discover him patiently and impartially acting as judge in some - matter of difference between the servants of the company, or between the company and the public. Ever in search of more perfect appliances, he studies with unvarying interest all the new methods or machinery that are offered for conducting or carrying on the business of railroads. While he sometimes submits the so- called improvements that are laid before him to the most exhaustive tests, yet generally he may be said to decide impromptu for or against them. As Carlyle has said that mankind are in the main fools, so the majority of the so-called dis- coveries in railway appliances possess no value whatever. Many of our railway managers possess so acute a sense of their responsibility that they are not satisfied unless they personally inspect, at short intervals, the condition of the company's prop- erty. They must know from observation, as well as from the returns that reach their office, the condition of the various shops and the state of the work in progress. They are to be seen each day at the principal depots of the company looking personally to their condition and wants. RAILWAY REVENUE. 09 The excellence and adequacy of the rolling stock possessed by a company is at all times of the liveliest concern to its Manager. It is not too much to say that a company's equipment never approaches that state of high perfection that he desires it should reach. A matter of equal, or, perhaps, greater im- portance to him is the condition of the road-bed and track. He understands better than any one else how important it is to the preservation of the rolling stock that the track upon which it moves should be kept in good condition. Above all, he delights to exhibit to the directors and stockholders a road kept in the highest state of efficiency. He is immensely gratified if he can excite the envy of contemporary managers, and he knows he accomplishes this when he exhibits an exceptionally fine piece of track, or displays equipment more elegant than is usual with rival companies. After the Manager has visited the shops of his company, and noted the condition of the out- going trains,* we find him closeted with his secretary deeply engaged in examining and reply- ing to the letters requiring his attention that have come in by the night's mail. It would be curious as well as interesting if the extent and character of these communications could be accurately * Upon our great roads the multitude of duties to be performed renders this daily inspection exceedingly difficult, if not impossible in many cases. 70 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. portrayed. Their variety would both astonish and amuse the world. Let us examine a few, picked up at random, the product of one day. In the first that we take up we at once discover the writer securely perched upon a lofty and inaccessible height, from which he discovers, with the prescience of a statesman and the facility of a school-teacher, the present or future wants of railway companies in general and this company in particular. These wants he unfolds at great length, his taste running in that way and his time not being a matter of consequence to him. He has no request "to make. He is a humanitarian, a philosopher and observer. The Manager draws a sigh of relief when the letter closes ; he expected a request for a small loan, a pass at least. Another writer, the third in a family of seven who have distinguished themselves in mathe- matics, as he tells us; desires to call the atten- tion of the Manager to a new brace which he has patented, and which is destined to prevent the wear and tear of machinery and greatly reduce the consumption of fuel. This brace he describes at considerable length, and gives, roughly, in pencil, numerous practical illustra- tions of it from different points of view. He desires its immediate introduction, and hints darkly at a project he has for its capitalization that will enrich all whom he favors. RAILWAY REVENUE. 71 The third letter we pick up merely asks for a permit to ship, free of charge, certain household goods, live stock and farm appliances, in conse- quence of the grief and distress caused the owner by the death of his third wife. Another asks for a special rate, basing it upon the fact that his uncle was at one time an active and patriotic member of the State Leg- islature, and that he, the writer, hopes some time, with the assistance of his friends, to attain a like eminence. Another writer — a lady — reports at great length the reprehensible conduct of an em- ploye, who stared at her with unvarying per- tinacity during a ride of twenty -three miles, occupying exactly an, hour and twenty minutes. The offending eye of the employe in question was, happily for her, as the Manager afterward facetiously explained, made of glass; it was, moreover, an eye bought for him by the com- pany to replace one that he had lost in its service ; the stare, therefore, was a corporate, not an individual, offence. The sixth letter we glance over claims an annual pass — not that the writer, as he explains, is at present engaged in any way that warrants him in soliciting such a favor, but it has been extended to him in previous years, and he con- sequently desires its continuance. Another writer encloses a few worn and 72 RAIL WA Y HE VENUE. battered postage stamps in a letter humid with self-abasement and the fumes of tobacco. He desires to make reparation for the crime of steal- ing a ride upon the company's cars, at a par- ticular date, which he mentions with scrupulous .precision, but upon which day, according to an old calendar, no trains were run. The stamps he beseeches the Manager to receive ; he expects no recognition of his honesty ; his conscience tells him he should make restitution ; he does so, and in the performance of his duty rests con- tent. Still, he is poor and the father of a large family in destitute circumstances ; he would therefore feel humbly grateful, very grateful, if the company could consistently give him some- thing to do — the position of 'agent or conductor, perhaps. While he does not feel quite certain that he could manipulate a freight train, he feels quite assured that he would have no difficulty in handling an ordinary passenger train; if it is not possible for the company to favor him with a position at once, he would feel grateful if they could furnish him meanwhile with a car-load of fuel to keep his family from freezing to death. Still another communication solicits a liberal subscription from the Manager on behalf of an infant charity that the writer has in charge, namely : The Association of Foundlings and Half-Orphans. Tts merits appeal alike to all classes, ages and sects, and the great corpora- RAILWAY REVENUE. 73 tions of the country, by rendering- such worthy enterprises the timely assistance that they re- quire, will, as the author explains, forever en- dear themselves to the masses of the people, on whom they are so entirely dependent. Communications such as these, although pro- lific in number and avoirdupois, constitute only the froth that floats into the Manager's office with the night mail ; the bulk of the letter's that reach him affect directly the welfare of the prop- erty he represents. These letters have to be critically analyzed and carefully considered be- fore they are answered. And in the answers returned the most painstaking care must be ob-, served, lest some ambiguous or abrupt sentence should creep in that would mislead or offend the recipient. The letters emanating from the Gen- eral Manager may be said to possess the brevity of business communications, combined with the cautious construction that marks the correspond- ence of a diplomatist. The duties of the General Manager vary with each succeeding day, but each day is filled to the full with its attendant incidents. At ten o'clock we find him personally receiving those who seek his presence. The idle or'frivolous he dismisses with a brusque courtesy that sometimes offends, but is never intended to be rude. Ex- cept in rare instances, each comer receives the exact consideration which his position or the 74 RAIL WA V RE VENUE. nature of his case warrants. These interviews terminated, we find the Manager in private consultation with his superintendents and train- masters, regulating the time-tables of the com- pany and disposing of the numerous questions that' his assistants bring to him for advice or di- rection. Afterwards the heads of departments claim his attention in the adjustment. of rates and divisions, and in the disposal of the new matter or phases of business that have come up since their last interview, and about which they are in doubt. The interview of these department officers with the Manager is generally succeeded by the calls of the petty officials and employes of the company, who somehow or other find oc- casion and excuse for seeking his presence. It may be said, in passing, that the life of the average railway official would be dull and unin- teresting, indeed, were it not that it is now and then warmed and encouraged by contact with the General Manager. In his intercourse with his subordinates, the Manager has upon his side much to say to such as present themselves before him. It is his busi^ ness to keep them accurately posted, from day to day, and from hour to hour, in reference to the policy of the company, whether secret or other- wise, so far as it affects the several departments and branches of the service over which they preside. In no other way can hearty coopera- RAILWAY REVENUE. 75 tion be secured, and no wise officer will know- ingly hide from his assistants anything that may affect the interests of the service they have di- rectly in charge. While the office work of the Manager is ardu- ous in the extreme, his duties along the line of his road are not less so. Compelled to travel with the utmost expedition, he yet manages to observe everywhere the condition and wants of the property, and the industry and bearing of the company's servants. All the innumerable questions that have been held in abeyance await- ing his presence are carefully classified and ar- ranged by the zealous operatives along the line in anticipation of his visit. At every stopping place he finds these questions awaiting his deci- sion. They are laid before him with great par- ticularity. Generally they appear in the shape of interrogatories. Not one of them can be avoided or ignored, and upon the wisdom and experience that directs his decision rests his re- putation as Manager with the obscure and prac- tical employes of the company. For, while the subordinate obeys the directions of the offi- cer over him with blind obedience, yet he never- theless passes judgment upon every act of his superior. This judgment is not the less effective that it finds no audible expression. Aside from the local duties performed by the Manager, he must be able, in all the multitud- 76 RAILWAY REVENUE. inous questions that arise between his company and its connections, to advise, and, if necessary, direct the officers of the departments interested. The company looks to him to see that these offi- cers are not overreached in consequence of the craft or superior ability of men inimical to its interest. This duty involves a range of knowl- edge upon his part th at no cramming process can ever enable him successfully to attain. He must, in fact, be a practical railway man, an officer to the manor born. The responsibilities of the Manager require him to attend in person, with his department officers, all the important meetings or conven- tions of the different companies with which his line comes in contact, or that in any way affect its interests. The success that he meets with in such conventions will depend largely upon his ability and experience. While his assistants will afford him, at such times, much valuable aid, yet he must himself be able to discover 1 and thwart the purposes of rival organizations, when such purposes are not founded upon the broad ground of justice and equity. Rising a plane in the character of his office, the Manager must be able to keep the board of direction at all times advised of the present and prospective wants of the company it represents. It is his duty to discover in advance the prob- able requirements of business, the aims of rival RAILWAY REVENUE. • 77 companies, and the means of defeating them. The direction also depends largely upon him to report upon the improvements and additions re- quired, classifying and arranging them in the order of their importance, distinguishing be- tween those that are imperative and those that are less urgent. The painstaking investigation and careful thought required of a Manager to enable him to compass effectually the results we have imper- fectly described cannot be estimated. They can only be appreciated by those schooled in such matters by the associations of a life-time. A contemplation of them, however, enables us to understand more fully the supreme importance of the office and the necessity of a happy con- junction of ability, experience, temperament, and vigorous mental and physical health in the per- son selected to fill it. CHAPTER VII. Division Superintendent. The office of Division Superintendent upon a line presupposes the existence of a property so extended as to preclude its immediate control by the Manager or his deputy. When the entire supervision of a company's affairs is not too great for one man to compass, then the duties of the Division Superintendent are performed by the Manager or his assistant. The Division Superintendent occupies the same relation to the Manager that a corps com- mander does to the general of an army. His policy is directed from head-quarters, and all his acts are subject to revision. The Superintendent arranges the schedules by which trains are moved. When accidents occur on the line, or business can be expedited," the time-table is superseded by the telegraph. To the discharge of the delicate duty of moving trains by telegraphic orders he brings a clear head, attentive memory and a perfect knowledge of the geography of his road, including the extent of its grades, the location of its telegraph RAILWAY REVENUE. 79 offices, and the capacity of its sidings ; the char- acter, number and exact position of the trains in motion have accurately to be kept in mind ; the quality of the engines hauling them ; the state of the weather ; the direction of the wind and the peculiar capacity of the enginemen and conductors engaged. The Division Superintendent • generally has entire charge of the men engaged upon the track, and the force employed at stations in con- ducting the business of the road. Agents at stations, however, are subject to direction by all the officers of the company in their respective departments, but the Manager and Division Superintendent as a rule alone have the right to appoint or dismiss them. As sug- gested elsewhere herein, the prompt retirement of an agent from the service should be coincident with the discovery of any criminal neglect in office. This, however, is not always the case ; managers and superintendents are occasionally to be found so tenacious of the prerogatives of their office that they covertly resent any effort to disturb those subordinate to them. The men engaged in the manipulation of trains are directly subordinate to the Division Super- intendent and are necessarily governed' with great strictness, any neglect of duty or ineffi- ciency being punished usually with dismissal from the service or reduction in rank and pay. 80 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. The engineers and firemen and the operatives employed about the shops are usually under the direction of the master mechanics, but the mas- ter mechanics are themselves, as a rule, either wholly or partly under the domination of the division superintendents. The duties of the Division Superintendent compel him to* keep himself always informed as to the whereabouts of his rolling stock ; he must know just how many available cars he possesses and where they are most needed ; he must know the number and location of the empty cars ; he must know how many loaded cars are awaiting to be moved and the number of such cars in transit ; he must from day to day watch the volume Of business, carefully noting its source and direction so that he can exercise a wise supervision over the men he employs, promptly cutting down the force when trade diminishes and answering with reluctance any demand for its increase. He must keep himself constantly advised of the requirements of his division, dis- tinguishing between those wants which are imperative and those which are the creatures of sentiment. He will find — as the general man- agement find — that each department and branch of the service, overestimating its relative im- portance, will require expenditures out of all proportion to its legitimate wants or the net receipts of the road ; he will find a constant RAILWAY REVENUE. 81 disposition to increase the number and wages of men, and he will find a constant indisposition to decrease either. The duties of the Division Superintendent are such as to school him to command men with wisdom and sobriety, and the most effective superintendents or managers to be found any- where are those who have served faithfully as superintendents of divisions. Men from any other position when called to the management rarely ever succeed in comprehending the whole wants of a company, and the consequence is their energies are wasted upon some minor de- partment of the service. Many of the most lamentable failures upon our railways are appointments of departmental officers to positions of active management. They rarely, if ever, succeed in comprehending the whole wants of the property, but remain, prac- tically, the head of the department from whence they were promoted, while the other depart- ments and branches of the service remain a terra incognita to them to the end. The spasmodic efforts they make from time to time to learn the duties of their office, so that they may lead in- stead of being led, result in failure, and their appreciation of this fact ultimately impresses itself upon them ; and so, little by little, their activity is restricted until ultimately it is con- fined to a florid display of authority upon infini- 82 HAIL WAY REVENUE. tesimal occasions, that would be charming to the looker on if it were not so melancholy in its re- sults. It is noticeable that the men who fill the office of Division Superintendent are usually content, when they reach the general management, to let the officers in charge of the various departments perform the functions that appertain to their several offices ; or, if they meddle, it is only infrequently and upon immaterial questions. Many pernicious practices creep into existence upon our railroads in consequence of the shallow pride which man experiences in the exhibition of his authority. There is in every community a large class of people who pride themselves upon their tact — upon knowing how everything should be approached, how to secure the object they seek. When one of these preternaturally bright people have business with some particu- lar department of a railroad, they do not go to the head of that department (only dull people do that) ; on the contrary, they directly seek the Manager, or some executive officer, to whom they humbly represent their case. This attention tickles the vanity of the officer ad- dressed, if his capacity is not above the aver- age; his egotism is warmed into life by it, and it swells him to unnatural proportions, as if he were filled with hot air. His dignity is such that it will not suffer him politely to refer the officious RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 83 petitioner to the officer whose business it pro- perly is to decide the question. No, his im- portance will be magnified by publicly ignoring his subordinate. This is accordingly done, and as may naturally be supposed, in many cases at the expense of the railway company and the introduction of an unfortunate precedent. We have described what may be termed the personal or direct system of management; its intention is fair and it is designed presumably to be efficient. It carefully selects for officers, as in those cases where the management is wiser, men skilled in a technical knowledge of the vari- ous departments over which they are called to preside ; but, instead of permitting these scien- tifically instructed men to conduct the work intrusted to them, it continually interrupts their labors and otherwise embarrasses them with the introduction of hastily considered orders, and other acts of interference based upon caprice or upon incompletely formed conclusions. This interference does not arise so much from a want of respect for the ability of the officer disre- garded as an utter contempt for his rights. It arises from a natural incapacity to understand that the influence of such practices is more far- reaching than the acts themselves ; ' that they, in fact, destroy the esprit de corps of any organiza- tion where they are permitted. The great railway manager is he' who has no 84 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. special penchant for any particular branch of the service, but watches impartially over all, never interfering needlessly with the routine of busi- ness and scrupulously respecting every officer in his place, endeavoring in every possible way to make him feel that his discretion is highly es- teemed and not to be interfered with hastily "or upon small occasion. CHAPTER VIII. The Chief Engineer. The Chief Engineer deservedly ranks as one of the highest officers of a company, and the ability required in the position that he fills and the thorough mental training that the one who occupies it must possess justify him in aspiring to the most exalted office in the gift of the direc- tors. The Chief Engineer is usually a man of fine temperament and well cultivated mind ; person- ally incorruptible ; mild and reticent in his man- ner ; modest about asserting himself, loving his profession above everything and caring little for aught else. Too fine strung as a rule to cope with his neighbor the Superintendent, and lack- ing the prestige x that the palpable evidence of power gives the latter, he eventually succumbs, like the rest, and his office not infrequently be- comes a sinecure and his duties those of a spas- modic adviser, his suggestions disregarded and his estimates prejudiced, or damned with faint praise.* * " For some reason which it is not necessary to discuss, they (the superin- tendents] seem to have an aversion to civil engineers, and usually contrive to get 86 RAILWAY REVENUE. The functions of the Engineer relate usually to the new works in progress upon a road ; this is his congenial and proper field, and he controls it, generally, without interference or suggestion from any one. The Chief Engineer is peculiarly fitted to exercise a general supervision over the track and permanent structures of the company. His duties, however, as a rule are rather ad- visory than otherwise ; but the definite knowl- edge which he brings to the discharge of these duties is indispensable, and makes his presence necessary upon every well managed railroad of any considerable' importance. Like all professional men animated by a high ideal, the Engineer, we may say in passing, possesses an instinctive aversion to accounts, coupled with a chronic incapacity to understand or manipulate them. He is thus happily re- lieved of a vexatious burden. The Engineer upon many lines is entrusted with the immediate supervision of all works in pro- gress of a permanent character, such as the con- struction of new lines, extensions and branches ; also all buildings, bridges, culverts, sidings and them off the railway, or restrict their authority to a very limited field. They seem willing to see them employed in hunting up maps and examining doubt- ful questions on right of way — occasionally to set levels, stake out work and compute contracts — all of which are their proper duties ; but further than this they will not tolerate. Thus, under these circumstances, the engineer cannot enter on the main and more important field of duties which his profession should enable him to fill more effectually and beneficially than any other person."' — Jervis, page 244. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 87 similar structures. In such case his advice is con- stantly sought by the Manager in reference to the track and roadway, and in many instances the road-masters are made subject to his orders con- currently with those of the Division Superin- tendent. The details and completed maps, charts and profiles of the company's property are kept in his office, and, in the absence of a land agent, he is usually the custodian of the company's deeds and its evidences of right of way. The civil engineer is a man of esthetic taste. His ideas are peculiar, professional. He delights in parallelograms and in the art of the draughts- man ; in tastefully executed maps and charts ; in the profuse use of drawing paper and fine muslin ; in expensive and permanent inks and silver-plated ruling pens. Above all, he cher- ishes the implements peculiar to his profession. These implements must be of superb quality and polish, richly mounted. While he delights to fathom the most extended and subtle calcula- tions, it is only in the field that he can display the high abilities he possesses to the best advan- tage. In the open country, in the presence of his beloved instruments and surrounded by his companions, he revels to the full in the glorious possibilities of his profession.. Neither rude fare, nor storm, nor obstacle disturbs the equanimity of his temper. Everything eventually yields to his skill. 88 HA IL WA Y RE VENUE. The absorbing aim of a railway engineer is a well ballasted, adequately protected and well drained road-bed. All things are with him subordinate to this, and in the accomplisment of it other objects of equal or greater importance are sometimes lost sight of. Thus, unless he be a man of comprehensive mind he rapidly acquires a prejudice against heavy locomotives ; they are especially destructive of what he has labor- ed so hard to build up ; he would therefore employ only light engines, lest the track that he loves so well be shattered or destroyed by the jar of moving trains. Mr. John B. Jervis, a scientifically educated civil engineer of many years practical experience and observation — an engineer greatly distin- guished in his time, for the extent and value of his services, has been at the trouble in his work on "Railway Property" to define the duties and characteristics of civil engineers, in con- nection with the construction and management of railroads. We cannot do better here, than to repeat his words.* He says : " It is the engineer's business to study thoroughly the wants of the railway, in regard to the track and its appurtenances — the effect of the action of the machinery upon it — the kind of machinery that will produce the most economical transportation — and the * Pages 240-250 R 'AIL WAY REVENUE. 89 most favorable arrangement for the stations, station-buildings and shop accommodations. He should be the authorized adviser of the master-machinist and track-master, and su- perintend all contract work for renewals of bridges, culverts, buildings and machinery. By his connection with the track and machinery he will be able to judge of the effect of one on the other, and by general observation and carefully conducted experiments, will come to a more thorough understanding of the in- terests of the railway, than will be likely to be reached in any other way. These views may fairly be urged on general principles; as a man who is educated to a particular bus- iness, whose time is devoted to a full under- standing of its requirements, and who is stimulated by the consideration of professional reputation, is more likely to conduct affairs ad- vantageously than one who picks up his ideas at random, and, though doing some things very well, will probably often fail in respect to others. Certainly, the important matter of maintaining the track and machinery of a railway should be committed to the most competent hands. I have known some very intelligent and excellent ma- chinists, who have contributed largely to im- provement in the arrangement and workman- ship in this department (the machinery), to whom the public and the railway interest are greatly 90 RAIL WA V RE VENUE. indebted. At the same time, I have rarely no- ticed in them any special concern as to the effect of their machines on the track. It has been the general practice to commit the care of machinery to the master machinist, and this is proper in all that relates to manipulation, and, to a large ex- tent, to the plans of work ; but, as before ob- served, this class of men rarely give much at T tention to the influence of their machinery on the track ; nor can this be expected, as they have no supervision of the track. They regard the power of their machinery as the best and proper indication of their ability as machinists, and consider that the track should be able to bear it ; and if it does not actually break down under the service of the train, the machinery is regarded as all right — draws large trains and runs at high speed. The machinist has no care and takes no note of those every-day expenses that are required to keep the track in adjustment. Then the track-master has no charge of the ma- chinery, and rarely realizes that it involves any question in relation to his duties, but goes on as best he may to make his track capable of sustain- ing the service. Thus, nothing can be more clear than that the track and machinery should be under the general supervision of the same man, who should be capable of comprehending not only the adaptation of one to the other, but the service of each in effecting the most econq-> RAILWAY REVENUE. 91 mical transportation of the traffic to be provided for. To merely run trains is a thing that may may be done with small experience. To run trains and manage the track and machinery so as to effect the most economical transport, is a very different thing, and as yet very imperfectly studied. I am well aware that a large propor- tion of railway superintendents will not concur in the views here advanced. In the duty of selecting an engineer for the responsible charge here recommended, it is necessary to exercise the same scrutiny, the same practical sagacity, that is called for in other departments of business. Men may, and often do, bear the professional title of civil engineer, as well as of lawyer and physician, with very slender qualifications. It is not the mere scientific engineer, who may be- wilder with hair-spun and useless calculations, nor the practical engineer, who may be able to collect statistics, run levels, set pegs and stakes, copy drawings and make out estimates for con- tractors, if these be the end of his ^accomplish- ments, that is needed. For the object here proposed, the engineer should be familiar with mechanical principles — otnderstand well the strength, durability and adaptation of materials, by experience, observation and study, should have a fund of practical information at command that may be available as occasion or emergency may require. It is, moreover, necessary for 92 RAILWAY REVENUE. him to be a good business man, familiar with the varied interests of a railway, in which he will find ample scope for sound practical sense and experience in his dealings with both men and things. Not a man that is punctilious of his dignity, and unwilling to profit by a good hint from the most humble workman, but ready to rest his standing on his good sense — his frank- ness and uprightness in intercourse with others. Such a man will never have occasion to com- plain of a want of respect in his business inter- course. An engineer should be so completely content with his salary that his mind would be wholly devoted to the work placed under his charge, and his own happiness as much con- cerned as that of the proprietors in obtaining a favorable result for the enterprise. Not less than for a lawyer, physician or merchant, an en- gineer, to succeed well, must enjoy his profes- sion, and find his chief recreation in the cares, duties and results of his labors. Having been mostly occupied in works of construction, en- gineers have not generally had time and oppor- tunity for that close attention that is necessary to render them as useful as they should be in the maintenance of railways. Notwithstanding this deficiency must be admitted as of general •application, it does not change the position of this question ; for when they are placed in their proper position in the management, they are, RAILWAY REVENUE. 93 from their professional training, experience and habits of careful study, more likely to succeed in perfecting this branch of service than men who are not especially fitted by professional acquirement. Though there are exceptions, it is a general truth, that it is expensive to learn a new occupation in maturer manhood ; and consequently, the railway companies that commit their business to unskilled or uneducated men must be at the expense of educating them during their supervision of business, and while they are learning its arts and duties, meanwhile de- pending on advice, trusting to the guide of others as they may chance to find out matters beyond their own powers of criticism." Much that is said in reference to the civil engineer, applies with equal force to railway officers generally ; indeed, I have found it quite impossible to explain the duties and characteris- tics of a particular officer or class without des- cribing many peculiarities that such officer or class possesses in common with those connected with other branches of the service. A disposition has been evinced upon many lines to make the civil engineer separate from and independent of the control of the General Manager. The effort has, however, only been nominally successful ; but it has had the effect to excite the active hostility of the Manager, and herein lies the real explanation of the slight 94 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. respect that is paid to the profession of civil engineer upon many otherwise well managed lines. With a better understanding of the ne- cessity of concentrating the power of active management under one general head, the office of civil engineer upon our railroads will regain the consideration that should everywhere attach to it. CHAPTER IX. The Solicitor. The Solicitor is but little known to the great mass of men occupied in connection with our railways. His duties are those of an adviser to the directors and managers of the property. He with the other chief officers of a company has charge of its legislative interests. His abil- - ities and research must be of that comprehensive order that he can at a moment's notice pass judgment upon matters that require the most extensive research and involve the most mo- mentous consequences. He must be able to lay the foundation broad and deep upon which to rear safely the great structure of vested rights as they are found cen- tered in our railway companies; he must be able to draft with perspicuous clearness and pre- cision contracts of the most elaborate nature, in- volving in their train affairs of the most compli- cated and delicate character. He must be familiar with the customs and precedents of the courts of law, from that of the highest jurisdiction down through the interme- 96 RAILWAY REVENUE. diate grades to that of the humble country squire who, at the call of justice, leaves his potato patch with portentous stride to inflict damages upon the offending company to the very uttermost limit known to the law. He must be able to argue" with dignity great questions of constitutional right when the inter- ests of his company are involved, and he must also be able with equal grace humbly to answer summons and plead the cause of the impecunious operatives whose pay has been garnished by their irate creditors ; he must be able to perform all sorts of duties without preparation or in- terlude. One moment engaged in earnest con- sultation with the direction, the next we find him patiently investigating some petty claim, fraudulent perhaps in its character, but none the less inviting his earnest attention. He must in all his acts take cognizance of that unwritten law of the land thatleads the juryman to cast his verdict for his neighbor wherever a conflict occurs between him and a railway com- pany. He must not only be. a great lawyer and a smart lawyer, but he must also be a man of affairs, possessing much general information ; he must be able to discuss intelligently with the honest farmer the price of pigS, of horses, of yearling heifers and milch cows. His desk will be found encumbered with affidavits, setting RAILWAY REVENUE. 97 forth the fabulous value and rare excellence of whole hecatombs of live stock slaughtered on his company's right of way, every claim exag- gerated and many of them the creation "of a too vivid imagination. His files "will be found to bear abundant evidence that vast hordes of men are constantly going about the country without any visible means of support, destitute and un- friended, with an unmistakably disreputable ait- clinging about them, who are constantly losing baggage' of >>the greatest possible variety and value through' the carelessness or neglect of railway officials. Claims for personal injuries: overwhelm him with their extent and variety, from the aged gentleman who could not hear the whistle of the engine or the roar of the train, down to the ragged urchin who was crushed while trying to steal a ride. Claims for personal injuries like those for property lost or destroyed are generally illegiti- mate in their nature ; nevertheless, to refute them the aid of skillful devices is necessary. In any case evidence must be collected, experts interro- gated, witnesses called, in fact, all the machinery known to the law actively put in motion. Upon all of our extended lines, Or upon those performing a large amount of business, an officer is employed who has entire charge of the settle- ment of claims for injuries sustained by pas- sengers and others, and for all damages done by 98 RAILWAY REVENUE. the company, or for which it is responsible." When such an agent is employed, the duties of the Solicitor in the premises are merely those of a legal adviser ; or, in other words, he sustains the same relation to the department of claims that he does to other departments of the com- pany. A railway company is embodied capital. It is timid to a degree that would surprise and amaze the ignorant people whom we hear from day to day prate. of the arrogance and palpable injustice of its policies and measures. The most con- temptible knave or demagogue in the land, if he occupies position under government, either na- tional, or otherwise, is listened to with obsequious deference, and his commands promptly obeyed. His acts of petty tyranny are accepted with pa- tience and humility. So anxious are the railway companies to propitiate public sentiment that they are constantly submitting without a protest to acts of the greatest injustice. The underlying principle that governs them is the great first law of nature, self-preservation. So long as the vital spark of life is not jeopardized, a railway com- pany will hesitate and temporize, will greatly inconvenience itself and endure from public officials many unnecessary and burdensome ex- penses. However, once let it feel that its life is endangered, its productiveness threatened, or any of its important functions menaced, then, RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 99 from that instant it no longer temporizes but fights, not with calmness and dignity, but with the deadly hatred of the brute that possesses neither conscience nor soul. All these things enter more or less into the experience of the railway lawyer. His life may be said to be a constant struggle against over- whelming odds ; a heroic effort for justice, too often in the face of a pernicious public sentiment that lightly esteems the sacred character of vested rights and ignores in actual practice the perfect equality of the corporation and the peasant in the eyes of the law. OHAPTEE X. The General Ticket and Passenger Agent* The General Ticket Agent is entrusted with the delicate duty of compiling and publishing the tariff of passenger rates, and it is he that ar- ranges — either at the general conventions that meet from time to time, or in private conference — with connecting lines the proportion each com- pany shall receive on the through traffic it carries. His discretion in reference to all things con- nected with his department is ample; and, if per- nicious practices creep into vogue or perpetuate themselves, it is not improper to impute their continuance to his lack of zeal in the duty of removing them. While his control over the local passenger agents is merely nominal, he has entire charge of the foreign employes of the company con- nected with the passenger business, and he ar- ranges the commissions and salaries they shall receive for their services, including the sale of tickets, and no payments are made, or should be made, on account of the foreign passenger traffic * It is impossible to describe separately the duties of these two officers. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 101 that are not vouched for as correct by him. In this way he is kept advised of the aggregate out- lay aswell as the income of his department from competitive and foreign business. It was at one time the current belief of all good, practical railway men that the General .Ticket or Passenger Agent should be a jovial, rollicking dog of rotund paunch with fat capons lined ; with Falstafhan capacity for absorbing sack and kindred liquors, and possessing withal a preternatural love for grog-shops and late dinners; a man able to absorb into his capacious maw both the innocent and the ungodly ; a man who kept a wary eye out for business, and worked it up in a style that was congenial to his tastes, en- trapping the unwary with the magnetism of his manner, and working upon the adepts in the profession in a way that was irresistibly enticing to them. Gradually, however, and almost impercep- tibly, it diffused itself through the minds of the officials in charge that the steady, plodding ap- plication of a sober life was perhaps quite as well fitted to cope with the difficulties of trans- portation and the strife of competition as a mind ablaze with rum or depressed with its effects. Hence the noticeable change that has occur- red in the past twenty years in the character of the men in charge of the ticket department. In the conduct of business the name of the 102 HAIL WAY REVENUE. General Ticket Agenty with its legendary title, is affixed to all the tipkets issued by the com- pany employing him. Thus every passenger who purchases a bit of pasteboard entitling him to a seat reads the name of the Ticket Agent at the bottom of it. What are the thoughts of the traveling public, the average passenger, relative to this officer, who has to them no existence save upon the tickets that they crowd into their vest pockets? To the great bulk of them he is a purely mythical character, and his personality in the flesh is as problematical as the milestones on the Dover road.* The intricacies of the passenger department and the delicate machinery it necessitates can only be appreciated after a • careful examination of the appliances that have been introduced' for meeting its ever changing wants ; machinery so nicely arranged and balanced that the dull and heavy-witted emigrant wending his way over countless lines to his far-off destination, speaking a foreign language, inadequately provided witli means, ignorant of the country, destitute of friends, beset by sharpers, pursues his course * " Many people suppose the General Ticket Agent to be simply a ticket-seller at a union office — the agent for a number of lines — from which circumstance the "general" nature of his duties is inferred. Some railroad companies even seem not to have been quite clear on this point. The writi r once called on the Gen- eral Ticket Agent of a prominent road in the' East, and found him measuring wood for the company, and so engrossed in the mysteries of the fuel account as to be quite foggy on through routes, rates, divisions, or any of the various topics supposed to be of particular interest to passenger men". — Mr. S. F. Pierson, on the General Ticket Agent. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 103 uninterruptedly, unconscious of the dangers that surround him, his every want attended to and his property protected with scrupulous fidelity. The wants of the countless suburban towns that dot the lines of our metropolitan companies are manifold, and merit a volume by themselves ; these must be looked after by the Ticket Agent, and tickets must be supplied for their use for every emergency, from the amiable gentleman who occupies his villa and buys his ticket for a good round year, down through all the grada- tions of society to his envious neighbor with lean and hungry purse, who wants a discount out of all proportion to the amount he pays. All these and more occupy the time and try the patience of the busy ticket agent. All classes and degrees of people crave audi- ence of him — the rich and "the poor, the young and the old, the worthy and the unworthy, the blind, the lame and the halt — each with a de- mand, each with a favor to ask. The habits of the General Ticket Agent are exceedingly versatile. He combines the func- tions of the wholesale merchant with the petty instincts of the small tradesman. No one must be turned away from- his door unanswered ; no one must be neglected. To each he must give the exact consideration that his or her particular case demands. For each separate provision must be made. The cases that present them- 104 RAILWAY REVENUE. selves to him are peculiar ; their name legion. They comprise the excursionist," the Sunday school picnic, the patriotic citizen, the humble politician, the subdued and sombre dominie, with large family and small means, the jovial circus man, the theatrical character, the autocrat, the patrician, the first-class passenger, the emigrant, the colonist, Lo, the poor Indian, the real estate man, the employe, the funeral man, the demure youth of fifteen travelling as a lad of ten, the man who is content to occupy the second-class car- riage, the young miss going to the adjoining town to school, the ferocious drover, the friendly drummer, the man who won't buy a ticket, the man who wants a pass, the mendicant, and, more vexatious than all, the impostor. These people fill the office and consume the time of the polite ticket agent. An adequate performance of the duties they involve require him to be a man of extended knowledge in his business, a man of the world, a thoughtful student of human na- ture, and an adept in the art of reading char- acter. His duties are multifarious. The routine business of his office requires another kind of ability than that we have described. All tickets used in connection with the passenger depart- ment are printed under his direction. He must therefore be something of an artist, a tolerably good judge of engraving, and possess withal a RA IL WA Y RE VENUE. 105 fondness for the dry forms peculiar to railway accounts. All of the many people we have enumerated require tickets peculiar to each ; these tickets are all more or less elaborate, and must be constructed so as to economize space and defy counterfeiting. The General Passenger Agent is an insatiable printer, and must, per consequence, be some- thing of an author. He possesses a noticeably fine eye for spectacular effects. It is he that has charge of his company's advertising, and in the conduct of this he acquires a fame and style peculiar to his office. In the composition and arrangement .of his bulletins he is at once animated and sententious. Now rising with, easy flight to the height of five gigantic excla- mation points, he descends with gentle and graceful gradations to the finest print. Nothing could be more appropriate to the business. In everything he does in connection with his ad- vertising — in arranging for the double-leaded newspaper advertisement, or in planning the shame-faced poster that hangs like a beggar's shirt upon the dingy walls, down to the modest hand bill that adorns the gutter edge — he is striving with indefatigable zeal to overcome every obstacle and distance every rival.* * "That popularity of a route, with ticket sellers and with the public, which makes the wprk effective and easy, is not attained without a certain amount of politic study. Trie cargoes of waste railroad bills, of all sorts and sizes, plas- tered in saloons, pasted high under the eaves of railroad depots, beyond the reach of any eye without an opera glass, the perlect surfeit of every sort of color and type which floods the hotels and places of resort, are sufficient to suggest that railway advertising furnishes scope for the exercise of a little judi- cious thought." — S. F. Pierson on the General Ticket Agent. 106 RAILWAY REVENUE. The General Ticket Agent is an observer. Where'er he be his eye eagerly sckns the pros- pect. Is it because he possesses a love of the beautiful ? No. His purposes are purely prac- tical. He is in search of inviting walls, in quest of exposed surfaces, conspicuous promontories, places adapted to the advantageous display of posters. An attentive perusal of his circular reveals the fact that in the composition of the tran- sitory matter they contain he at all times dis- plays the utmost care and tact. Macaulay, in his most luminous pages, his most sonorous sentences, labored not over their creation with greater pride or enthusiasm. It is impossible to feel otherwise than melancholy when we realize, as we must, how many delightful features of travel these circulars of the Passenger Agent describe which no one ever sees except the en- vious and prying agents of rival lines. It is as a geographer, however, that the Pas- senger Agent shines resplendent. His efforts ip this, line have long excited the astonishment and riveted the attention of an observant world. Nothing known to ancient or modern times, from the days of Herodotus down, equals or even approaches him in ability to obliterate space and annihilate time. He attacks the high- est mountains, causing them to appear as undu- lating knolls ; he makes great cities skip long RAIL WA V RE VENUE. * 1.07 distances upon his maps ; with a stroke of his pen he severs continents, blots out, rivers, de- stroys whole States and causes the sands of the hour-glass to stand still while he fastens indel- ible disgrace upon some hated rival. Whatever he wills, it may be said, he does. The luggage of the passenger as well as the passenger himself is provided for by the General Ticket Agent. However, his duties in this direction are rather auxiliary than direct. A proper care for the baggage of passengers, and the necessity of the utmost precision being ob- served to insure its safe and prompt transmis- sion, long ago led to the creation of a semi- distinct department, and to this department is entrusted the immediate supervision ot the wants of this branch of the service; it sees to the sup- plying and safe custody of the baggage checks of the company ; it surrounds the transmission of baggage with such salutary regulations as are likely to prevent any unnecessary injury ; it provides for the interchecking of baggage with other companies and establishes the rules reg- ulating the complications incident thereto. The care and custody of baggage is thus con- ducted in a manner independently of the ticket department ; nevertheless its services are asso- ciated so closely with the passenger traffic of the road that the interest and duty of the General Ticket Agent make it incumbent upon him to 108 ' RAILWAY REVENUE. advise and counsel with the baggage agent at all times and render him such information and assistance as lie in his power. It is customary to entrust the care of the tickets prepared for use to the General Ticket Agent. Reports from agents and conductors are usually transmitted to his office, and when this is done the accounts are made up under his direction. He ascertains the amounts due from agents and conductors on account of ticket sales, also the proportion due to other companies for tickets sold on their account, and sends them detailed reports of the same, exacting similar report& in return. He transmits monthly to the Accounting Officer a statement of the exact bal- ance due to and from each railroad company, agent and conductor. All tickets collected by conductors and others are transmitted directly to the Ticket Auditor, an officer appointed by and responsible to the Accounting Officer. The possession of the tick- ets enables the Ticket Auditor, with the aid of the reports in the office of the General Ticket Agent, to secure a complete and trustworthy check upon the issue of tickets and the account- ing therefor. It is not unusual to find a General Ticket Agent performing duties very remarkable in the relation they bear to each other. He is fre- quently entrusted with the duty of printing the RAILWAY REVENUE. 109 tickets, and has the custody of them when printed. He issues them wherever, in his judg- ment, the interests of his company demand, and the returns of agents are made to him. Final- ly, he completes the round of his duties by auditing his own accounts. This may be termed the primitive system and carries us back to the days of boyhood, when the circus, making its annual rounds, spread its tent upon the village green, and the door-tender not only gave the people entrance but collected their money. But the circus manager has become more circum- spect, and the ticket agent and the door-tender are no longer one. Is the circus manager's cau- tion the effect of undue suspicion, or is it the application simply, of a little common sense and discernment ? The peculiarities which we observe in our general passenger and ticket agents are not no- ticeably different upon different roads. While the requirements of the office filled by them are sometimes extremely complicated, they are at all times exacting in their nature. The occu- pant of the office is required to be especially alert in discovering the fluctuations of travel, and his astuteness in making the public con- tribute something to the aggrandizement of his company (for which he returns a quid pro quo), is at once the test and measure of his capacity. Mingling much with the world, he is thoroughly 110 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 9 cosmopolitan in his habits and tastes ; compelled to cultivate with assiduity the art of pleasing, he disguises, under an outward exterior of great frankness and cordiality, an alert, subtle and comprehensive understanding. OHAPTEE XI. The General Freight Agent. The intricacy of the business of the depart- ment over which this officer presides almost surpasses belief. With apparently nothing to do but to arrange and print his tariffs, he is really compelled to watch with unceasing vigi- lance the fluctuations of commerce as it ebbs and flows over an always wide extent of coun- try, not unfrequently populated by millions of people. His official duties bring him into personal con- tact with the men who control the destinies of the people who crowd our passenger cars and fill with their products the freight trains that we see winding across the country ; men far-seeing, crafty and oftentimes unscrupulous, animated by but one purpose in their business life, gain ; knowing exactly what they want, and wavering not an instant in their strife to attain it. These people crowd the ante-chambers of the General Freight Agent, each man esteeming his partic- ular business imperative and impatiently chafing at any delay. And when he finally reaghes the 112 RAILWAY REVENUE. man he seeks, he is surprised and perhaps se- cretly enraged to find him quietly trimming his nails, or softly smoking a cigar, seemingly ani- mated by no higher object in life. The General Freight Agent is, however, courteous, thoughtful and observing. In every comer he recognizes a person likely to demand some concession inconsistent with the interests of his company ; unfair in its relation to the pursuits of other patrons of the road ; absurd in its inception and brazen in its application. His countenance, however, gives no indication of his thoughts ; it is his duty to be considerate and respectful. This considerate treatment is frequently misunderstood, and the claimant, be- coming more and more animated as he seems to see the fruition of long cherished hopes, plies the passive Agent with every species of argu- ment : with pretenses the most specious, flattery the most insidious, and cajolery the most seduc- tive ; these failing, threats the most dire and dread- ful are poured into his attentive ear ; the awful consequences to the company of his, the pa- tron's, displeasure are made apparent ; this dis- pleasure may comprise any or all of the things ■a railroad is supposed most to fear— legislative interference, unpopularity alienated friends, loss of trade, stagnation, death ! While these dread- ful things beset the short-sighted company a competing line with restricted facilities, yet hap- RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 113 pily governed by wiser policies, flourishes and grows fat upon the vast accumulation of busi- ness that roars and surges around its gates, seek- ing an outlet over its lines. Such is the story. The correspondence of the general freight office greatly exceeds that of any other depart- ment of the road in its extent and variety. The correspondence with the agents of the company is immense, while inquiries in reference to rates and accommodations pour in from all sorts of places and from all kinds of people — from the flourishing inland city that esteems itself metro- politan to the isolated hamlet that is happy in the belief that it will one day become the county seat ; from the opulent merchant, who annually disburses many thousands of dollars for freights, down to the despised* pack peddler who cries his wares from town to town. The most protracted and wearisome corres- pondence is carried on in reference to claims for overcharges, and for goods lost or damaged in transit. If the claim is for local traffic its ad- justment is comparatively simple and expediti- ous, but if it is on account of business that has passed over several lines, it is of course neces- sary that the loss or damage should be fixed upon the company in fault. It is in the dis- charge of this duty that the office secretary especially delights : each claim is to him a mine of riches, not to be exhausted with undue haste 114 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. or surreptitious labor, but to be worked up in a professional way, the advances to it being easy and gradual and cumulative in their character. He approaches the consideration of the subject in the firm belief that his company is entirely blameless in the matter ; that the loss or dam- age occurred upon some other line he is fully convinced, and in the substantiating of this be- lief he is prepared if necessary to devote reams of paper and years of patient investigation.. In all his communications with brother officials in regard to it he manifests the most contentious spirit ; indulges in the most exasperating insin- uations ; denies all mere assertions ; requires exact dates, names of responsible parties, the production of the original papers, the affidavits of conductors and agents and countless other things. And, finally, when every demand is satisfied, every question answered, every state- ment substantiated, he is still consumed with suspicions and very likely paralyzes the mental faculties of his opponent by boldly asserting the most startling things about officials of long ex- perience and approved fidelity who are mixed up in the matter, or he devotes great quantities of paper and hours of intense application to a careful elaboration of certain obtuse theories that he is satisfied afford the only real clue to the matter. The claims against railway companies for RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 115 goods reported lost or damaged are so great and so difficult to treat justly, that upon many lines they are of sufficient importance to warrant the creation of a distinct department with an ef- ficient officer in charge, possessing no other duty than patiently and impartially to investi- gate their merits and promptly settle those that are found to be just. In England our General Freight Agent would be called a " goods manager." The term " goods" is used in that country instead of "freight," the latter being employed there only in connection with the cargoes of vessels. In this way, no doubt, originated the custom we have formed here of speaking of " shipping" freight by rail. The great bulk of the revenue that flows with out cessation into the coffers of our railway companies is derived from the transportation of freight, and by freight is meant everything carried by freight trains, including express matter and excess baggage carried by passenger trains. The processes under which the freight busi- ness is carried on are, compared with the passen- ger traffic, rude and inexpensive. The risks also are much less ; indeed, upon a well-man- aged line possessing a good track and adequate equipment, the risk may be said to be merely nominal. With the passenger traffic, on the contrary, the danger attending the movement of 116 -RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. fast trains is infinitely greater, and the loss when a calamity occurs is frequently overwhelming. The General Freight Agent has his titled aids, his chief clerks and assistants, all of them men of superior capacity. These officials partake, in a measure, of his habits of manner and thought. He, in fact, gives the tone and color to every- thing that pertains to his department. The, duties of the Freight Agent require for their creditable performance that he should understand the technicalities as well as the philosophy of the transportation service. A proper provision for conducting the affairs of the department is dependent upon an intimate personal acquaintance with all the multitudinous concerns incident to the freighting business. He must be familiar with the handling of merchan- dise at the warehouse doors ; the loading and unloading of freight and its proper arrangement on the cars. To enable him to compass the dif- ficulties of arranging an equitable tariff and a model classification, he must know what it costs to do business, and he must possess something more than a superficial knowledge of the various classes of freight that seek transportation over his lines. This knowledge, it may be said, will refer more especially to the weight of freight, its extent, bulk and value and its liability to damage while in possession of the company. The information he possesses in reference to RAILWAY REVENUE. 117 these matters he has acquired by years of observa- tion and practical association, by years of labo- rious work in subordinate offices. All his theo- ries and his generalizations, it will be noticed, are based upon a shrewd understanding and a detailed technical knowledge of the freight busi- ness. He understands better than any one else the possibilities and the impossibilities of the goods traffic, wherein it can be determined by fixed tariff and arbitrary rules and wherein it must be left subject to the fluctuations of business and the special wants of isolated offerings. The proper conduct of the business of the de- partment over which the General Freight Agent presides requires that he should understand the topography of his company's lines and the nature and extent ot their productions. The strife for business at competing points will necessitate his keeping himself advised of the resources of rival companies and the districts affected by the com- petition. To protect his company from the baleful effects that would follow this strife if left undisturbed, he finds it necessary to meet the officers of the competing companies from time to time, and with them come to such agreement as he is able in reference to a division of the busi- ness of the disputed territory. It is in the performance of this difficult duty that he will be able to display his ability r if he possesses it, to the greatest advantage. 118 RAILWAY REVENUE. ,. The important duties of the General Freight Agent~in connection with the transportation of the freight traffic of a road are too absorbing in their nature to afford him any leisure in which to study the dry details of freight accounts or examine into and direct their manipulation, and besides the possession of such authority is in- consistent with any proper system of super- vision over him as an officer of the company. The freight accounts should be entrusted to an independent department. If the road is a large one, the office of Freight Auditor should be created to work in subordination to the Accounting Officer; and the important duty of carrying out the rates of the General Freight Agent, examining the freight accounts of agents and others, agreeing upon balances with con- necting lines, and similar duties, should be en- trusted to him. All claims for overcharges and rebates should also be authenticated by the Freight Auditor as well as by the chief of the freight department. In connection, with the accounts, the General Freight Agent, like his brother officer the Gen- eral Ticket Agent, is not averse to the active exercise of the most incongruous duties. Not that he actively courts the discharge of func- tions that are inconsistent with each other, yet he passively acquiesces in what he finds always to have been considered the prerogatives of his RAIL WA V RE VENUE. 119 position ; and so it is that we frequently discover him exercising the functions of a creative, execu- tive, and judicial officer. Exercising discretion- ary power in the making of rates ; attending solely to their execution ; authorizing the pay- ment of money without the intervention of any associate officer ; and, all these labors performed to his satisfaction, gravely proceeding to pass upon and audit his own accounts, filing away the product with great circumspection and care — in his own office. Happily, however, absurdities of this char- acter are becoming of more rare occurrence. To sum up the characteristics of the officials we -discover occupying the office of General Freight Agent, we find them to be men of rare and comprehensive ability, painstaking and la- borious in their habits, sagacious in the council of the road, wary in their intercourse with their competitors and the pmblic, and uniformly cour- teous and obliging in their official intercourse. CHAPTER XII. The Purchasing Agent. This office requires the most incorruptible honesty, and he who does not possess it in its highest sense is unfit to perform its duties. Entrusted with the purchase of the supplies required by his company, involving a large percentage of its total disbursements, his fidelity to its interests should be paramount to every consideration of a personal character. His actions always liable to be misconstrued and his language misinterpreted, he is compelled to exercise infinite tact in all he does. He must not only be honest but he must seem to be honest. Every quality of strength or weakness in- herited by man will each in turn be played upon to seduce him from the direct line of honest dealing ; his cupidity ; his vanity ; his love of social recognition ; his desire to be esteemed ; his gratitude ; his most trusted friendships ; his very family relations will be made to contribute to his downfall if he does not possess the inherent strength of character to resist every temptation. RAILWAY REVENUE. 121 It is hot enough, however, that the Purchas- ing Agent should be honest; he must possess the genuine instincts for trade peculiar to peo- ple actively engaged in mercantile pursuits. His duties compel him to the greatest activity ; he must be personally familiar with tlie country and people where he buys his fuel, ties and timber. He must visit the shops and store- houses of those possessing the wares he seeks. It is only by continual intercourse with dealers and the most painstaking investigations that he can hope to fit himself to purchase for his com- pany the greatest quantity for the least money, or in other words, to buy where he can buy the cheapest. Charged with the duty of supplying the ma- terial required in active operations, he is com- pelled to keep himself advised in advance of the probable wants of the service. The most careful estimates have to be made,_ far in advance, usually, of the probable quantity of ties required by his company, and when wood is used in its locomotives, the supply on ..hand must, for obvious reasons, always be greatly in excess of its daily wants. In inviting bids for these supplies and others of a similar nature, the greatest possible publicity , and frankness are required, and in awarding the contracts the Purchasing Agent is governed en- tirely by the specifications, provided the ability 122 RAILWAY REVENUE. of the person or persons making the bids seems to be worthy of credence, of which he should not, perhaps, be the sole judge. A careful Purchasing Agent will invite the bids of merchants for almost every class of arti- cles he is called upon to procure. In this way the extent of his purchases and the desirability of his trade, coupled with the desire of the mer- chants to sell, all conspire to afford him the best pessible market in which to make his purchases. It will be seen, then, that his duties necessitate common honesty, untiring energy and great na- tive sagacity. It is not too much to say that, as a rule, the duties of the Purchasing Agent should terminate with the purchase of the supplies ; a proper ap- preciation of the eternal fitness of things would seem to indicate that the auditing of his accounts should be entrusted to an independent depart- ment, that the material purchased should be re- ceived and examined by an officer in no way identified with its purchase or responsible for its character. The efficiency of the. most upright Purchasing Agent cannot but be best secured and prolonged by such a course. In connection with this matter, the custom observed in the United States army is interest- ing. At all military posts of the Government, the rules require a board of officers to examine and KAIL WAY REVENUE.- 123 receive all supplies purchased by quarter-mas- ters. No military purchasing officer, no matter how. great his rank, is permitted to receive the stores he buys. This seems somewhat surprising when we remember the high character of the men . No class is deservedly held in more honorable esteem than the officers of the United States army. Yet, notwithstanding this fact, the Gov- ernment wisely surrounds each officer with such salutary checks as the most ordinary precaution would suggest. These safeguards, instead of be- ing covertly evaded by the officers, are rigidly insisted upon by them, as they place the weakest officer aboVe temptation and save all from impo- sition or unjust suspicion. OI-IAPTEE XIII. The Accounting Officer. The English usually speak of an accountant as a clerk ; pronounced " dark." This broad pronunciation greatly aggravates the offense to American ears. The office of Accountant, we observe, is never sought from choice by active or aggressive young men in our country ; indeed, our accountants may be. said to be the least aggressive people in the world. Upon our railways the position is dull and uninteresting compared with its neighbors. No entrancing glamour surrounds the place ; no indefinite possibilities are associated with it. The office is without honor or emoluments, and an energetic and effective discharge of its duties frequently entails myriads of enemies, few sup- porters and no friends. In a modified sense, a railway accountant dis- charges the duties of a supervisor ; a frank per- formance of these duties however frequently invites misrepresentation and every species of harassment that the arrogance of power can suggest. As it is impossible for him to resent RAILWAY REVENUE. 125 affronts that are put upon him, he early learns to avoid them by personal subserviency and concessions. Upon the Accounting Officers of our railway companies devolves the extremely difficult task of surrounding the receipts and disbursements with such sure safeguards as will prevent their alienation. To accomplish this important service requires the introduction of a method of ac- counting so easily understood as to come within the scope of ordinary comprehension, but so full and accurate in its observances as to ac- complish the object sought. It should be such as not to sap the resources of the company it professes to serve, and yet must be such as to afford an intelligent account of the business transacted and so ample in its operations, as to guard against all the common mishaps that are attendant upon the conduct of an extended bus- iness carried on wholly by hired agents.. It must be so simple as to fulfill the requirements of a business hardly remunerative and econom- ically conducted, as well as the wants of an ex- tended and Opulent company. It must, in fact, be organized with a view of attaining practical results in a simple, straightforward manner, carefully eschewing everything that is merely ornamental, or that has for its object, or as an incident in its workings, the accomplishment of purely theoretical ideas, either in the details of 126 HAIL WAY REVENUE. administration or in the results to be exhibited. An Accounting Officer has to keep this, to him, disagreeable truth constantly in mind, that every cent locked up in books of accounts, in blank forms and stationery, or expended for clerk hire, beyond what is absolutely necessary to secure a reasonable knowledge of the affairs of a company, is just so much money sunk in a bottomless pit, to the detriment of the income account and of the morale of the road. In the formation of a method for securing ac- curate knowledge of the collections and disburse- ments of a company, it is desirable, whenever practicable, so to organize the department of accounts that the evidence upon which the Ac- counting Officer depends shall be of a concur- rent nature. This may be said to be the key to or principle underlying railway accounts, and the skill displayed by an accountant in carrying it out is the test of his fitness. Each report or re- turn should be verified by a corresponding ex- hibit from another and an entirely independent source. In this way omissions and inaccuracies are easily discovered. Thus an important check upon the freight traffic is the report of conduct- ors, who stand intermediate between the agent who forwards the business and the agent who receives it and, as a rule, collects the charges ; or, failing in the conductor's return, the ac- countant will carefully compare the exhibits as RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 127 made by the two terminal agents. Following out this idea of requiring concurrent evidence as to the fulness of each and every transaction, the Accounting Officer is not intrusted' with the preparation or custody of passage tickets. All tickets taken up, however, are canceled and re- turned to him by the conductors or collectors. These tickets he carefully -compares with the returns made to him of the tickets sold ; in this way a check is secured upon the publisher and custodian of the tickets and upon the agent who sells them. Sometimes the safeguards thrown around the business are supplemented — in con- junction with other matters — by requiring a person to go aboard the trains and collect the tickets, independently of the conductor, in the possession of the passengers. Everything incident to the operations of the Accounting Department, from the appointment of its chief down to the returns made by petty subordinates, should be arranged with a view of securing concurrent evidence of an independent character of every transaction. Thus, the Ac- counting Officer whose duty it is to record the acts of the local managers should not be a creature of these officials, if trustworthy evid- ence of their acts is expected or desired. In the same way, the transactions of the Treasurer or Cashier should be passed upon by an official whom he does not appoint and over whom he 128 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. has no control. In this way it is possible to secure in the majority of cases authentic re- turns. The authority of the Accounting Officer should be absolute as regards the form and man- ner of keeping the accounts ; and to secure in him the peaceful and efficient performance of his duties, he should possess the power of appoint- ing and removing' the heads of the various branches of the accounting department. No petty satrap or obstructionist should be allowed to impede his course or harass his administration. The Accountant should also possess unques- tioned right to enforce, whenever in his judg- ment it seems right, the retirement of any em- ploye who wilfully disobeys the instructions of the company governing its revenue. The right to hire agents and others engaged in the per- formance of station and train duties is not neces- sary to the faithful and efficient collection of the earnings of the company, and it may, therefore, be left to the discretion of the local manage- ment.* In connection with many companies, perhaps the majority of them, there has grown up a de- partment the duties of which relate solely to ac- * The Pennsylvania Railroad Company seems to possess a more carefully matured judgment of the necessity of an independent and efficient accounting department than any other railway company in the United States, so far as the waiter has any knowledge. The intelligence and care it has expended in organizing its accounting department is so marked as to he noticeable. RAILWAY REVENUE. 129 counts~ The head of this department is usually termed an Auditor, though in some cases he is designated as Comptroller. All returns are transmitted to him, or to his subordinates, to be examined and entered upon the company's books. The details are, consequently, known to no other officer. In such case the Auditor is really the Treasurer of Ihe company, except in the actual possession of the cash. It is his duty to see that the receipts all reach the treasuryi and that nothing is paid out improperly. W hen all knowledge of the receipts and expenditures is denied to the custodian of the revenue, his duties are merely automatic. He is, therefore, no longer a Treasurer, because that implies something besides a depositary. In the cases we have mentioned, where the accounts are subject to the control of an Auditor or Comptroller, his position should be further cemented and strengthened by giving him pos- session of the cash. This is all he needs to make him equal in prestige and power to the officers who surround him. The position of Accounting' Officer, when restricted wholly to the narrow limits of the department of accounts, does not possess the strength nor the facilities that are required to secure, under all circumstances, the cooperation that is necessary. The position lacks all the outward evidences of power that appeal to men's sensibilities. No eclat ever at 130 RAILWAY REVENUE. taches to the person of an accountant. Never- theless, we find men occupying the isolated office of Auditor who possess such great ability and courage that they are able to enforce proper respect for their position, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which they labor. When less competent men occupy the office, however, we find that the appliances that are necessary to a trustworthy and complete examination of the ^accounts, in the delicate relation they sustain to the owners of the property as faithful records of what occur, are frequently denied them, being suspended, or their functions diverted, the ob- ject being accomplished by indirection when other and simpler means fail. It seems impossible for an accounting officer, and nothing more, to cope effectually with the strong, active, aggres- sive officers who control the business of our rail-^ roads, distribute their patronage, and disburse their money. The Accounting Officer is the auditor of the local management. The position, therefore, needs all the strengthening it can get. It should, in fact, be directly subordinate to those high * executive officers who represent the directors and stockholders. The subordination of the Accounting Officer to the local manager is not contemplated or permitted upon any well- organized road in this country or in an)' other. These facts are well understood by the veteran RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 131 and conservative men who represent the owners of our railway lines. The office of Auditor is much misunderstood by the general public, and many railway men understand its duties but imperfectly. It is currently believed that no bills are paid until they are duly approved by him. The explana- tion of this mistake is very simple : Webster tells us an Auditor is " a person appointed and authorized to audit or examine an account or accounts, compare the charges with the vouch T ers, examine the parties and witnesses, allow or reject charges, and state the balance." The performance of these duties would indi- cate him to be an officer of large power, of in- finite finesse, schooled in the laws of evidence, gravely and impartially collecting 'testimony, and weighing the same with judicial calmness — a very watch dog of the treasury, scanning with distrustful glance all vouchers by which it was sought to draw money. On the contrary, he is frequently, though not always, an affable, mild-spoken gentleman, who might possibly hunt up a witness, but would never send for one. Instead of exhaustively examining the parties and otherwise proceeding with great circumstantiality, he is mainly exercised to know that all vouchers presented to him are certified by some authorized officer ; such being the case, they are slowly and laboriously spread upon 132 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. the journals. This duty performed, the bills proceed on their course to the executive or Manager, by whom all accounts against our rail- way companies are usually audited. After ap- proval the bill is returned to the Auditor ; the fact that it is approved is methodically record- ed, when it is turned over to the treasury for payment. The Accounting Officer's responsi- bility, in the majority of cases, is merely nom- inal. This is wrong : his duties in the premises should be definite and intelligent; to be the latter they must be free and unconstrained. The prominent idea in separating the ac- counts- from the treasury department, where it has. been done, has been to secure a more perfect check on the officer in charge of the latter. It is, however, quite easy to secure this object without any such separation. When the Treasurer is the accounting officer, the offi- cial whose duty it is to examine and verify his accounts should go personally into his office and examine each and every voucher that constitutes his file. In tracing the receipts of the company to see that they are accounted for by the Treas- urer, he should take as a basis the returns re- quired from agents'. Their collections and re- mittances he may trace through • the various forms of accounting until they finally reach their appropriate place on the ledger. The bal- ances that the agents admit as being due from RAILWAY REVENUE. • 133 them are concurrent evidence of the authen- ticity of the accounts. Thus from the securing of the business to the final accounting of the money in the Treasury, every dollar may be ac- curately followed up to the Treasurer, who should be able to show the cash or authorized vouchers in lieu thereof. To enable the exam- ining officer to verify the disbursements of the treasury department, it will be necessary for him to inspect the vouchers and compare them, item by item, with the entries on the cash book, the accuracy of which latter, in every respect, he will carefully verify. The duty of examining and verifying the ac- counts of the Treasurer may be performed by any independent, and skillful agent of the com- pany. When the accounts are centred in the treasury department, the labor of examining the same is increased only slightly, as its affairs should, in any event, be passed upon from time to time by independent officers, so that their correctness may be demonstrated. If the cash centres in one department and the accounts in another department distinct from it, a check upon the Treasurer is more easy, for the reason that the number of returns centering in his office is not so great. The verification, however, of the honesty of the Treasurer is one of the least dif- ficult problems in railway service ; his office is ■ 134 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. accessible, and complete possession of it may be taken at any moment for the purpose of de- monstrating the accuracy of his reports. The great value of accounts to the owners of railways lies in their' ability to register accu- rately the earnings and enforce their collection, and afterwards faithfully to record the purpose for which money is for any reason disbursed. To accomplish this labor, a strong organization is required, aiid it has seemed to the writer as if this strength was more perfectly secured. by consolidating the offices of Accountant and Treasurer. By thus concentrating the accounts in a department that cannot be ignored or avoided, and that possesses inherent elements of strength that command recognition and respect, it seems possible to secure the frankness of statement in connection with the receipts and disbursements that is so essential to enable the owners of a property to judge intelligently of the wisdom and economy that animate its manage- ment. In reference to the necessity or desirability of the accounts of railways being audited by an independent department, the system of accounts as finally adopted by the United States and other governments is interesting. We find, upon ex- amining the United States system, that" each department of the Government under its chief keeps its own regular set of accounts, and re- 'RAILWAY REVENUE. 135 turns of one kind or another are required of all subordinates or agents ; these agents are also required to forward at the same time a copy of each of their returns or reports to one of the Auditors of the Treasury. The object of such a system is two-fold : all the departments of the Government except the Treasury deal with a certain set of affairs neces- sary to the proper carrying on of the govern- ment. The expenditure of money of each of these departments is only an incident in its work- ings. There then arises the necessity for a .department whose sole business shall be the col- lection and care of the revenue and the issue .of the money collected to the other departments when required by them. Hence the organiza- tion of the Treasury Department. But after it has collected the money and issued it to the other departments, its duty is only half done. Every dollar must be traced down to the time when it is finally paid out and ceases to be- long to the Government. This is done by requir- ing every official and agent of each of the great departments of the Government to forward accounts or reports to one of the Accountants of the Treasury Department called an Auditor. Thus the Treasury books show not only how every dollar was collected, but how, by whom and for what it was finally disbursed, and what 136 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. property, labor or service the Government has received for its money.* And from this universal knowledge springs the second function of the Treasury, that of a check on the other departments in all matters of disbursements. The Secretary of the Treasury, discovering either on the reports and accounts rendered, or in any other way, irregularity or any illegality in the disbursements of an officer of any of the departments, requires the loss to be made good, and the offender punished. It is obvious that no single function of the Treasury Department could be properly per- formed if its accountants were withdrawn from* its control, nor could it be relied upon for the execution of its second and very onerous duty of safeguard or check, were it not entirely inde- pendent of outside control. The system of accounting just described, de- vised by Alexander Hamilton for the United States Government, has been found to work smoothly and secure perfect responsibility. Why did not Hamilton create for the Government an abstract or book-keeping department, pure and simple, such as can be found upon many of our railroads? Is it not because he. had the genius to see that such a department, with its purely abstract duties- and clerical habits, could never * These disbursements of the Government correspond to the Operating Ex- penses of a railway. RAILWAY REVENUE. 137 make its authority respected, and instead of securing and enforcing correct/accounting upon the part of its powerful neighbors, it would only have excited their contempt and indifference? What is true of the Government service is equally true of our railway service. The custody of the cash should b)' all means be added to the other duties of the accountant. The Accounting Officer should have charge of the general books, accounts and statistics of the company. It should be his duty fcp pre- scribe the manner in which the accounts of the business and local finances of the company shall be kept, and he should have the general super- vision and control over the same. It should further be his duty to cause to be made, once in each month, a balance sheet and such other statements and reports as may be necessary to show the transactions of the com- pany for the preceding month, and the financial condition at the close of such month ; and it should in addition be his duty to furnish such other statements and reports as are required. In the organization of his department he will subdivide the labor so as to bring the work of the various branches of accounts under appro- priate heads. His staff will consist primarily of a General Bookkeeper ; Ticket Accountant ; 138 RAIL WA Y HE VENUE. Ticket Auditor; Freight Auditor ; Auditor of Disbursements ; and Traveling Auditor. To these should be added, in those cases where the accounting department embraces the financial office of the company, a Paymaster ; and Cashier. Each of these officers will have an assistant competent to perform the duties of his superior in the event of his absence or disability. With the active aid of the important officials named, the Accounting Officer should be able to enforce an adequate system of accounting through all the various branches and grades of the service. It is extremely doubtful whether it can be done without their hearty co-operation, and such co-operation can only be secured by their subordination to the head of the depart- ment. Upon small roads several of the offices filled by the subordinate officials named could, of course, be consolidated. In any event, however, the in- cumbents would perform certain prescribed duties, of a more or less mechanical nature, in connection with the routine work of the respec- tive branches of business entrusted to them, thus entailing the least possible expense for clerical services. RAILWAY REVENUE. 139 The office of Ticket Auditor is not generally known in railway affairs ; its introduction is in- tended to obviate the necessity of removing en- tirely the details of the ticket business (the ac- counts) from the General Ticket Agent's office. To allow the latter entire charge of the accounts is inconsistent with his responsibility as a custo- dian of the tickets themselves ; yet the posses- sion of the accounts is in some respects impor- tant, though not absolutely essential, to enable him to keep himself constantly advised in refer- ence to the progress and wants of his depart- ment.* Just so the details of the freight accounts must be inseparably associated in intimate rela- tion with the general freight office, yet an effi- cient use of the details the accounts convey /does not necessitate that they should actually be present in the office of the General Freight Agent. The machinery for the conduct of the business of the ticket and freight departments is wholly dissimilar; the machinery for conduct- * " There is, pel haps, nothing which does more to make an officer careful and efficient than the habit of facing his own figures. The General Ticket Agent should be familiar with all the figures which affect or which should affect his management. The custom of some companies, whereby the whole matter of accounts is shrouded among the mysteries of the audit, is had. An officer of a prominent line assured me that he had no means of knowing from his own books whether the receipts from any particular agency were enough to warrant the expense or, indeed, where any particular class of his business mostly came from or went to. He was quite in the dark as to results, arid had simply to ' trust in God ~ and keep shooting,' with little means of knowing whether he hit anything." — 5. F. Pierson, on the Duties of the General Ticket ^gent^ 140 RAILWAY REVENUE. ing the freight traffic, at the headquarters of the company, being extremely simple, while the passenger department requires appliances (tick- ets) of the most complicated and delicate order, necessitating in their trust and execution both fidelity and long experience. In watching over the revenue that passes through the hands of its station agents, the Accounting Officer acts to a considerable extent, though not wholly, through the medium of in- spectors or traveling auditors, baionging to his department and varying in number with the ex- tent and wants of the road. Upon a few loosely organized lines these traveling auditors are found acting indepen- dently. This is wrong. The tremendous pres- sure that must sometimes be made to secure the removal of unfit men or the obedience of good men, they are powerless to exercise, and their obscurity and lack of power make them, in spite of themselves, the easy prey of others, and they pass rapidly, like all small independent officials, from comparative inefficiency to positive worth- lessness. Invaluable in their sphere, they re- quire the strength and invigorating influence of a strong department officer, skilled in accounts of every kind and indomitable in their applica- tion, to sustain them and keep them up to that high standard of efficiency so necessary in all matters relating to the collecting of a railway company's revenue, RAILWAY REVENUE. 141 Further on much space will be found devoted to instructions to traveling auditors in reference to the collection of the revenue and the ac- counts of agents. The instructions include such directions as it is not improper to embrace in a work of this kind. They are, doubtless, imper- fect in construction and incomplete in many im- portant particulars, but, so far as they go, it is safe to say they must be substantially carried out wherever efficiency is expected to characterize under all circumstances the collection and prompt transmission of railway receipts. It is undoubtedly true that upon different roads the technical names given to specific blanks and books will not coincide, or the time for making returns always agree ; the accounts upon one road will be complicated, upon another simple and inexpensive. Other differ- ences of an apparently radical nature may ex- ist ; nevertheless, the appliances to be used and the checks to be enforced must ever remain sub- stantially the same, no matter what the system or by whom enforced. CHAPTER XIY. Necessity of Defining the Duties and Responsibilities of the Accounting Of- ficer ; the Cost of Accounts, etc. No man has ever yet been able to say with truth that he had fathomed the intricacies of railway management so that he had nothing further to learn. Railway management is a science, each of its branches possessing problems peculiar to itself, requiring for their elucidation years of thpughtful study and practical acquain- tance ; and much of this knowledge when acquired at the expense of so much time and patience cannot be taught or explained. Like the idioms peculiar to certain languages, it per- meates the intelligence of the persevering stud- ent, but can only be made partly intelligible to those who seek for information through him. The working organization of a great many of our railroads is exceedingly crude and* ill- digested in regard to the relations that the several departments bear towards each other, as every railway officer is aware. All power flows with the irresistible law of gravitation into the RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 143 hands of that department that possesses arbitrary authority over the greatest number ; and it is the tendency of the power so formed to destroy or weaken, though without direct intention, it may be, many salutary and necessary checks and safeguards. It is a realization of the survival, not of the fittest, for all are alike necessary to a healthy and robust organization, but of the strongest. To insure efficiency it is absolutely necessary that the checks and balances between the several branches of the service should be arranged with the utmost nicety and preserved, under all cir- cumstances, without reference to men, with the most unyielding firmness. Whether this is true or not, let the weak and voiceless part borne by the accounting department in many of our rail- ways bear witness. What railway man is not conversant with acts of grave abuse that have had their origin in the neglect of salutary and proper checks ; in the omission to define clearly and unmistakably the duties and prerogatives of minor officials ; in the disposition of some aggressive, dominant faction to treat with con- temptuous indifference the officers who do not declare themselves henchmen and faithful servitors by prompt and respectful protestations of subserviency to such faction or coterie ? How many accountants are there who, in the discharge of their duty of looking after the rev- 144 RAILWAY REVENUE. enue of the company they represent have not had their efficiency seriously crippled by the interference of persons practically irresponsible ? How many accounting officers are there, of experience and character, who haye not, from motives of common self-respect, been constrained to keep aloof and remain silent in consequence of the gross rudeness and marked disregard paid to their official suggestions in reference to mat- ters coming properly within the province ot their office ? How many companies are there that have not suffered unnecessary losses in consequence ot the stolid interference or inaction of officials who, at best, can only be held to a general res- ponsibility for the faithful collection of the rev- enue, but who arbitrarily dictate who shall be retained and who shall not be retained in the service ? How much have our railway companies lost from their neglect to fix the responsibility for the collection of receipts, and the details con- nected with the disbursement thereof, definitely and finally in the Accounting Officer, with power sufficient to enable him to secure respect and enforce the general rule common to all lines, against the misappropriation of funds? A careful examination of the accounts of our railway companies would develop many surpris- ing things. We should find, for instance, in RAILWAY REVENUE. 14g many cases that there was no recognized head, that each department or petty chief was per- mitted to introduce any special system or blank that pleased and to disregard any that displeased him ; we should find each department striving to make its accounting independent of all others ; we should find unnecessary elaboration of accounts in many of the departments ; we should find that this elaboration proceeded, sometimes from ignorance, and sometimes from a disposition to show complete results, inde- pendently of the real Accounting Officer; we should find the details transcribed and retran- scribed upon the books of several departments, when once should suffice ; we should find systems without continuity or coherency; we should find men having the entire charge and control over the accounts of great departments who knew nothing whatever about accounts ; we should find men gravely assuming responsibility for the efficiency and economy of accounts, who owed their situation to the fact that they were good engineers, or efficient masters of transpor- tation, or had the knack of buying cheaply. We should find that a division of authority destroyed responsibility, in accounts as in everything else; we should find, as a rule, whenever any great defalcation or mishap occurred, through the ne- glect, misconstruction or ignorance of these offi- cers, that they escaped even the semblance of 146 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. blame from the inability of anybody to locate the responsibility, or in the occasional instances when it was definitely traced home to them, that they lightly escaped on the ground that they were too busy to look after the accounts, or that they left the disposition of them mainly to sub- ordinates, or that really they neither knew nor professed to know anything about them ; we should find that these same men, who, in time of danger, broadly disavowed any fixed responsi- bility in reference to the accounts, were always covertly intriguing to retain the arbitrary dis- position of the accounts related to their several departments ; we should find in the few instances where we discovered a compact organization, with a competent and responsible officer at the head, that, as a rule, he was harassed incessantly by the innumerable petty chiefs who looked upon themselves as despoiled by him ; we should find them exaggerating the cost of any system he introduced, disputing its efficiency, and mak- ing its chief the subject of petty slurs and in- nuendoes ; we should find, in fact, that in the very field where the interests of our railway com- panies required great intelligence and fixedness of purpose, they possessed neither. The cost of keeping the accounts is increased by dividing the responsibility amongst several departments and petty chiefs not thoroughly conversant with such matters, and in attempting RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 147 to estimate its extent we must keep in mind that upon every railway line there are many stations where the labor devolving upon the force em- ployed so nearly corresponds with the ability of that force when taxed to its utmost limit, that the slightest increase in the extent or number of returns required is sufficient to necessitate the employment of additional assistance with a corresponding increase of the pay-roll. The number of complicated and expensive blanks and books introduced from year to year upon many of our railways, only to be subse- quently modified or wholly abandoned as im- practicable or worthless, attests to the wayfaring man the limited information and restricted in- telligence of their authors. Possessing in an ag- gravating sense the peculiar temperament and characteristics of people who stubbornly refuse to acquire information except as it comes to them in the local and contracted sphere in which they are personally employed, they involve the company employing them in much unnecessary expense and conduct its affairs with so little system and efficiency that their dismissal for in- competence would follow as a ^matter of course were it not that the technical nature of the work performed by them deters the proprietors from investigating the relative merits of the system they support. CHAPTEE XY. Necessity of Organizing the Accounts un- der the Direction of a Competent and Responsible Head. Upon every railway a large percentage of the most intelligent and enterprising portion of the force are engaged, more or less, upon duties of a purely clerical nature. In the country at large there are probably a hundred thousand men identified with the department of railway ac- counts. We find them at every station, in each ticket office, at all the shops, upon every train, in each department office, and at the headquar- ters of the road. In these places we discover hordes of men actively employed in connection with the acoounts; many of them engaged wholly with such duties, while a large number are so engaged for a considerable portion ol their time. The simplest and purest system of accounts that can possibly be devised is, to a certain ex- tent, elaborate and complicated. As a rule, every company may be said to pos- sess a system of accounts in many respects pe- RAILWAY REVENUE. 149 culiar to itself ; not that there is any reason, in- herent or otherwise, why it should be so. The system in force is in many cases a mere patch- work, dependent upon verbal instructions, poorly educated intelligence and the traditions of the company for the efficiency it possesses. In such cases no settled and clearly defined plans are anywhere accessible to the young and ambitious novice, and the comparatively experienced offi- cial frequently hunts in vain for any clue to guide him in matters that are new to him. The result of this confusion is, that no positive ad- vance is made towards perfection, and the spirit governing the force, instead of being animated and alert, is depressed and without ambition. It is undoubtedly true that there exists, in some cases, a fixed purpose to mystify the pro- cesses by which certain results are arrived at. It does not, however, by any means follow that, because of this confusion, there is anything wrong, to be _ covered up. It arises in many cases from a fear updn the part of the account- ant tliat a perfectly full and clear exposition of his system of accounts would render his services less valuable to his company. , Little men dread competition. Under a method of accounting such as we have described competition is im- possible; the key to the labyrinth is known only to one person, and in the impenetrable gloom that surrounds him that person dwells secure. 150 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. More frequently, however, the system of ac counts which we find in vogue, as we investigate the subject more fully, is what we may term a conglomerate mass of makeshifts, possessing no continuity or coherence, the result of spasmodic effort, exercised at infrequent intervals, by differ- ent individuals or isolated department officers, without mature reflection or general consulta- tion. The instances are very rare, indeed, where one experienced, clear-headed and progressive man has had such undisputed control and direction of the accounts of a railroad as to be able to mould them to his satisfaction, making them thoroughly homogeneous in their nature and effective in their application as a safeguard and a protection to the company whose affairs they record. Our accountants should, and will, doubtless, in the course of time, possess accessible sources of information in reference to all classes of rail- way accounts, perfectly definite and conclusive in character. This means of learning within the reach of all, we shall soon possess a corps st intelligent, clear-headed men, systematicall educated to perform the duties required of them. The result will be precision in the work done, while much less time will be occupied in accomplishing it, as the labor of supervision and verbal explanation (the schooling process) will RAILWAY REVENUE. 151 be unnecessary. Results such as these would reduce" the expense of accounting upon our roads, by greatly lessening the force required, while increased efficiency would be secured in every branch of the service. Systematic education of our railway account- ants will improve the class and character of the men employed ; the incompetent will give place to the skillful^ and we may ultimately expect to attract to the performance of the duties of the office a class of men of high aspirations and lofty intelligence, who carefully avoid professions where the appliances are rude and indefinite, or where success, when achieved, is unacknowl- edged. The duties that devolve upon the department of accounts in connection with our railway ser- vice is, in the highest sense, important and honorable. The faithful collection and disburse- ment of the fabulous sums of money that pass through the coffers of our railway companies invite men of the highest ability, most resolute purpose, and incorruptible honesty ; and when the vital importance of the subject is once clearly comprehended and the foundation of accounting is made to rest upon some well-defined and sub- stantial basis of intelligence, we may hope to see men of that character identify themselves per- manently with the department. No man not schooled in all the ramifications 152 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. of a railway can comprehend the importance to every company that it should possess a rigid system of accounting, with clearly-defined and well-established rules and regulations. The en- forcement of its system should be under the direction and control of an officer familiar with all the technicalities and subterfuges of railway accounts, possessing well-defined power, with the fixed responsibility and duty of looking after the receipts and disbursements. It may be said, in reply, that the systems gen- erally in force, although perhaps cumbersome and unskillfully regulated, nevertheless serve the purpose of making the results apparent. This is, no doubt, true in many cases, but the colossal losses and petty acts of infidelity that blot the books of many railway companies are a sufficient answer to this oft-repeated and mischiev- ous assertion. The large sums that some of our railway companies lose annually from misap- propriation of their funds by petty local agents are to be charged to the defective system of accounts they countenance ; to the intermed- dling of high officers in matters that should be left to be arbitrarily disposed of by the really responsible officer ; to the division of responsibility amongst several departments in- stead of fixing it definitely upon one ; to an in- disposition to adopt certain rules to be rigidly and universally applied where irregularities oc- RAILWAY REVENUE. 153 cur in the manipulation of the company's funds, and finally to an indisposition to enforce salutary rules when they are finally adopted, except in extreme cases. CHAPTER XVI. Unavoidable Antagonism between the Man- ager and the Accounting Officer ; the Former Positive, the Latter Negative ; Necessity of Sustaining the Latter in the Just Prerogatives of his Office, ; the Former able to Sustain Himself. Except when the working organization of a railway is based upon purely scientific princi- ples, the Manager and the Accounting Officer are antagonistic. Their characteristics are wholly dissimilar, and their duties the very opposite of each other. One is positive, the other negative ; one is aggressive, the other passive ; while the Manager is energetically en- gaged in the performance of acts that leave an impress, that constitute railway history, in fact, and affect the material prosperity of the com- pany in many ways, the Accountant, personally unconcerned as to the result, records with pains- taking care all the acts and idiosyncracies of his more powerful neighbor for the information of the direction. That these officers should be independent of RAILWAY REVENUE. 155 each other seems perfectly apparent to us ; nevertheless we must not forget the relative strength and influence naturally possessed by each. The Manager is all-powerful ; he is sought after and caressed everywhere. In reference to the other, let us imagine an obscure and despised scribe, with hesitating and defer- ential air, sitting down in the presence of the commander-in-chief of an army, with his brilliant staff gathered about him, calmly and dispassion- ately to write the history of a battle or a cam- paign, while yet the smoke of the conflict hung above the field. The position of the average railway Accounting Officer is that of the miser- able scribe. Wedded to an humble and obscure occupation, generally under-paid,"patronized by men of consequence, dazzled with the glare and splendor of the immense power that is apparent round about him, he munches his official crust with unaffected contentment, happy if he receive occasional recognition, and while he distrusts the future, yet is he grateful from day to day that he is permitted a little longer official life. While no particular officer can, with justice, be said to serve more zealously than his fellow, yet each officer, in the particular field he occu- pies, may be presumed to be more familiar with the requirements of the service, and as a matter of pride, more unswervingly interested in see- ing them carried out, than a brother officer 156 RAILWAY REVENUE. whose, attention and ambition are occupied with Other matters. To the Accounting Officer it is of vital consequence that the receipts of the company should reach the treasury even to the utmost farthing. His personal self-respect and recognition as an efficient officer are interested ; a worthless balance standing against an agent is a slur and a reproach to him. If he is a worthy officer, he is necessarily conservative in his ac- tion and impulses ; he desires to see the receipts of the company expeditiously collected and re- mitted, and when he discovers a man obstruct- ing it, he wants that man removed without reference to his sponsors, or to any skill, real or fictitious, which he may be reputed to possess in some other branch of the service. The Manager, on the contrary, is absorbed in his efforts to secure a good and cheap track, adequate equipment of a creditable character, the rapid and easy movement of trains, in the retention of agents capable of controlling men, or adepts in disposing of freight, or skillful in the handling of cars, or trustworthy in the ma- nipulation of trains. The responsible and ardu- ous nature of the duties he performs through his subordinates in the physical, conduct of the business of the road renders him impatient of any attempt to change or disturb the machinery with which he conducts the affairs of the com- pany, and upon the efficacy of which depends RAIL WA Y HE VENUE. 157 his standing with the public at large. Being a man of action, he is comparatively indifferent to all the mere details of the business. Whether his agents know anything about accounts or not is a minor consideration. He, of course, esteems certain general principles to be important in connection with the collecting and remitting of the company's funds ; but the literal and exact fulfillment of definite rules, a disregard of which would involve dismissal without reference to his, the Manager's, feelings or wishes in the premises, is another matter entirely, and one that his habits of life, his convenience, comfort, and the natural antagonism of his character all protest against. Like other men similarly situated the Mana- ger, as a rule, protests against the introduction or the enforcement of any rule that may, at any moment, propel him. forward without any refer- ence whatever to his wishes in the premises, and the bare contemplation of such an element in his official life disturbs and alarms him. The enforcement of a rule so purely imper- sonal as that we have mentioned would, without a doubt, at times temporarily disturb the mech- anism of the line and for a moment destroy an integral though not essential part of the or- ganization so laboriously erected. It would also. temporarily increase the Manager's burdens by necessitating the installation of new men 158 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. and the rearrangement of old men, for the reason that every new force injected into the life of a road has to be scrutinized until its utility and its general fitness are accurately ascertained. This labor involves much dis- comfort to the Manager, and accounts,, with- out doubt, for his great reluctance, frequently, to dismiss men unreliable as fiduciary agents but especially important to him in the evolutions of the^ physical life that occupies so much of his time and thoughts. However, if the managers of our railway com- panies expect the simple duty of collecting and disbursing the receipts of the road, i. e., the mere handling of the money, to be performed credi- tably, they must designate some particular of- ficial and make him responsible. This official should be clothed with power requisite to make his position respected by .subordinates every-: where. All of our roads possess such officers, in name, but as a rule they are practically the creatures of some local magnate in this, that, by his right to interfere he destroys their useful- ness and engenders in them a feeling of personal irresponsibility, arising from the belief upon their part that neither effective duty nor com- mon fidelity can, in the nature of things, be maintained so long as the power of making their orders respected is denied them. In the opera- tions of a company no officer should, alone, be RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 1§9 able to stand as a shield between the Accounting Officer and an unfaithful agent ; and if upon any road the Manager exercises such a discretion, it is because he has usurped a power that does not rightfully belong to him, and that cannot with safety be intrusted to any one man. And it is no exaggeration to say that a man governed by so many contending considerations as a rail- way Manager, although an able, courageous and upright officer, is not equal to the exercise of so delicate and responsible a duty. Its abuse will follow as a matter of course, and instead of in- frequent and isolated instances of unfaithfulness, the whole working force engaged in the collec- tion of the receipts will be permeated with a feeling of irresponsibility. This feeling will find utterance in expressions and acts of contemptu- ous indifference to the wishes of the Accounting Officer and the officials subordinate to him ; in inattention to any rigid plan of collecting the revenue ; in a disregard of the rules governing remittances; in a retention of the company's funds, and in acts of infidelity disgraceful in the extreme, the panorama of lawlessness finding a temporary conclusion from time to time in the offering up of some subordinate and com para-, tively inoffensive official as a vicarious sacrifice. BOOK II. OHAPTEE I. The Extent and Object of Railway Accounts. The most economical system of accounts that can possibly be devised is the best, provided it enforces proper responsibility and secures just and prompt returns for moneys collected or dis- bursed. The problem that appeals to- every railway officer in any manner responsible for the ac- counts is, how to reduce the details to the mini- mum consistent with efficiency; and increase the skill of the laborer to the maximum. Certain simple and fundamental accounts are required from agents and others, from which to compile the receipts and disbursements of the road at the general accounting offices of the company. A nice discrimination is required to be exer- cised, as already intimated, between those checks 162 RAILWAY REVENUE. or safeguards that are at once simple and effica- cious and plainly necessary, and those that re- quire elaborate and expensive machinery, or are, in the end, dependent for their efficiency upon the honesty of the very officials it is desired to check. In illustration of this idea, the elaborate ma- chinery in use for the purpose of ascertaining if the tickets returned by a conductor harmo- nize with the tickets sold for such conductor's train has cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars for blanks, books, and men to manipulate them, and is in the end comparatively valueless as a check, for the reason that it is in the main based on the assumption that certain officials over whom the supervision is sought to be ex- tended will do certain things or refrain from do- ing certain things. It does not require a multitude of useless blanks, books and reports, with the horde of at- tendant clerks, to detect the presence of un- faithful practices. The clue is obtainable in other and simpler ways, and once found, the delicate and subtle machinery employed by men skilled in such matters affords a sure, swift and economical means of shattering any league between em- ployes formed for objectionable purposes. A well selected and carefully drilled force, un- derstanding thoroughly the arts and appliances RAILWAY REVENUE. 163 of railway accounts, can, without serious diffi- culty, unravel the mysteries of the most care- fully formed combination. It is not desired to criticise herein any established plan or system of accounts or any railway company, or any particular officer or agent, or any particular class of officers or agents : " He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone." The only object I have is to point out defects that are well understood among railway men, with a view of correcting them, if possible. The reference above to the particular method of checking tickets is cited merely as a " fright- ful example " — the dead fruit that sometimes fol- lows too attenuated thought, too much elabora- tion of accounts, on roads otherwise managed with great wisdom and economy. However, it is not often that we can be ac- cused of too much elaboration. " Whatever is, is right," may be said to be the governing rule in reference to accounts on the great bulk of our roads. Yarious causes conspire to produce such a conclusion. Sometimes it arises from the fact that the Accounting Officer is not select- ed with the care that he should be. Docility in an officer is sometimes more desir- able than efficiency. When such is the case it is of course expected that the incumbent will be lacking in energy and administrative ability. For obvious reasons such men will always be m uch sought after for positions of trust, 164 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. It may be accepted as true, generally, that any organization or system, involving compli- cated affairs and large amounts of money, that presupposes the fidelity of officials and agents, under all circumstances, or that does not make the concurrence of at least two independent and co-ordinate officers necessary to the con- summation of any important trust, is incomplete and untrustworthy, and peculation, with its thousand collateral abuses, constantly menaces the affairs of an organization so unfortunately conducted. Accounts intended to record the affairs of business conducted upon an extended scale and to provide an adequate check must, if effective, be organized and conducted generally, upon the theory that every man ma)' become unfaithful to his trust. A comprehensive system of this character steadies and encourages the well dis- posed and prevents the Weak from succumbing to temptation. Under these circumstances, no trustworthy and honorable man will object to any necessary or proper cheek, but will, on the contrary, cheerfully invite such (Surveillance as may be needed to compel a faithful discharge of duty from all. To make the check adequate, however, with large corporations, involves in its broadest sense what the ignorant, the shallow and the vicious term, in common, " red tape." RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 165 . Every officer, or person representing an officer, should not only serve his company personally in good faith, but should at all times labor sturdily and zealously to prevent the introduction of any questionable customs or precedents, sought to be be introduced through ignorance or design, that may be distorted or made use of by design- ing men, to the detriment of the company he represents. So far as the rude framework of railway ac- counts is concerned, no one can, of course, claim to have originated it. It has existed, practi- cally, since the first road was opened. It is in reference to the manner of execution, and in the niceties of detail, that this book is intended to treat ; and in this connection the writer de- sires to ackowledge the valuable aid and infor- mation afforded by those immediately connected with him, for which it is impossible to give more explicit credit. In reference to the blank forms embraced in the Appendix, many of them originated with the -writer ; where and when or by whom the others were first introduced is unknown to him ; none ' of the blanks possesses any special merit further than that they are simple and inexpensive. It is believed that the plan of accounting sketched herein is as simple and free from un- 166 RAILWAY REVENUE. necessary elaboration as an effective system Can possibly be made ; whether it is the best plan that can be devised, it is not necessary here to discuss ; whatever the system may be, as already explained, it does not affect materially either the subjects discussed herein or the manner of treat- ing them. With a few technical exceptions, the rules governing one system of accounts are applicable to all, the general principles remain- ing the same and _the inherent weaknesses of each, as a system, not being noticeably different. The system provided for herein contemplates the auditing of all the accounts of the company monthly. Upon many roads the revenue ac- counts are examined and audited four times each month. Now, unless the 1 auditing of the revenue or agents' accounts weekly is essential to the protection of the company's ■ interests, then clearly the plan of monthly adjustments must be preferable. While the cost of auditing the accounts weekly is not perhaps four times as great as the cost of performing the work monthly, nevertheless, the difference is very great. The cost of blanks, books and stationery consumed in the conduct qf the business of a railway is a very important item in the operating expenses. The expense can be greatly lessened by eliminating all unimportant blanks and books, and by simplifying and con- RAILWAY REVEKUE. 167 solidating those that remain. The expenses for blanks, books and stationery can further be greatly decreased by putting off the date of making returns as long as it is possible to do so consistently with a careful supervision over the financial affairs of the company and the exact standing and condition of each of its agents. It is also manifest in the . operations of a railway that the greater the number of re- ports required, the greater the clerical force that must be employed on the line and at the headquarters of the company. As the disburse- ments for labor of this character contribute nothing to the betterment of the property of the company or the increase of its earnings, it fol- lows that the expense for clerk hire should be cut down to the lowest possible figure con- sistent with the discharge of business and the protection of the company's interests. The plan of adjusting the accounts monthly has never failed to give satisfaction where it has had an intelligent trial. If the success of a system demonstrates its value, then the system as shadowed forth herein may be said to answer, substantially, that test. Many of the rules and regulations here laid down have long been in practical operation, having been introduced by the writer, from time to time, as actual experience seemed to demon- strate their necessity ; and during the last ten 168 FAIL WA Y HE VENUE. years he has, with their aid, been able to collect many millions of dollars through the hands of a large number of constantly changing agents- without the loss of a single dollar. In the accomplishment of this- result, much has been due to the efficiency and skill of his subordinates in executing his orders, and to as- sociate officers in heartily seconding his efforts. Tn the preparation of the instructions to traveling auditors contained herein, the writer fell naturally enough into the habit of addressing them directly, as if he and they were acting, to- gether in their official capacity. He has else- where written as if referring to some particular company. This plan has the merit of directness and simplicity, perhaps, but possesses other de- fects for which he craves indulgence. In the instructions to traveling auditors, the vicious element in railway life assumes, at times, a prominence that is not pleasant and that is apt to mislead those who are not personally iamiliar with the high and responsible character of rail- way agents. The bad element in railway life comprises but an infinitesimal fragment of the great whole ; but to guard against the depreda- tions of the few, the many are unavoidably sub- jected to what would otherwise be harsh and unjust rules and regulations. It may be said generally, and with truth, that our railway officials and agents and operatives RAILWAY REVENUE. 169 are as trustworthy a body of men as can be found anywhere. They are, as a class, honest, industrious and faithful men ; men of great dis- cretion and native sagacity, who, in their several ways, watch over the interests of their em- ployers and the safety and convenience of the public with unwearying patience and assiduity.* * In this connection it may be well to remark (lest I be misconstrued), that the references made by me to the delinquencies of railway agents apply only to the local station agents of a company, in the discharge by them of the simple and mechanical duty of accounting for the revenue collected by them. If de- linquencies occur in connection with any other class of officials, of which I have no knowledge, they do not come within the scope of this book. — M. M. K. OHAPTEE II. General Description of the Manner of Collecting the Revenue. The earnings of the railways in the United States, for the Year 1877,* were : From passengers, - $125,205,322 From freight and other sources, - - - 348,312,142 Total, - - - $473,517,464 These figures happily illustrate the magnitude of Railway Revenue, f It is of its collection that we desire practically to treat. But before entering into a technical descrip- tion of the duties attendant-upon such collection it will be well, perhaps, to describe in a few words the general course of business from which earnings accrue. The revenue of a railway may be said to be derived from the following sources ; From Freight traffic. From Passenger traffic. * Poor's Manual for 1878, pp. iii., iv. t The gross earnings of the railways of Great Britain and Ireland, for the same year, were $ 3 14,866,640. — Government Returns, p. xix. RAIL WA V RE VENUE. 171 From Express business. From Mails. From Car Hire* And, finally, from Miscellaneous sources. The business of the freight department is de- cidedly the most complicated, and a proper control over it requires the most minute and constant watchfulness. The supervision must be incessant from the moment the freight passes into the hands of the company up to the time of its delivery at its destination. An analysis of the freight traffic discloses the almost infinite variety of the articles trans- ported. The expenses that attend the transportation of the different classes or grades of freight vary greatly. The transportation of general merchan- dise requires much more delicate and expen- sive appliances than the conduct of business of a coarser grade, such as lumber, coal and similar freights. The transportation of a hat-rack weigh- ing five pounds costs as much as, or more than, a car-load of live-stock, so far as clerical work, blanks, books and accounts are concerned. The minutiae that must be observed in hand- ling merchandise are very great : arriving at the * Upon many Hues this account is included with the Miscellaneous Earnings. It can be entered separately, however, and afterwards merged, by transfer en- try, with the Miscellaneous, when desired. 172 RAIL WA V RE VENUE. warehouse door it is received by a quasi account- ant — the check clerk — and a receipt given. If the freight is in bad order, its condition must be carefully noted. Each class of freight must be weighed and grouped together, and entered upon the blotter or check book. When loaded for shipment, it is methodically checked into the car, and as it goes forward to its destination it must be accompanied by a way-bill or manifest, giving every particular of description, such as, where billed from, where billed to, number of way-bill, date, number of car, an exact description of the articles, the weight of the freight, the local charges or earnings, also the advances, if any, that have been made upon it. An impression or written copy of this way-bill must be kept, and a duplicate of it forwarded to the general office. The bill must be transcribed upon the station books, and at the close of the month the agent is required to report its date, footings and destination separately, grouping it in its proper place with other bills to the same station made during the month. The conductor of the train that takes the freight must also take the way-bill. He should make a record of its salient features, fbr trans- mission to the general office. Upon arrival at its destination the freight is checked from the car, item by item, and any shortages, or evi- dence of its being in bad order, carefully noted RA IL WA Y RE VENUE. 173 upon the bill; upon its delivery the charges are collected and the receipt of the consignee taken. Upon many classes of freight the company is not held responsible for the condition or quan- tity. The agent that receives the freight at its des- tination must make the same records and re- ports that are required from the forwarding agent as already described. In place of return- ing a duplicate of the way-bill, he returns the original bill with his reports at the close of the month. The earnings from freight should be entered up on the books in the month in which it is billed, without reference to the date of its ar- rival at destination, or the time of the collection of the charges. The quantity ^of freight forwarded is some- times not known until after its^ arrival at desti- nation. This is frequently the case with grain in bulk, ore, coal, and similar heavy freights. In such cases, if the quantity is not ascertained on or before some particular day early in the succeeding month — say the 5 th — then such freights should be carried forward into the re- turns for the succeeding month. The expense of conducting the passenger busi- ness is not nearly so great as that of the freight, 174 RAILWAY REVENUE,. so far as clerical labor and accounts are con- cerned, and the work at stations is much sim- pler. When a ticket is called for, it is taken from the case and stamped, and upon the pay- ment of the proper amount it is delivered to the passenger. The tickets provided for sale to the different points are printed and arranged in nu- merical order. The difference between the com- mencing number (of which a record is kept) and the closing number is, of course, the number sold. Multiplying the number sold by the rate gives the amount received for tickets sold to the point printed on the ticket ; these amounts drawn off upon the books, and then upon the blank reports, afford a complete resume- of the business of the station. Only a small variety ol tickets is usually found upon sale at the average ticket office. They may be said to consist ot first-class tickets and half-fare tickets. At the more important stations it is customary to pro- vide tickets to the' principal points upon other lines ; these are called coupon tickets, a coupon being attached for each line over which the pas- senger travels. At the central offices of the com- pany, all the different classes of tickets required for an extended business are usually for sale. The extent and variety of these tickets we have only hinted at elsewhere herein, in our descrip- tion of the General Ticket Agent. To describe these tickets in detail and the special records RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 175 that must be kept of them, and the reports that are required for those that are sold, would re- quire more space than we can give the subject here. The amount of passenger receipts collected by agents and conductors should be credited to Passenger Earnings in the month in which the said fares are collected. Foreign coupon tickets (tickets sold by other companies) should be credited to earnings in the month in which such tickets are collected. For this purpose an account may be opened, say, with " Foreign Coupon Ticket Col- lections;" this account should be charged with the tickets collected, in the month in which they are collected ; upon the receipt of the report of the company selling the tickets, such company should be charged and " Foreign Coupon Ticket Collections" should be credited. In the first edition of this book we thought we had discovered, in the appliances of an officer of many years' practical experience in the pas- senger department,* a simple and economical remedy for the difficulties that have so long per- plexed railway officials in connection with the collection and return of passenger fares ; but the remedy, upon practical application, proved to be fallacious. The device, therefore, that will ensure to a railway company a full and correct return of all passengers carried, without the aid * Mr. Thrall. 176 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. of enclosed depots and ticket gates and attend- ant collectors, has yet to be discovered. The safeguards that are esteemed necessary in connection with the cash collections for fares upon our trains have long occupied the earnest attention of railway officials, more especially, perhaps, those immediately connected with the passenger department. Many suggestions have been made and many ingenious forms of tickets designed ; all sorts of devices have been introduced, but they each and all seemed to involve machinery of a char- acter so elaborate or so expensive as to preclude their general acceptance or introduction, and not likely to be systematically and effectively carried out in the event they were introduced. Assistant conductors or collectors have been employed upon many roads ; the police have been called in ; hosts of men acting as conduc- tors have been discharged, many of them, with- out doubt, unjustly ; yet the evil sought to be overcome remains practically undisturbed. The great desideratum has always been some simple yet efficacious device that would make every passenger who pays his fare to a conduc- tor the unconscious auditor of that conductor's accounts : some system that did not depend for its efficiency upon the willingness or uprightness of the employe ; some device whereby the rail- way company by proper surveillance could HAIL WAY REVENUE. 177 determine beyond question whether the fares collected were duly reported ; some system that only required that the number of fares collected by the conductor should be counted by the observer, the amount collected being unalterably recorded ; a system, in fact, that did not depend upon the oath or the peculiar appliances of the detective. The difficulty of enforcing an adequate check upon the passenger traffic is very happily set forth by Mr. Jervis in his valuable work, from which I have already had occasion to quote. He says :* "There has not been found any means of check- ing him (the conductor) for the collection he makes in the coaches, except so far as it has and may be done by espionage. In consequence of this difficulty, most railway companies offer in- ducements to passengers to procure tickets at the offices by allowing a discount of 5 to 10 cents on a ticket. This induces a largely in- creased purchase of the ticket agents ; but there is a considerable amount still collected in the coaches by the conductor, which is consequent- ly dependent on the integrity of his return. I know of no means to wholly remove the diffi- culty arising from this want of a check on the conductors. On English railways most of the stations are inclosed, and the passengers on * Pages 210-218. 178 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. leaving and usually on entering the station must in the former case give up, and in the latter show, their tickets ; but there is nothing to pre- vent the ticket collector from taking the fare, and if the passenger has no ticket, the integrity of the collector must be relied on to account for the money. In large towns a different course is pursued : about one mile from the station a ticket collector gets on the train and collects the tickets, the train being delayed time enough for this purpose. Here the collector occasionally finds a passenger without a ticket, and I have seen a collector in such a case collect the fare for the distance given by the passenger without remark, and have concluded it not to be a rare occurrence. Of course the return of such a collector can have no more check than that of a conductor. The English are very watchful ol the entry of passengers into the coaches, but in the large towns I have seen no great difficulty in a passenger getting into the coach of a making-up train, the passage from the ticket office to the coach shed being open and often without a doorkeeper, affording no impediment to his entering the coach, and if asked when in the coach if he had a ticket, was seldom required to show it, the man engaged in seating the pas- sengers usually being content with the word of the passenger. I have known instances in which passengers had no tickets, but paid fare RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 179 to the collector at the large town stations. Though the English system does not appear to be complete, I think a much greater proportion of fare is paid at the offices than on our rail- ways. If the English system required, in the case of a passenger not having a ticket, that he should go to the ticket office and obtain one be- fore he could pass the gate either out or in, and not allow either gate-keeper or collector to take fare in any case, it would seem to render the check complete. This would require the .same practice at the terminal and other large stations as at the smaller ones. I have supposed the practice of sending a collector before enter- ing the large towns was introduced to avoid delay to the passengers, who take carriages in the station yard, and so long as it prevails, the system of checks must be imperfept. If the English system was carried out as above sug- gested, it would not allow a fare paid, except to a ticket agent, and the collector would be mere- ly a collector of tickets. Some effort has been made in this country to pass the entering pas- sengers through a gate or door, and there re- quiring them to show their tickets before they pass into the station, and I have often gone on a train directly from such a station, and seen the conductor quite busy in receiving fare from those who had no tickets. The fact is, it often happens that a crowd is collected around the 180 RAILWAY REVENUE. doorkeeper, and passengers have some delay in finding their tickets, and with sundry items of hand baggage, and sometimes (often) infants, and children but little more advanced, causes delay and impatience, offering inducements and opportunity for others to crowd the passage, and more or less pass without showing and without even having tickets to show. I see no effective mode of forming a check on the pas- senger receipts, without complete inclosures, so arranged that no person can go into the car- shed or yard of the station ground without passing a door or gate arranged with one or more openings, and a tender at each, so that no greater number need pass any tender than he could examine and see that they had tickets ; for most stations one passage would be suffi- cient, and the arrangement would require to be extended to all stations where passengers were received. There would still be one source of evasion, namely, a passenger may procure a ticket for the next station, and continue on to a more distant station. The conductor would, of course, detect him ; but how is the fare to be collected beyond the station ticketed ? If the conductor collect, as is the present custom, then the check on his fare is lost. To carry out the system, the passenger should be treated as one that refused to pay his fare, when he extended his passage beyond the station ticketed, RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 181 and be put off the train, unless he could satisfactorily explain to the conductor the fact of not possessing a ticket and would agree to procure a ticket at the next station. But who is to control the conductor in such a case, if he choose, to take the fare, and allow the pas- senger to proceed on the train? As the con- ductor is the only man of authority on the train, from the beginning to the end of his route, no direct check can be had on his proceedings with a passenger on the way, although there would be an indirect check in the fact becoming gene- rally known that the conductor was not in any case allowed to receive fare. The fact of receiv- ing it would thus be likely to attract the notice of passengers, and hazard a report that would bring the conductor to an account. This might not, in all cases, be a protection, but it would be a salutary 'check. If, upon any plan, the exit gate "be used, as in England, to insure the full collection of fare, the tender should not be al- lowed to take fare from any delinquent passen- ger: his business should be confined to the col-, lection of checks on tickets, and, if that is wanting, the passenger should be required to procure it at the ticket office. The exit gate is objectionable at large stations, and hence the English railways only, adopt it. at the secondary stations, and depend on a collector at the large stations, as before explained ; and on the collec- 182 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. tor there is no check, any more than on a con- ductor. It must be conceded that the crowd and hurry that occur at important stations, in making up trains, and more especially at the breaking up of the train at terminal stations, in- volve a difficulty in any system that can be relied on as a perfect check. The entrance gate is the most easily guarded, and if this part were well arranged, there would be but a small expos- ure to loss. It involves the necessity of receiv- ing the baggage at or near the ticket office, in order to save the passengers from delay and confusion, in attending to both ticket and bag- gage checks. It is often the practice to allow friends to pass the gate with passengers, with a view to see them seated in the coaches ; this is obviousry an error, and should not be allowed, on account of its liability to abuse. With proper arrangements of inclosure and gates, Very nearly all the fare will be collected at the ticket offices; and if the conductor and all collectors of tickets were prohibited, in all cases, from taking fare, making it the duty of the former to require any delinquent passenger to go to the office of the next station and procure his ticket, or, failing to-satisfy him that he had a fair excuse for his delinquency, to put him off the train, as is now done if payment is refused, would leave but a small deficiency in checking the passenger receipts. No system can be safe from collusion ; RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 183 but this is a far more difficult practice under a plan like" this proposed, and, with proper care in the selection of agents, no great or material delinquency will be likely to occur. In all busi- ness involving trusts, the importance of a system of complete checks on reports and accounts is very obvious; to both parties it is beneficial, securing to the principal full accounts of his dues, and to the honest agent the means of show- ing the fidelity of his proceedings. By the ex- isting practice, the faithful conductor has no power to prove his fidelity, nor the railway managers any exact means to prove the truth of any suspicions they may entertain, except by espionage, which is not desirable if it can be avoided — a state of things often very embarrass- ing to both parties ; and action, when* taken, is usually based on conjecture, and in many cases no certainty can be arrived at. The reports of conductors may appear fair, but as there can be no proper check to verify their accuracy, they afford no conclusive evidence in the case either way, arid the unfaithfulness that may be supposed to exist, generally rests in suspicion, arising from general indications, as habits of dissipation and expenditure, or the reputation of acquiring property faster than is compatible with the sal- ary received ; and these facts may or may not be known, according to the prudence of the agents in keeping them out of the sight of those 184 RAILWAY REVENUE. who are interested to know them. It must be the desire of all honest conductors that their business should be placed on a system of the most perfect checks ; and the railway company, in order to protect themselves against such as may be unfaithful, and be able to know those that are trusty, should adopt the most efficient system ■ practicable, for securing the fidelity of their passenger as well as their freight receipts. There is, no doubt, a difficulty in attaining this end, and it will involve considerable, though not serious, expense to prepare the stations properly, so as to meet the requirements of any efficient system. With faithful men for conductors, no great evil will arise from a partial collection in the coaches ; but, as before observed, it is a dif- ficult, if not an impracticable, thing to. discrim- inate between those that are and those that are not faithful ; and therefore the temptation, as much as possible, should be removed." No perceptible advance has been made in the eighteen years that have elapsed since the fore- going was written. An adequate system of ticket gates and collectors is still impracticable, and promises to remain so, except upon our more prosperous lines, for many years to come. In- deed, if the English companies with their great wealth and the dense population through which their lines run cannot provide adequate facilities for the control of their passenger traffic, then RAIL WA Y RE VENUE., 185 there seems little likelihood that our compara- tively poor companies with their attenuated lines and thinly settled districts will soon attain them. The express business upon our roads is now quite generally conducted by a company organ- ized for that particular purpose. Very frequently the agent of the railway com- pany acts in a similar capacity for the express company ; but the business of the latter and the responsibility attendant upon it are entirely sep- arated from that of the former. The express company requires reports from its agents of the business of the different stations. The amount which the express company pays to the railway company for the use of its offices and cars, the transporation of its messengers and other valuable considerations, is usually based on the extent of the business done, and the amount should be charged to the express com- pany monthly and credited to earnings, without reference to the time of payment. It is not usual for the -railway company to require detailed reports from the express com- pany's agents, for the purpose of arriving at the rental it should pay. This expense is obviated by requiring weekly statements from the express company. For the purpose of proving the trust- 186 MAILWAY REVENUE. worthiness and accuracy of these returns, the railway company should at all times have the privilege of examining the books and accounts of the express company. It should also have the right to require sworn statements of the business done by the express company.* It will be seen from the foregoing that the collection of the revenue derived from the ex- press business is comparatively simple. The collection of the earnings for the trans- portation of the mails is equally simple. The amount to be paid by the Government being 'fixed, settlements are made quarterly. The amount due from the Government should, how- ever, be charged up in equal amounts monthly and credited to Mail earnings. The railwjj^ company, as a rule, is required to collect the balances due from such postmasters along its line as the Post-Office Department sees fit to designate ; having made these collections the particulars are reported to the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office Department. After verifying the correctness of the report, the Auditor for the Post-Office Department deducts * The revenue from express matter and from extra baggage and from freights carried by passenger trains, etc., etc., is so considerable and is surrounded by so manj* circumstances not known in connection with the receipts from other sources that it has been treated ot separately by the writer hereof in a book designated " Baggage Car Traffic," RAILWAY REVENUE. 187 the amount the railway company has collected as described above, from the total amount due to it for carrying the mails. The balance is paid by draft on the Treasury of the Govern- ments Car-Hire Earnings represent the amount due a company by other companies for the use of cars; the amount is credited to earnings and charged to the companies using the cars upon re- ceipt of their reports, reports being rendered monthly. The amount due other companies for the use of their cars should be charged to Oper- ating Expenses,* and credited to the companies interested in the month in which the cars are used ; the amount due from other companies for cars used by them should be credited to earnings, as already stated, in the month in which the reports of the service are received ; this should not be later than the month succeed- ing the one in which the service was performed. The Miscellaneous Earnings consist princi- pally of rents, dockage, storage, demurrage, switching charges, charges for extra baggage,* * This is not the practice with many companies; it being the practice, gene- rally, to bulk the receipts and payments on account of car-hire, and if the re- mainder exhibits a credit balance it is included with the earnings; if a, debit, it is embraced with the operating expenses. 188 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. and receipts from similar petty and irregular sources. As indicated by the list of items, the miscel- laneous earnings are collected partly through the hands of the agents of the company and partly from the office of the Treasurer. As a rule, miscellaneous earnings are credited in the month in which they are collected. Collections for dockage, storage, switching, etc, are credited to earnings in the month in which they are reported by the agents. Rents received are credited in the month in which the bills are entered upon the general books. These rules, however, are of no particular consequence, and can be changed as desired. As soon as the ticket, freight and other ac- counts have been examined and corrected by the different sub-departments having charge of such accounts, the results must be formally cer- tified to the Accounting Officer, to be by him credited to earnings. An account should be kept by the Accounting Officer with each agent, conductor and railway company. * As the earnings from Extra Baggage are treated by many companies as a part of the passenger traffic, it would be well, perhaps, to open a special account on the books with Extra Baggage Earnings. RAILWAY REVENUE. 189 Balance sheets are transmitted to the Account- ing Officer by agents at the close of each month. These balance sheets are compared with the returns received from the different sub-depart- ments, as specified above, and, if necessary, altered to conform to such returns, notification of any alterations being sent to the. agents. All the cash collected by agents and others on account of earnings is kept together and daily remitted in bulk as directed by the Treasurer. The exact amount of the different classes of earnings is determined by the Accounting Officer from the returns received from the different sub- departments, and not from the remittances of agents. There is, therefore, no necessity for attempting to make separate remittances of the cash collected from the different sources, and no other statement in regard to it is required than the assurance that it comprises the total collec- tions. From the foregoing general explanation, it will be seen that the earnings from the transportation of express and mail matter are paid directly into the Treasury, and the process of collection is consequently simple and direct. The technical instructions contained in this book, therefore, treat almost exclusively of the collection of and accounting for the earnings of the company from freight, passenger and miscellaneous sources. 190 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. Under the system contemplated herein, the books are closed and the accounts balanced monthly as already explained. The freight accounts are examined and aud- ited by an accountant called the Auditor of Freight Accounts. All freight reports or re- turns are made to him. The passenger or ticket accounts are exam- ined and audited in the general ticket depart- ment by the Ticket Accountant. The tickets, when collected by conductors, are, however, transmitted to an agent of the Accounting Officer, called the Auditor of Ticket Accounts. This agent exercises a discretionary supervision over the ticket accounts, examining into and verifying the correctness of all returns made to the Accounting Officer from the gen- eral ticket office.* As already explained, the officer to whom cer- tain returns are made and by whom accounts are audited is frequently different upon different roads ; this fact being understood, the clue to the instructions contained herein will be easily found upon roads where the accounts are ar- ranged differently. * The relation that the General Ticket Agent and the Ticket Auditor sustain to the ticket accounts is elaborated at considerable length in the chapter devoted to a description of the duties of the Ticket Auditor. OHAPTEE III. Cash Collections— Remittances of Agents. The faithful transmission into the Treasury of all moneys belonging to a company in the hands of its agents is of paramount importance to it. This fidelity will be best secured by requiring promptness and thoroughness in all matters affecting the cash receipts in the hands of such agents. Carelessness, even neglect, may without great danger be overlooked in many other depart- ments of the service ; but tolerance of such 'practices in connection with a company's rev- enue cannot result otherwise than disastrously. The remittances of agents and, conductors should, in fact, coincide exactly with their re- ceipts from day to day. When this is the case, there is less incentive for withholding collec- tions, and they are thus the more readily schooled in the habit (for the honest discharge , of a trust is very much a matter of habit) of making prompt and full returns of all moneys coming into their hands. 192 RAIL WA Y HE VENUE. An effective system for the government of agents, so far as relates to a company's revenue, has been found, so far as the writer's experience is concerned, in the enforcement of the accom- panying rules and regulations : In the first place, agents and conductors should be required to remit daily the gross amount collected by them. Under no circumstance should an agent- be permitted to withhold from his daily remittance any part of his cash collections, no matter how small the sum may be. If the remitting of the exact sum collected by him would exhaust the small change on hand necessary to do the business of the station, his remittance may be for even dollars, but never in any case to fall short of the total amount col- lected, for instance : If the daily collection or cash balance amounts to, say $16.43, he may remit $17.00, carrying the over-remittance forward oh his cash book, and repaying himself for such over-remittance out of the collections for the succeeding day. But under all ordinary circumstances, and especially on the last day of the month, it is expected and required that agents will remit, each day, the exact amount collected ; the working fund with which they are provided being sufficient to keep them in small change and enable them to remit the specific sum collected. RAIL WA V RE VENUE. 193 The last remittance of the month's' business must be made on the evening of the last day of the month, if there is a train by which such re- mittance can be made. When a remittance cannot be made on -the evening of the last day of the month, the agent will make up his cash at the close of the day's business, and remit by the first train on the fol- lowing morning. When a remittance, or any portion of one, is reported short, agents will not make a special re- mittance to cover such shortage, but will add to their next regular remittance enough to make good the deficiency. They will in all cases take credit in their ac- counts for the actual amount of each remittance, as reported received by the Treasurer. They will be particular to see that they get from the Treasurer an ackowledgment for every remittance made by them. When not promptly received they should write for it. They will take credit on their balance sheets for each remittance on the date that it is reported as credited by the Treasurer. Remittances made during the last days of each month that are not credited by the Treasurer until the fore part of the succeeding month they will enter on their balance sheets (giving date when sent and amount of each) under the head 194 RAIL WA V SE VENUE. of " Balance to my debit carried to next month's balance sheet," omitting them in the list of remit- tances received by the Treasurer during the month. In their balance sheet for the next month they will take up these remittances, and enter them in detail in list of cash remitted during the month, on the days they are reported as received by the Treasurers Remittances are credited to agents on theday they appear as received on the books of the Treasurer ; therefore remittances made in one month and credited in the month succeeding must form an item in the account on the agent's balance sheet referred to above, under the head of " Balance to my debit carried forward to next month." Agents should enclose each remittance in a sealed envelope, properly addressed, and sef»d it forward by express without delay, taking the receipt of the express company's agent in all cases. Agents are required to send a remittance slip* - or statement with each remittance of money. This statement must be signed by the agent per- sonally, and the form used must be the one pro- vided, in which it is explicitly stated that the said amount remitted "is the total net cash re- ceipts of the station, not previously remitted * Form i. Appendix. RAILWAY REVENUE. 195 (except the authorized working fund), for and on account of the company." T^ese slips are stamped and returned to the agent on the date the money is credited by the Treasurer. When thus stamped, they serve the agent as a receipt for the money. Agents must see that these slips are carefully preserved and filed away. In making up cash remittances, a memoran- dum of the number of currency bills of each denomination and the amount of coin enclosed in the package must be entered on the back of the remittance slip. For example : 2 — $IO = $20 oo 2— 5 = 10 oo 3— 2= 6 oo 2 — 1 = 2 oo Gold IO 00 Silver 35 Total $48 35 By following this system there will be less liability to make mistakes, and the treasury de- partment will be able to examine remittances more critically in case of differences or the en- closure of counterfeit money. When the remittances are made directly at the treasury and counted in the presence of the de- positor, it will not, of course, be necessary, to classify the money as provided for above. 196 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. Remittances must be counted by the sender at least twice, immediately before they are, en- closed and sealed, and too much care cannot be exercised to prevent the occurrence of mis- takes. For the purpose of saving unnecessary ex- pense for transmission, storage, accounting, etc., and to relieve the treasury as much as possible, agents should use silver as far as they can in making change and in paying bills, discharge cards, vouchers, etc. They should not allow silver to be forced upon them in an illegal manner. They will refuse to accept any coin that is not a legal tender, or that is offered in sums in excess of the legal tender limit, except when such refusal would occasion loss or diversion of business from the company's lines. The enforcement of the foregoing rule will prevent, in a measure, the treasury being bur- dened with silver, and save it from the losses that must ensue whenever it becomes so bur- dened. The silver that agents cannot dispose of they should remit daily, as in other cases. They must not, however, remit paper currency in bags with coin, but must make separate remit- tances for coin (except when special deposit bags with partitions for paper and coin are provided), and .paper, sending a notice slip with each re- mittance. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 197 If, in the discharge of business, agents are compelled to accept other than legal tender money, or fractional silver or minor coins in ex- cess of the legal tender limit, the current rate of discount should be allowed them. And in remitting money received by them at a discount, the amount of the discount must be noted on the remittance slip and deducted from the gross sum stated thereon. Except as specified below, all checks or drafts received by agents must be drawn to the order of the agent of the railway company who re- ceives them, as, say ; " Pay to order of John Doe, Agent Blank Rail- way Company." The checks of the Treasurer, Paymaster, and other financial officers of the company will be accepted by agents in payment of sums due the company ; such checks must, however, in all cases, be legally endorsed by the person or per- sons in whose names they are drawn. All checks or drafts received by agents, in- cluding those issued by the company, as speci- fied in the preceding paragraph, must be en- dorsed by them to the bank to which they remit (when remittances are made directly to a bank), in form, say, as follows : " Pay Blank National Bank or order. " Richard Roe, Agent." 198 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. If remittances are made directly to the Treas- urer, then the endorsement should read payable to him. Unless otherwise ordered, agents should not accept checks or drafts unless made payable at the place where the bank or Treasurer to whom they are sent is located, otherwise the company may be compelled to pay a fee for collecting such checks or drafts. Notes should not be received in payment of balances due the company, except by special advice of the Treasurer.* Unless specifically ordered to the contrary by the Treasurer, all cash collected should be re- mitted to that officer. * And it should be the duty of that officer to prescribe the form of the note to be used, the time it is to run, the date of payment, etc., etc. OHAPTEE IV. The Revenue Blanks of the Company used at Stations and elsewhere on the Road, with a description of each. — freight Blanks. The principal blanks used at stations and upon trains, in connection with the freight business, are as follows : Check Tally Book or Blotter. (Form ii f Appendix.) The particulars of each consignment of freight received for shipment should be entered in this blotter, as the same is received at the warehouse or car door, the shipping ticket being carefully filed away. This book thus forms a rough record of all the traffic forwarded from each station, and is frequently valuable for reference long after the transactions it recites have been forgotten. Freight WaY-Bill — Original. (Form 12. Appendix.) This blank is intended to furnish a full history 200 RAILWAY REVENUE. of each consignment of freight ; it accompanies the traffic it describes to its destination, and in- forms the receiving agent what freight was shipped, its condition, owner and the charges that should be collected. The columns of a way-bill represent the ac- counts peculiar to the freight business, viz. : Date and number of way-bill. ■ Whose car. Number car. Consignor. Consignee. Description of articles. Weight. Rate. Local unpaid (earnings) charges. Prepaid (earnings) charges. Advanced charges. These columns are repeated substantially, in all freight books and accounts. In making a way-bill, the material part of it is copied from the tally book or blotter previ- ously described. All way-bills or manifests are required to be filled up in copying ink exactly as the blank pre- scribes; the several columns should be. footed. Way-bills must be numbered consecutively, commencing with number one, on the first of each month. A separate way-bill roust always be sent with each loaded car.. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 201 In way-billing freight through to points on other lines, the through charges should be en- tered on the way-bill in the column headed " local charges ;" the proportion of such through charges that properly belong to the respective lines over which the freight passes being deter- mined and agreed upon by the auditing officers of the different lines. Agents using unauthorized special rates will be held responsible for any undercharge occa- sioned thereby, and the amount of such under- charge will be charged to them as prepaid freight, provided the error is not discovered in time for collection before the delivery of the freight. With the exception of freight way-billed at unauthorized special rates, the receiving agent is held responsible for the correctness of all way- bills received by him: great care should there- fore be used by him in examining the classifica- tion and rates used, as well as the extensions, that all errors may be corrected before the de- livery of freight. All errors in local freight charges on way-bills, must be corrected by agents and the proper offices notified at once. The quantity and weight of freight, whether for the use of the company or otherwise, must always be specified on the way-bill. The weight and charges columns for grain in 202 RAILWAY REVENUE. bulk should be left blank, to be filled up by the receiving agent, unless the exact weight is known. Agents will be particular to note on the orig- inal way-bills the authority by which any devia- tion is made from the tariff rates. All way-bills received during the month must be folded, with the filing outside. They must be arranged in station and numerical order ; they must be securely enclosed in a strong wrapper, and must be sent to the Freight Auditor on the same train with the monthly freight report and abstracts. Bills received after the report and abstracts have been sent in must be sent forward without delay, with a statement, to the Freight Auditor. Freight must not be received into a train, or transported, unless accompanied by a way-bill. The rates specified in the tariff and in the spe- cial letters of advice issued from time to time must be rigidly adhered to unless otherwise ad- vised by competent authority. In billing, agents must be particular to insert the- initials of the cars. When mistakes occur, a correction sheet must be sent to the other agent interested, and to the Freight Auditor. The articles of freight received must be com- pared with the classification and tariff, and er- rors corrected before delivery of freight. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 203 Where freight possesses any peculiar or dis- tinguishable marks, such marks should be ac- curately described upon the bill as well as upon the receipt given to the shipper. In weighing freight and in entering the same upon the blotter, the articles must be arranged in the order in which they are named on the classification, so far as possible, so that the gen- eral arrangement df the items as entered upon the way-bill will indicate the class and the rate applicable to it.* When billing freight received at junctions from connecting lines, the point of departure should be noted on the bill, a record of the con- necting company's way-bill 'and car being kept for future reference. Great care should be exercised in designating essential particulars, such as quantity or number of articles, route, destination, etc. The amount entered in the advanced charges column must never be changed without advice from the forwarding agent. When an agent at the point of destination of goods receives an order to alter the amount of the advanced charges and is unable to do so, he * The classification (by which merchandise is billed) indicates the class to be charged, as ist. 2d, 3d, 4th, or special : if the article to be forwarded is designa- ted in the classification as 3d class matter, then it should be way-billed at the rate provided for 3d class freight, and so on ; for those kinds of freight that arc usually shipped in car-loads, 'such as live stock, lumber, shingles, lath, coal, ore, grain, flour, etc., etc.it is customary to make a rate per ton, or per thousand, or per car, as the case requires. 201 RAILWAY REVENUE. must in all Gases advise the agent from whom the notice was received. Agents when shipping perishable property should note " perishable freight " on the outside of the way-bill. Charges on perishable property must be pre- paid or guaranteed, and must be so marked on the way-bill. The use of memorandum way-bills is prohibit- ed, under any and all. circumstances, no matter how pressing the circumstances may be. Every way-bill should be a regular way-bill. The terms " owner's risk " and " released " mean substantially the same thing. Agents must not therefore bill freight at owner's risk until they have obtained a written release from consignor. Agents must be- careful to obtain a written release for all shipments which are provided ior on classification at " owner's risk" or "released." Freight Way-Bill — Duplicate. The duplicate way-bill is required to be all that the name signifies,, viz. : an exact copy of the original bill. At stations sufficiently large to warrant the use of a copying press, an impression of all original way-bills is required to be taken in a large tissue copy book. The duplicate is se- RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 205 cured by inserting a loose slip of tissue paper, thus taking two impressions, the loose one be- ing used as a duplicate.* At the small stations a blank is provided, upon which the agent makes a written copy of the original. The duplicate way-bills are required to be sent to the freight auditor by the first passenger train after the originals have been made, except for bulk grain way-bills. Duplicates of bulk grain way-bills are not sent in until the extensions are received from the re- ceiving agent and inserted in the duplicate bill. Duplicates of bulk grain and similar way-bills (i. e., way-bills for which the forwarding agent is unable to insert the correct weight until freight is weighed at the receiving station and reported back to the forwarding agent), when carried forward into the accounts for the suc- ceeding month, must be redated (in pencil) before being sent in. These bills should be dated on the day the extensions are returned by the receiving agent. Agents using copying presses must be par- ticular to see that the duplicate is a good, legible impression. Bills must be copied in numerical order, and the tissue duplicates must be so arranged before being sent forward. * Triplicates are required upon some roads. 206 RAILWAY REVENUE. Tissue duplicates must not be cut or muti- lated : i. e., the tissue sheets must not be cut or torn. Live Stock Way-Bill. (Form 13, Appendix.) This blank is used only in billing to live stock centres. The blank is the same, in all respects, as a regular form of way-bill, Except that there is a stub attached, giving the same information, in the most concise form, that the bill proper does ; this stub is detached at destination and goes with the stock to the yard, and is there used in collecting charges, etc. The object of this particular blank is to avoid the delay, at the final destination, of making the customary expense bill ; the stub takes the place of the latter. Under these circumstances, the forwarding . agent is held strictly>esponsible for any error or omission in billing live stock. Freight Transfer Way-Bill. (Form 20, Appendix.) This blank should be used at the junctions with other roads. It provides for the massing of a multitude of way-bills and cars on one bill, for economy and RAILWAY REVENUE. 207 dispatch in transferring and adjusting accounts between the agents of the respective lines. Train Report of Freight Carried. (Form 57, Appendix.) This report must be made by the conductors of freight trains. It embraces a concise statement of the freight hauled in the train. It gives the date of the way-bill, its number, number of car, point from, point to, and amount of local charges. In the column for remarks the conductor is required to note any peculiar features the freight may possess. The report must be filled up in full, but it need not be footed, It must be sent to the freight auditor im- mediately upon the arrival of conductors at their destination. Every possible precaution must be observed by conductors to prevent the occurrence of er- rors or omissions in this report. When the way-bill is for dead-head freight, note in the local charges column " D. H.," giv- ing in the column headed " Remarks " the name of consignee and quantity of freight. When the way-bill is for company's freight, note in the local charges column " C. F." When the way-bill is for grain in bulk or for 208 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. any other description of freight, the weight and local charges. of which cannot be ascertained until the car has reached its destination, de- scribe in the briefest way possible the kind of freight in car. The initals " B. G." will stand for bulk grain, etc., etc. Conductors are required to keep a supply. of these blanks constantly on hand. The. use of this blank completes the check on the freight traffic reported as forwarded and re- ceived by the various agents. Freight Forwarded Book. (Form 16, Appendix.) This book is intended to embrace a full de- scription of every consignment of freight for- warded from each station. At stations where a copying press is not used agents are required to enter an exact copy of every way-bill made by them in this book. When a tissue copy-book is used at stations for taking an impression of the way-bills made, such tissue copy will take the place of this book. The total footings should be entered in pencil at the bottom of each page of the. book as fast as the page is filled, carrying the amounts forward from page to page, so that the last page will show the aggregate amounts for the month, and they must agree exactly with the abstract book and with the monthly report of freight for- warded. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE, 209 The prepaid and advanced- charges columns should also agree with the corresponding col- umns in the cash book. At the end of the month the book must be ruled, and agents will substitute ink figures for those previously entered in pencil, except in those cases where a tissue copy-book is used. Freight Forwarded Book — Tissue Gopy-Book. As already explained above, this book takes the place of the regular form of freight forwarded book at stations where a copying press is used. Care must be exercised to secure plain, legible copies. Good ink must be used. In making way-bills the ink should never be blotted, but should 'be allowed to dry. When this is done a good impression can always be secured. In copying way-bills no blank spaces should be left in the book ; way-bills for different dates should be copied on the same leaf when there is sufficient room. Freight Received and Receipt Book. {Form 17, Appendix.) This is a companion volume to the freight for- warded book, except that it recites the particulars 210 RAILWAY REVENUE. of freight received from other stations. It also embraces the final receipt of the consignee for the articles delivered. It thus becomes of the greatest consequence that it should be fully and methodically kept, as a failure to record a deliv- er}', with the receipt of the owner, might involve a future claim for the total cost of the property omitted from the records. The particulars of every way-bill received and all notations thereon are required to be carefully and fully copied into this book as soon as the freight has been checked from the car and the way-bill properly examined. It is both a record book of freight received and a receipt for its delivery, and, as such, is, as already intimated, of special importance and value to the company. The headings for the different columns indi- cate exactly how the book should be written up, and it must be kept accordingly, viz. : Date of the receipt of freight. Columns for folios, etc. The columns peculiar to a way-bill. Also columns for : Total of consignment charges, payable at sta- tion. Check with cash book (tally mark). , Local prepaid charges. Total local unpaid charges of way-bill. Total advanced charges of way-bill. Date of delivery of freight. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE, 21 1 Signature of consignee, or party authorized by his order to receive the freight. The printed heading at the top_of the right- hand page, upon which the signature of con- signee is entered, viz. : " We, the undersigned, hereby acknowledge to have received, in good order, the articles described below opposite our names respectively," must not be altered, or erased, or interlined. The book must be ruled and footed exactly as directed for the freight forwarded book, and the total footings must exactly harmonize at the end of the month with the abstract book and rhonth- ly freight report. At the very large way stations the freight receipt book (upon which consignees receipt) must be separated from the freight received book, in which latter the information contained in the way-bill is spread upon the book in bulk, i. e., the whole way-bill is copied upon the freight received book upon its arrival, without reference to the time of delivery. The form of book used at the junctions is es- pecially adapted for use at junctions, having col- umns for " transfer," etc., as described elsewhere herein under the head of " junction accounts." Charges on property should, in all cases, be collected before its delivery, and where a con- signment is delivered in driblets, the whole charges should be collected before making the first delivery. 212 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. - Property must not be delivered until the re- ceipt of the consignee is taken, specifying its condition at the time of the delivery. It is important that the receipt taken for the delivery of property by the company should be as full in its specifications as the receipt given by the company to the consignor at the point where goods were received. A neglect of this rule may, at any moment, occasion severe loss to a company. Receipts for property must, in all cases, be taken in ink. When parties claiming freight are not known, they must be properly identified before delivery of property to them. Property must not be delivered except to the consignee or upon his written order. When an order is received it must be carefully filed away for future reference. Agents should not, under any circumstances, allow the freight receipt book to be inspected by the patrons of the road in order to see what other people receive or pay ; care must be taken to cover the page of the book with a blotter or otherwise, if necessary, when freight is being receipted for, so that the party giving the receipt can only see the details of his own consignment. sail way revenue. 213 Freight Expense Bill — Receipt for Charges Paid by Consignee. (Form 19, Appendix.) This is the receipt of the agent acknowledging the payment of the company's charges at point of destination, including any advances that have been made on the property described. It is a protection to the payor and to the railway com- pany as well. It gives the exact particulars of the consign- ment as shown by the way-bill, omitting any ref- erence to the condition of the freight as over, short, bad order, etc. ; it must otherwise be filled out in full. It must be signed in ink by the agent or his authorized deputy, and afterwards stamped ; it must in all cases be delivered to the consignee upon payment of the charges due the company. The blank should be filled up on the arrival of the freight, after the way-bill has been examined and, if necessary, corrected. The expense bill must never be receipted or stamped until charges are actually paid. All claims against the company for over- charges and loss and damage must be accom- panied by the receipted expense bill. If a duplicate of an expense bill is required, be particular to mark it " duplicate." At the large stations blanks may be es- 214 RAIL WA V RE VENUE. pecially printed for such stations, when economy can best be subserved thereby.* Freight* Abstract Book, Forwarded and Received. (Form 2i f Appendix.) In this book agents are required to open an account with each station to which they for- ward or from which they receive freight, leav- ing space enough for each station to last for one month ; each month's business is thus presented in a compact form, convenient and easy for reference. Under the proper headings the way-bill date, number and column footings must be severally entered as the same are from day to day iound to be correct. At the close of the month the footings must be entered in ink and properly ruled. At very large stations separate books may be kept, one for freight forwarded and one for freight received ; this permits greater celerity in writing up the accounts. At such stations an account should be opened in the book with every other station, leaving sufficient room for each to last while the book is in use. Where separate abstract books are kept the * This rule can very properly be followed in reference to other blanks and books, used at very large stations, when it is desirable. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 215 books themselves may be sent to the Freight Auditor, with his permission, to be examined and checked in lieu of the regular freight ab- stracts, thus obviating much labor in making copies. When this. plan is observed, two books of each kind should be used, the books being written up in alternate months. Freight Forwarded Abstract, Monthly. (Form 22, Appendix.) This form is intended for the use of the Ac- counting Officer, to enable him to sum up the freight traffic of the various stations during the month, or for such period as the return is made. Thus the statement of freight forwarded from A to B should correspond with the returns made by B of traffic received from A . It gives the date, number and total footings of every way-bill forwarded from the station for which it is made. It must be enclosed with the monthly freight report to the Freight Auditor's office, and must be forwarded on the night of the fifth or morn- ing of the sixth day after the close of the month, unless it is necessary to forward it earlier, to in- sure its arrival by the night of the sixth or morn- ing of the seventh. It must contain a correct statement, as per the headings of the several columns, of all the way- 216 RAILWAY RE VENUE. bills for freight forwarded during the month, excepting way-bills for dead-head freight. Way-bills must be entered in numerical order. The name of the station to which freight is forwarded must be entered directly over the amounts, keeping the business of each station separately. The stations must be arranged in the order named on the monthly freight report, and, when- ever necessary, the reverse side of the abstract must be used. The date and number of all bulk grain and similar way-bills, for which no returns have been received, must be entered in their proper places, leaving the weight and charges blank, to be filled in at the Freight Auditor's office. At stations (except the largest) where a copy- ing press is used, an impression should be taken (without blurring) of the abstract when com- pleted ; at stations where this is done the abstract book may be dispensed with. If the sheet is blurred in copying a new one should be made. Upon receipt of this abstract by the Freight Auditor, it should be footed and should then be compared and made to agree with the abstracts from other stations of freight received ; follow- ing this, the totals should be checked with the monthly report ; the items may also be com- pared with the duplicate bills on file. When freight is billed through to points on RAILWAY REVENUE. 217 other lines, a special abstract of such freight should be made promptly on the first of each month by station agents; this abstract should be sent by agents to the Freight Auditor of the connecting road : in this way the freight audi- tors of the respective roads will be able to ex- amine the joint accounts and agree upon the balance early in each month. Freight Received Abstract, Monthly. (Form 23, Appendix.) This abstract is similar in all respects to the form just described, except that it recites the particulars of way-bills received during the pe- riod specified instead of the way-bills forwarded. It is a recapitulation of every way-bill received at the different stations ; it gives the date, num- ber and footings of each column, as shown on each way-bill. It must not, under any circumstances, be re- tained by the agent after the morning of the sixth of the following month, and in all cases it must be sent with the monthly freight report, so as to reach the office of the Freight Auditor not later than the night of the sixth or the morning of the seventh. Should agents for any reason be unable to make returns of the weight, and freight charges for any bills for bulk grain or similar freights forwarded during the previous month, such bills 218 RAIL WA V RE VENUE. should -be carried forward into the next month's business, unless otherwise directed. No way-bills will be carried forward into the succeeding month's account excepting bills for which no returns have been received. Every exertion must be made by both the for- warding and the receiving agents to procure re- turns for bulk grain and other unextended bills in time to include them in the account for the month in which they are dated. All Avay-bills omitted by agents, with the above exception, should be added to their reports by the Freight Auditor and notice thereof sent them. When stations (except the largest) are sup- plied with a copying press, an impression copy ' should be taken of the abstract when completed. Care must be taken not to blur the abstract, otherwise a new one must be made. At stations where an impression is taken of the abstract, the abstract book may be dispensed with. This blank must contain details as per the headings of the several columns of all way-bills received, dated in the month for which it is made, excepting way-bills for freight carried free, which should not be included unless charges have been advanced on same. The names of stations from which way-bills are received must be written directly over the RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 219 amounts, keeping all the way-bills from each station together and in numerical order. The abstract must be made up entirely from the original way-bills, and the totals of each ac- count made to agree with the totals of the ab- stract book. Stations must be arranged in the order in which they appear on the monthly freight report, and, whenever necessary, the reverse side of this form must be used. Way-bills must be taken into account in the month in which they are dated, whether received subsequent to the close of the month or not. Way-bills received after the monthly reports have been forwarded must, immediately after being entered on the station books,, be enclosed, with a letter of advice, to the Freight Auditor's office, to be added to the accounts. In examining the abstract it would be well, perhaps, to compare it with the original way- bills, before' it is footed. It should afterwards be compared and made to agree with the reports of freight forwarded from other stations ; the footings should then be compared with the monthly freight report, and the latter altered to correspond when any differ- ences exist. A comparison of the items making up the ab- stract with the intermediate reports, by con- ductors, of way-bills of cars hauled, verifies and completes the check. 220 RAIL WA Y RE VEtfUE. A further check may be secured by compari- son with the records of cars in the office of the Car Accountant. Freight Report Forwarded and Received Monthly. [Form 24, Appendix). This report is a recapitulation of the freight abstracts. The names of the stations are printed in regu- lar order down the centre of the blank. The amount of freight forwarded to the differ, ent stations is entered on the right hand side, opposite the names of the several stations. The freight received is entered in the same manner on the left-hand side of the report. The usual freight traffic columns are provided for entering the'aggregate amounts, viz. : weight, unpaid local charges, advanced charges, and pre- paid charges. It must be footed, and the aggregate amount of the several columns must be carefully com- pared and made to agree with the freight books and accounts kept at the station. It must be enclosed with the monthly abstracts and forwarded to the Freight Auditor's office so as to arrive not later than the night of the sixth or morning of the seventh of the month succeed- ing that for which it is made. It must contain, as per the headings, the totals RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 221 of freight forwarded to and received from each station, and, being compiled from the monthly abstracts, must be carefully checked back there:- with, so as to prevent errors- or omissions in copying. When stations are reached by differentroutes, the freight transported by each route must be entered herein separately, specifying in each in- stance, opposite the station, the route it traveled. Freight forwarded to or received from sta- tions not printed on this report must be entered in the blank lines after the printed stations, keep- ing the stations on each division together, in sta- tion order, and entering the stations on foreign lines last ; a blank line being left after the last station of each division, and also after the sta- tions of each foreign line. Station order should be considered the order in which the stations appear on the official list of stations and agents. The same care should be exercised by agents, to secure correctness in their report of the weight and unpaid local charges for freight forwarded and the weight and prepaid charges for freight received, which is observed by them to prevent errors occurring in accounts affecting the bal- ance to their debit or credit. This report is examined and checked with the utmost nicety in the office of the Freight Audi- tor, and is then footed and the total amounts 222 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. certified to the Accounting Officer, to be by him charged or credited to the agent. Afterwards a recapitulation should be made by the freight accountant of the aggregate footings of the monthly freight reports for the different stations. This recapitulation should be footed. The total amount of freight forwarded from all stations should agree exactly with the total amount of freight received at all stations, allowance being made for the joint business done with connecting lines. This plan proves the correctness of the foot- ings of the reports upon which the charges against agents are based, and also proves the correctness of the check against the specific items making up the said footings. Freight Earnings Report, Daily— Statis- tical. (Form 25, Appendix.) This return is statistical in its nature. It is used for the purpose of arriving ,at an approxi- mate statement of the daily freight earnings. It must be sent to the Freight Auditor's office by the first passenger train after the close of the business of each day. The aggregate amount of local charges or earnings should be given for all freight billed to local points. The amount collected for milk tickets sold should be included in this aggregate. RAILWAY REVENUE. 223 For freight forwarded to points on other lines the total freight charges to each point to which freight is billed should be given. The division of this joint business is figured by the Freight Auditor. Agents must make a close estimate of the lo- cal charges of way-bills forwarded with grain in bulk, also for other freights when the extensions are unknown ; this estimate should be included in the daily report, carrying the difference into a subsequent report by adding to or deducting from the amount of the subsequent report, as the estimate may have been short or over when com- pared with the actual amount returned by the station to which the freight was way-billed ; no correction should, however, be made in the re- ports of any month for errors occurring in the reports for the preceding month. Particular care should be observed at all times to avoid errors or omissions. The amount of the daily reports should agree with the amount of the monthly report, with the exception of the differences that may be occa- sioned by the correction of estimates, or una- voidable errors, after the report for the last day of the month has been sent in. In all cases, agents must telegraph the amount of earnings, when it is impossible, from the delay of trains or other causes, to forward this report so that it will reach its destination on the day after it is made. 224 RAILWAY HE VENUE. The value of this report is dependent upon its prompt return to the freight accountant.* Special envelopes should be provided, so. that the reports may be readily distinguished from less urgent matter. Freight Overcharge Book. (Form 26, Appendix.) Immediately upon the discovery of an error in way-billing freight, a correction is made, and the agent forwarding or receiving the way-bill is notified, unless the accounts for the month have been closed and audited. If the correction lessens the charges as indi- cated on the way-bill, and the original amount has already been collected of the consignee, then an overcharge has occurred for which the re- ceiving agent is responsible, and which he must refund. Overcharges not claimed by consignee cannot be considered as a perquisite accruing to the benefit of the agent. -There are no perquisites. As soon as an overcharge occurs for which the agent is responsible, as described, he must immediately enter the particulars of the said overcharge on this book. He is required to ■ charge himself with the aggregate amount of overcharges remaining unrefunded at the end of the month, on his monthly balance sheet, RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 225 Overcharges claimed to have been refunded will not be allowed unless the date of payment and the receipt of the party overcharged are at- tached opposite the entry on this book. An agent must not take credit on his cash book for overcharges until he has refunded them to the party overcharged and has taken his re- ceipt in proper manner on the overcharge book. Overcharges, like other accounts, must never be paid through irresponsible agents. They must be paid directly to the party over- charged, as his acknowledgment only can release the company from its liability. No notice must be taken on this book of over- charge claims against the company proper, i. e., where the amount collected by the agent was the same as the amount charged to him in the accounts : such overcharges are refunded directly by the company by voucher. This book is intended to cover only those cases where the amount charged to an agent by the company is less than the amount collected by him. Overcharges: Losses: Damages. All claims against the company for over- charges, if presented after the accounts are closed for the month in which the overcharge occurred, should be sent through the agent with the receipted expense 1 bill to the-Freight Auditor, 226 RAILWAY REVENUE. to be by him examined, and the amount refunded by voucher. Claims for loss or damage to property should be sent to the claim agent, or proper officer, for investigation and adjustment. Freight Overcharge Statement — Quarterly. (Form 27, Appendix.) On the first day of each quarter, viz., on the 1st of January, April, July and October, respec- tively, all overcharges which agents are unable from any reason to refund, and for which they are responsible, and which have remained on the overcharge book three months, must be re- ported to the Freight Auditor to be by him charged up against them on the books of the company. The company instead of the agent then be- comes responsible for the ultimate refunding of the overcharge to the party overcharged. Until charged up, as indicated, by the Freight Auditor, the amount will be reported back on the correction statement from the Accounting Officer, and agents must continue to report the amounts on the debit side of their monthly bal- ance sheet. railway revenue. 227 Freight Receipt for Charges Advanced. (Form g, Appendix.) When charges are advanced on goods re- ceived for shipment^ a receipt must always be taken by the agent making such advance : it must be dated, and must be signed by the party to whom money is paid. Receipts should be consecutively numbered, commencing with No. i on the first of each month, and they must be carefully filed away in the order in which they are numbered, so that they can be readily verified with the eash book and other accounts. In all cases state in the body of the receipt for what purpose charges were paid, and on what kind of freight. Agents are required accurately to inform them- selves of and carefully to observe all rules and regulations governing the advancement of money on freight received'for shipment. This receipt is intended to protect the agent making the advance in case such advance is called in question : it also has, manifestly, a tendency to prevent the insertion of " advances " upon a way-bill, except in bona fide cases. Freight Tracing Sheet. (Form 28, Appendix.) When freight billed from any station is re- 223- RAILWAY REVENUE. ported short, the forwarding agent is required to send what is termed a " tracer." All agents receiving such tracer are required to fill it up as indicated by the headings, and send it forward without delay. In this way property is traced from point to point until discovered and forwarded to its pro- per destination. Freight Report for "Short" Freight. (Form 29, Appendix.) Whenever freight billed to a station fails to arrive, agents must fill up two copies of this report, one lor the claim agent; and one for the agent, at the station from which, the freight was billed, enclosing both copies to such agent for his notations. The forwarding agent thus advised forthwith commences the search .for the. property, as al- ready described. Freight Report for " Short " Freight Received. (Form 30, Appendix.) This is a notice to the claim agent of the re- ceipt of freight previously reported "short," and must be sent forward without delay. Freight Report for "Over" Freight. (Form 31, Appendix.) When freight is received at a station without RAILWAY REVENUE. 229 a way-bill, agents are required to fill up two copies of this report, one for the claim agent, and one for the agent-at the station from which the freight was received, enclosing both copies to such agent, who on receipt of the same gives his explanations and instructions on each as to whether the discrepancy arises from an error in billing, or in not billing. He should also direct what disposition is to be made of the excess freight. Freight Report for " Over" Freight Accounted For. (Form 32, Appendix.) This report must be sent by agents whenever freight, previously reported over, has been prop- erly accounted for. Freight Report of " Over," " Unclaimed " and " Refused" Freight, Monthly. (Form 33, Appendix.) This report is required to be sent to the claim agent monthly ; it is, as far as possible, a com- plete description of the freight on hand which is over, unclaimed or refused. On the first day of each month agents are re- quired to make a return to the claim agent, on this blank, of all goods in their possession that re- main over, unclaimed or are refused. This re- port must embrace a statement of the estimated 2 30 RAIL WA Y -RE VENUE. value of each consignment, and its condition, and of any other circumstances in connection with it that may be necessary to enable the claim agent to decide what disposition should be made of it. It must also embrace a report of the disposi- tion made of goods previously reported as over, refused or unclaimed. If parties to whom freight is consigned are un- known, or if they refuse for any reason to receive it, the forwarding agent should forthwith be no • tified. Immediately upon the receipt of such notice he should confer with the consignors, and ascertain what disposition should be made of the property. When there is no over, unclaimed or refused freight on hand, a blank form must nevertheless be filled up, and forwarded to the claim agent monthly, as directed. • Agents must not consider all uncalled-for freight as coming under the head of unclaimed. When freight has recently arrived at a station, or when consignees are known and may reason- ably be expected to call for freight, it should not be reported as unclaimed. Freight Report for Bad Order Freight. (Form 34, Appendix.) Upon receipt of freight in bad order, agents should fill up two copies of this return, one for the claim 'agent, and one for the agent at the sta- RA IL WA Y RE VENUE. 231 tion from which the freight was billed ; both copies should, however, be sent to the latter agent for his report or endorsement. At the bottom of this sheet the weights of the freight, as billed and as received, should be in- serted, whenever the circumstances of the case necessitate it, if practicable. 'Freight Received Notice. (Form 18, Appendix.) For the convenience of the public and the rapid discharge of business, agents are usually required by the company employing them promptly to notify consignees on the arrival of freight. As a rule, however, the railway company send- ing the notice is particular to insert in it a notice to the consignee that in notifying him of the ar- rival of his property it does so only for the pur- pose of insuring greater dispatch in the delivery of merchandise, and not that it is under any legal obligation to notify consignees of the arrival of freight. When storage is charged by a company it would be well, perhaps, if the notice to the con- signee of the arrival of the freight mentioned the fact. There should be attached to the notice an or- der, which the consignee can sign, making the delivery of the goods " to bearer," or otherwise as he may desire. 232 RAIL W'A Y HE VENUE. Agents should note on the freight received book the date the notice is sent. When the notice is sent -at the expense of the consignee, the cost of the postage stamp used in mailing must be added to the expense bill, but must not be included in the amount entered on the cash book or in the list of uncollected freight at the end- of the month. A special or private notation should perhaps be made on the expense bill of the amount of the postage. All postage stamps, for which the consignee is to pay, should be purchased directly by the agent. The form embraced in the appendix hereto, printed oh a common postal card, seems as sim- ple and inexpensive as any that can be devised. Freight Correction Sheet for Way-Bills Forwarded and Received. (Form 14, Appendix.) Immediately upon the discovery of an error in a way-bill, the way-bill must be changed (in red ink), and the agent discovering the same is required to forward forthwith a correction sheet (notification of the error), stating how the way-bill did read and how it should read, to the other agent interested. A copy of the correction sheet must, also be sent to the Freight Auditor by the agent discov- ering the error. The original correction must be forwarded to RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 233 the Freight. Auditor as soon as the agent to whom it was sent has eorreeted his books. The Freight Auditor in turn forwards to him the copy, thus insuring the receipt of the correc- tion by the parties interested, and the proper entry on the books. Freight Auditor's Correction Sheets. (Form 15, Appendix.) • The duplicate way-bills returned to the Freight Auditor are carefully examined by that officer, and all errors in classification, rates, extensions and footings are righted, and a correction sheet forwarded forthwith in each case to the forward- ing agent and another to the receiving agent. Upon receipt of the correction sheet, the for- warding agent must alter his books to corres- pond, and enclose the notice to the receiving agent, who examines and signs it and returns it to the Freight Auditor. The same course is pursued in reference to the correction sheet sent to the receiving agent by, the Freight Auditor, thus ensuring the receipt of the notice by both agents. An agent should carefully examine all correc- tion sheets received by him, and should accept and sign only such as he believes to be in ac- cordance with the classification, tariffs and rules of billing, except when special authority from 234 RAILWAY REVENUE. the general freight office is claimed by the party who makes the correction. In case the agent believes the correction re- ceived to be wrong, he should note his objection thereon, and refer the same to the Freight Audi- tor, and await further instructions before chang- ing his books. Milk Tickets. (Form 35V Appendix.) The impossibility of handling the milk traffic in the manner that ordinary freight is treated led to the introduction of the system of provid- ing tickets to be attached to the cans and to be paid for in advance. This plan obviates the de- lay of billing at the forwarding point, and pre- vents any imposition being practiced upon the railway company. Tickets should be provided for the different denominations (sizes) of cans in. use, no reduction being made for partly filled cans. These tickets should be on sale at all points from which milk is shipped. Tickets should be sold singly or in quanti- ties, as desired, but they should be sold in numerical order, and the date when sold should be plainly stamped on each ticket. Conductors should be forbidden to receive a milk can into their train unless a ticket is at- tached to the same. RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 235 The ticket has an eyelet hole and is attached to the can with a string. The ticket is cancelled by the mutilation of the eyelet hole, and must in all cases be torn off by the conductor and returned to the Ticket Auditor. Conductors and agents should be cautious to see that the capacity of the can is not greater than is represented by the ticket attached. Seasonable notice should always be given vyhen tickets are required. Milk Ticket Report, Monthly. (Form 36, Appendix.) This return is intended to embrace all milk tickets sold during the time for which it is made. It is arranged so as to give the daily commenc- ing and closing numbers of tickets sold for the different sizes of cans ; also the number sold, rate and amount ; the total footings of the several columns for amounts being recapitulated at the bottom and the grand total given. There being a line for each day in the month, the daily sales of tickets should be entered in the proper place in this report at the close of the day's business, and at the end of the month the original report so made should be retained by the agent and carefully placed on file, and a copy sent to the Freight Auditor by the first passen- ger train. 236 RAILWAY REVENUE. The total amount received each day from the sale of milk tickets must be included in the daily report of freight earnings as already directed. The total amount of collections for the month must be entered on the monthly balance sheet as prepaid freight. The milk tickets collected by conductors being returned to the Ticket Auditor, a comparison of such tickets with the tickets sold from month to month, as shown by the report, proves the cor- rectness of the latter, and also prevents the issue of fraudulent and duplicate tickets. Record of Way-Bills Accompanying Grain in Bulk, or other Freight the Quan- tity of which is Unknown to the For- warding Agent. (Form 37, Appendix.) Agents at stations to which grain in bulk, or similar freight, is consigned are required to re- port back to the forwarding agent the correct weight and charges on each bill, as soon as the quantity contained in each car is ascertained. The returns must be sent to the forwarding agent by the first passenger train after they are received from the warehouse or elsewhere. It is important that the returns for all bills should be received by agents before they close their monthly freight accounts. RAIL tVA V RE VENUE. 237 When returns cannot be obtained in time to do this, the bills will be carried into the suc- ceeding month, and notice to that effect should be given to the forwarding agent. The above blank is used in making the returns to the forwarding agent, being arranged with columns for way-bill and car numbers, in addi- tion to the other columns peculiar to a. way-bill, so that a number of cars can be reported on one sheet. It is frequently the case that the forwarding agent has no means of ascertaining the quantity or weight of other classes of freight besides grain ; in such cases the same plan or system should be pursued that is directed for bulk grain. Record of Bulk Grain Delivered Eleva- tors. (Form 38, Appendix.) This is a book of reference in which the par- ticulars of all cars containing bulk grain sent to elevators or warehouses are entered. Its correctness may at any time be verified by reference to the freight received book and ab- stracts, and then by comparing it with the ac- counts at the elevator. OHAPTEE Y. The Revenue Blanks of the Company Con- tinued—Passenger Blanks. The principal blanks used at stations and upon trains in connection with the ticket or passenger business are as follows : Conductors' Daily Report of Cash Col- lections MADE BY THEM. (Form 5, Appendix.) Conductors are required to send a report of this description to the General Ticket Agent for all cash fares collected by them. It gives the nnmber of train, name of point from which fare was collected, destination, num- ber of fares, rate and amount. When a trip occurs in separate months, two reports are required to be made for such trip, so that the accounts for the two months may be distinct ; i. e., the outward trip will be reported in one month and the return trip in the next month ; separate remittances must also be made. The names of the stations from and to which fares are collected must be written in full, and RAILWAY REVENUE. 239 special care must be exercised to prevent omis- sions of any kind in the return. When regular tariff rates are not charged, an explanation should be given under the head of " Remarks." In the event no fares are collected by a con- ductor, he should note the fact across the face of the blank and forward the return as in other cases. Return is required to be made at the end of each round trip for such round trip. The tickets, passes, etc., collected by conduc- tors should be securely enclosed, in the regular order directed, and sent to the Ticket Auditor. Stop-over Ticket to be Issued by Con- ductors. (Form 7, Appendix,) The service upon our railways has long awaited the introduction of a form of stop-over ticket or check to be issued by conductors to passengers who desire to stop en route, in place of the ticket held by them, which ticket should be taken up and cancelled. The great desideratum has been a form of stop- over ticket so simple in construction, yet so comprehensive in its character, as to meet the wants of the most extended line — a ticket (it would perhaps be more proper to call it a check) 24:0 RAILWAY REVENUE. that could be used in common and without any change whatever upon the different divisions, branches or lines of a railroad — a check that did not necessitate any writing upon the part of the conductor or occupy his time unnecessarily in issuing it — a check so arranged that the de- partment office could keep itself advised of the number and character of such stop-over ehecks outstanding, and, as far as possible, the basis upon which they were issued. A check that seems to answer all these require- ments has just been perfected by Mr. W. A. Thrall.* This check is not patented, and may be used by •such companies as are disposed. It provides for inserting the date it is issued, the number of station from which issued, and the number of station to which issued. A road possessing nine hundred and ninety- nine stations need use but one form. A stub is attached giving substantially the same information as the check. This stub is detached when the check is is- sued. It is enclosed to the general office in a separate envelope with the regular passage ticket in exchange for and on account of which the stop-over check was issued. The following embraces the substance of the * Mr. Thrall's accomplishments are well known to railway officers, and his investigations' have contributed much to the simplification and uniformity of the elaborate machinery thatl is inseparably connected with the passenger business, and he deseryedly ranks as one of the ablest, as he is one of the most studious and modest, of our railway officers. RAILWAY REVENUE. 241 directions to conductors issued by Mr. Thrall to illustrate the workings of the stop-over ticket devised by him : All tickets upon which stop-over checks are issued should be taken up at the time such tick- ets are presented for ■ stop-over privileges. It is, therefore, of the first importance that con- ductors should exercise the greatest care in making their cancellations on checks, and, to this end^the following minute explanations and instructions are given : In the portions of the check marked " from " and " to " there are three columns of figures, which may be designated, commencing with the right-hand column, as units, tens and hundreds columns. In the space devoted to dates are also two columns of figures. Each column is headed by a cipher, the use of which will be explained farther on. From the cipher each column is provided with a set of numerals, from i to 9 inclusive, from which a combination can be made to give, by cancellation, in either the "from "or "to" columns, any station's number on a company's lines. For the proper use of these checks conduc- tors are provided with a list of numbers for each station, which not only includes the numbers of stations on their route, but also the numbers for. all the other routes or divisions of the company's 242 RAIL WA V RE VENUE. lines that they run in connection with, and for which it is supposed they may be required to issue stop-over checks from time to time. A fac simile oi the stop-over check is given (Form 7, Appendix). This check has been can- celled <%) to represent a stop-over check given to a passenger stopping at Dixon on a Council Bluffs ticket reading from a point east of Dixon. In the " from " columns the cipher in the hun- dreds column is cancelled to protect the remain- ing figures in that column from further use; then the figure 4 in tens column and the figure 8 in units column are cancelled to represent Dixon's number (48). In the " to " columns the figures 1, 4 and 3 are cancelled to represent Council Bluffs number (143). The cancellations for date of issue have been made to represent Feb. 1, and here it will be noticed that the cipher in tens column is cancelled for the protec- tion of the remaining figures in that column. Under this method every complete stop-over check, when first issued, will require nine (9) cancellations for whole tickets, and ten (10) can- cellations for half tickets (the number \ being cancelled in case of half tickets) ; any more than three (3) cancellations in each of the " from," " to " or " date " columns should be regarded as evi- dence of attempted fraud, and such checks must be refused and referred to the proper officer. The " stubs " attached to these checks must RAILWAY REVENUE.- 243 be cancelled to show from what point the stop- over ticket is given, and the number of the stub must be indorsed on the back of the ticket upon which the check is issued ; and such tickets and stubs'for each trip must be inclosed in an enve- lope (Form 8, Appendix), provided for that pur- pose, and then inclosed with the regular collec- tions to the Ticket Auditor. Stop-over checks when issued in conformity with the foregoing instructions, should be treated by conductors as valid passage tickets, and should be subjected to the same rules concerning " trip cancellations" that govern ordinary tickets ; such cancellations, however, must be made in that portion of the check designated by stars (* * *), and, of course, these cancellations will be re- garded as additional to those* already mentioned. Stop-over checks should be issued only upon regular first-class tickets, as holders of second- class, commutation, excursion, and round-trip tickets are not entitled to stop-over privileges unless specially provided. In no case can the same check be used for more than one stop. When one of these checks is pre- sented for additional stop-over privileges, it must be taken up and treated as a regular ticket. When a ticket having more than one coupon for the same line is presented, and the stop over requested lies within the destination of the first coupon, conductors will take up only the first 244 RA IL WA V RE VENVE. coupon, and make the check issued read to the destination of the coupon taken up. If the stop lies within the destination of the second coupon, the conductor honoring that coupon will issue the check. As tickets upon which checks are issued are to be taken up, instances may arise where pas- sengers will assert that the conductor issuing the stop-over check did not cancel the proper destination of the ticket surrendered ; in all such cases conductors should at once telegraph the Ticket Auditor, giving the number of the check held by the passenger ; and if they do not receive instructions in time to meet such complaint, they should inform the passenger that the general ticket department will investigate the grievance and furnish a satisfactory adjustment. As the checks are limited as to time, conduct- ors must call the attention of passengers to this fact when they furnish the checks, and, in all cases, they must exact a strict compliance with the terms under which these checks are issued. When checks are presented for passage, con- ductors must carefully scrutinize them to see that the time limitation has not expired. In comput- ing time, exclude the day of issue, and if a check is presented within the last moments of its time limitation, it must be accepted for passage to its destination even if the latter part of the passen- ger's trip does not come within the time spec- ified. RAIL IVA V RE VENUE. 245 Checks must bear the conductor's signature in ink, in the place provided on the back, and they must be issued in numerical order com- mencing with the lowest number. Any checks spoiled in issuing must be returned in the stop- over check envelope described in the Appendix. Conductors' Accounts. [t does not seem necessary that conductors should be required to make a monthly balance sheet or account current, and for the following reasons : ist. On economical grounds. 2d. The collections are not diversified like those of agents, but are confined exclusively to passenger fares collected. 3d. As each remittance corresponds exactly with the report of the amount collected each trip, as described in the report of the same else- where herein, an account current is unnecessary except in tlie special instances when the aggre- gate remittances for the month do not agree exactly with the amount charged ; in such cases the remittances can be compared in detail with the record or with the train reports. To enable this comparison to be made, the ticket department should transmit to the Ac- counting Officer, each month, the record book in which the conductors' reports of cash collections 246 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. are entered. When this is impracticable, a state- ment of the same should be furnished. Notice should forthwith be sent conductors of any errors in their accounts. Conductors leaving the service of the com- pany should not be paid or furnished with dis- charge cards until their accounts have been set- tled in full. The exact state of their accounts can generally be determined, with a little labor and care, at any time in the month. Conductors' Ticket Punches. Each conductor should be supplied with a different form of ticket punch, which form should in all cases be used by him. Jn this way it is possible to determine from the cancellation of the ticket the name of the conductor making it, although the transaction may have occurred years before. A record of the form of punch in use by each conductor should be kept in the office of the Supply Agent and Ticket Auditor. Conductors should not use a punch of a dif- ferent pattern from that designated by the prop- er officer, lest duplicates should be used. When for any reason a conductor no longer requires the punch assigned for his use, it should be returned to the Supply Agent. RAILWAY REVENUE. 247 Applications for punches should be approved by the division superintendent ; they should consequently be made through that officer. In the event a punch is lost, a written report of the fact must be made to the Ticket Auditor. When a punch is broken, it should be sent to the Supply Agent with the requisition for a new one. Conductors — General Instructions. Conductors are required to remit, as directed, the exact amount of cash fares collected in each round trip, the remittances to be sent forward immediately upon their arrival at their destina- tion. Tariff rates must be charged by conductors when not otherwise ordered by competent au- thority. Conductors' reports of collections to the gen- eral ticket office should, of course, correspond exactly with the amount remitted. When a conductor's outward bound trip is in one month and the return trip in another month, a separate remittance must be made for each trip, as already described. When corrections are sent conductors relative to discrepancies in their accounts, from what- ever cause, a special remittance must at once be made ; the remittance being sufficient in amount to cover the discrepancy exactly. 248 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. Whenever counterfeits are returned to agents or conductors, of their remittances are for any other reason shown to be short, the amount of same must immediately be made good to the company. When a remittance is for a greater amount than the sum due from the conductor, then the excess should be deducted by him from his next remittance. Ticket Requisitions. (Form 39, Appendix.) All local, coupon and other classes of passen- ger* tickets are furnished by the General Ticket Agent; he' also furnishes the milk tickets pre- viously described. In ordering tickets the regular blank must be used, specifying : The form of tickets wanted ; Destination ; Closing or highest number of such tickets on hand ; Number of tickets required. The rules in reference to the supply of tickets are generally as follows : • " It being of the utmost importance that pas- sengers should be ticketed as fully as possible, * For partial forms of tickets see Appendix : Form 40. Local Ticket ; Form 41, Round-Trip Ticket ; Form 42, Book Ticket ; Form 43, Inter-Division Ticket ; Form 44, Excursion Ticket, RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 249 ticket agents will keep a supply of tickets on hand sufficient to cover all demands. " Agents must make requisition at close of month for all tickets needed for ensuing month, making a separate requisition for local and coupon tickets, and, so far as possible, but one requisition per month for each, being particular to give the correct closing or highest number on hand of the tickets ordered. " If, during the month, it is found that the stock of any sort is getting low, agents should order what is required immediately. " By comparing the closing number of sales with the highest number on hand, agents will be able to send a full requistion on the first of the month with their monthly report. " Ample time from date of sending requisition should be calculated, as tickets have frequently to be printed after the requisition has been re- ceived from the station."* Ticket Book, Local. (Form 45, Appendix.) This book combines a daily record of the closing numbers of local tickets on hand and a monthly statement of local tickets on hand ; also a statement of the number sold. *The .originator of the foregoing rules is not known to me. Elsewhere throughout this book the quotation marks will indicate the matter that is bor- rowed ; in such cases, when the name of the original writer, is omitted(as it is in connection with various ticket returns), it is because he is unknown. 250 RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. The columns are in order as follows and for the purposes named, viz. : Highest number on hand. Names of stations for which tickets are fur- nished. Rate. Commencing number on the first of the month. Closing number at the end of the month. A column for each day in the month for enter- ing the lowest number on hand daily. Total number sold during the month. Number of half-tickets sold. Rate. Number of excursion tickets sold. Rate. Two blank columns, one for rate and one for amount. Total amount. At the bottom a place is provided for entering the commencing number of book, half-far ; e, ex- cursion and round-trip tickets. The amount of cash collected from local ticket sales is computed daily from this book, and at the close of the month it must be made to show a summary of the month's local ticket business, embracing all the particulars shown by the monthly local ticket report submitted to the General Ticket Agent. " Agents should fill in the highest number of RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. 251 tickets on hand on the first of the month in the column printed for that purpose, and whenever a new supply of tickets is received during the month, they should make the necessary altera- tions, and then, by carefully watching the closing number of sales and the highest number on hand, they can easily see when they are running short of tickets. " Agents sho"uld write in the names of stations to which they have sold card tickets, in the order in which the stations are printed on the local ticket reports, and enter rates in the column provided for that purpose, the same as given on the last tariff. " They should copy from the ticket case daily the closing numbers to each station. entered on the book, whether sales have been made or not. " Immediately before closing the cash account for the day, they should close the book by copy- ing from the tickets in the case all the closing numbers for the day, and the difference between the numbers so taken off and the closing numbers for the day previous will be the total number sold to each station for that day, and the differ- ence between the commencing numbers of the first and the closing numbers of the last day of the month will be the total number sold during the month. " The columns headed ' half-tickets/ ' excur- sion tickets,' and the one left blank must not be used until the close of the month. 252 • RAIL WA Y RE VENUE. " Book tickets must be reported under the head of regular tickets, writing the letter 'B' opposite each destination sold to. Agents should write in only those stations to which Such tickets have been sold, entering the number sold to each station each day in daily column, and at the close of the month carrying out the total num- ber sold to each station during the month in column headed ' total number sold during the month.' The closing number of book, half and excursion tickets m must be entered daily in the proper place at the bottom of the page. " Half-fare tickets must be reported at the close of the month in column headed ' half-tick- ets,' opposite each destination sold to, without reference to their consecutive numbers ; the number sold each day should also be entered in daily column opposite destination sold to. " Excursion tickets must be reported at the close of the month in the column headed ' excur- sion tickets,' opposite each destination sold to, without reference to their consecutive numbers. The number sold each day should be entered in daily column opposite destination sold to. " In the column headed ' amounts ' the total amount of sales to each destination should be given, including regular, book, half, excursion and special tickets carried out in one item. " This book must be balanced each month be- fore making out the monthly report. The RAIL WA ¥ RE VENUE. 253 monthly, report should be made up from this book, and both should be made to agree in every case, so that if a duplicate report is called for it can be made with very little trouble. " This book is intended to' be kept as a permar nent record of the whole local ticket business in detail." Ticket Book, Coupon. (From 46, Appendix.) The columns of this book furnish a complete and simple record of coupon tickets (z. © ho o: 1 W ^ JH cc S c g, c 1 i a 1 S &> "^ M ^ ^ *3 ^ ■ s sis* o 3 * 8 o 1^ h ^ .3 •§ S 2 « <1 °' I *B - 1* "^ « g Hi _ M S » a <1 s s, -a a s S ^ _o - 'a a 5: < 03 -c; ^r |3 "*"■ C 2 I 3 a mr c© a» ■5 ■S 2 S S o S «, ~ — "S B>> * e fc "3 ^ £ * 1 1 •2. « ~ -3 £ - ' pan.t'tH'tJ r l pun pa\i>j[ IliinJaj/tiQ t*q in nut (".ijunsirj.t^ j inooivm flq iu*3ytHJt 03 paiMfif oj) djjy potitumg #YHX u o 493 N ^ 61 S e a S a & a ^ ■a, •a S) % ^ &i a 8- X «i s Si' a O ' bop 1876. May 4 " 19 April 12 ;j3 Wo O CO Cticm A- 10 tO C-JC3 S3, "Claremont." "To Station." "Blank Station." o g "J. Brown.'* " Niles and Graham." " Goodman and Short." " Extra Baggage." " Telegraph Receipts." "Ticket Sales "Local." " " "Coupon." 3 IO OI CO CO ■9> » ^ p. 3 3^ P « « (0 C O CO o o 'ft o to 01 Oi o w c; co Is -1 en Oi 1-* CO to CO co 2. H 2 03 k r OB m H g 3 I' 03 03 ■d u 03 B H a H cc fi P K OB H fi w CO CO . « s s a? 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JACKSON TO The Station on this Railway named below. Good for One First Class Passage upon presentation of this Ticket, if stamped by the. Com- pany s Agent, and presented with Coupons attached within Thirty Days from date. t3T" The Conductor upon the Division at the. end of the route will take up this Ticket^ together with the Cou- pon for that Division. General Ticket ligent. Issued by Railway. By. One FIRST-CLASS Passage CRESTON to .'.'. ; _/_ Form This Coti%>on will he forfeited if detached from the Ticket, Issued by Railway. By. One FIRST-CLASS Passage From JACKSON to CRESTON. This Coupon will he forfeited if detached from, the Ticket, •►a S_- 5 .9 ss-g > -2.2-g I E'gS g«-cg 4) a, » o o ocm » ESSE ■S o-e ojS '■s s,f 31 I full a g'-S-a o c = ~s .1 .sS'S' I Sill s'Slll a g « g ^ — E^j " a a £.S .a g^| « S-| .a C « B^ b w o £ St B* ? fa 03 s JJ h H M o o m O X es < CO CO < a. UJ z: o £ o t 3" r? 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CM ■* CD CO a, . 2 « .a a ■° 3 •a a 3 ° g o - I I s s « -s e ft (D . .SP-g-S £l » "8 Si OS'S 10 10 10 t- t- t- CO 00 00 000 . ** &r *+ o> 9 » !» 10 urs 10 b- t- t- CO CO CO +3 ■*= += 3 W 02 I» CM 00 rH 04 OJ^ cS 551 GO H W W m CO W o < m S3 H *- W be H ^ o ■=» Eh; as fl Ph O 2 E" ' «3 • I — I E o -w CO o r Oi-i ■ O o sg •S sis O S Q) CO*? « 2 U o «&5 n O |> m >> 3 5 a e a s kft 5R o s sagBf a t*g — a> . sr* 3.1,1*1 B ^""SwS g. !»»■»■. § ilflfe B^ Co 2 » *-• a p a.2.'5 -. er »• "B. oS p ■ ,E"-g 2. & s » » d h*. «,5 CD S- CD ■£■ s^s S "SgeS. o B 3 3*» gp.g » 5- O "-1 a rt-'-' £»&&"> &3 .,<» g fifes' BRBgB H » Bo JS* tD » B* I s °4?- _85 RS'vi'?. w 8" o* 5 Or 1 sis SB 3g. ■ n go fp 5=3.* •sS. II 3> * 00 ttOS sit so E^ 2* STB p,o s «s CO H ct Co" <$> H} q c| 3 p ra O 1— 1 p— ' a. n> bo rt- CD P* CD. W 5p P a t— ' CO r> 3 c+ O P h-> ' CD -3 [Station Agent's Bond.] itoonr all Pen hi) tliejse gwwntt, THAT WE as principal, and ■ ."...." of : "."„" of '"'""' of as sureties, are held and firmly bound unto the BLANK RAILWAY COMPANY, in-the sum of Thousand Dollars, lawful money of the United States of America, to be paid to the said Blank Hallway Co., their Attorney, Successors or Assigns; for which payment, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our and each of our heirs, execu- tors and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents. Sealed with our seals. Dated this day of A. D. 18 Whereas, The above bounden is, and for some time past has been, the Agent of the said Blank Railway Company, at Station on said Eoad, and as such is en- trusted with the care and management of all the business of said Com- pany at said Station, goto, a^trefon, tlje Conbition of lljis ©Minstron in tsnt]i, That if the above bounden shall at all times hereafter, keep just, true and correct accounts of all of said business of said Company, coming into his hands as such Agent or otherwise; and shall make and forward io the proper officer of said Company, full, true and correct statements of the accounts of the business of said Com- pany so coming to his hands whenever the same shall be required by the rules and regulations of said Company.or by the Local Treasurer, or any officer of said Company; and shall, in like manner, make and forward full, true and correct balance sheets, showing the correct state of his accounts as such Stalion Agent, at the end' of each and every month; and shall collect all dues, fees, freight or passage money, and all other sums of money due and payable, or which may become due and pay^ able, to said Company at said Station ; and shall duly pay over to said Company, its Local Treasurer or other duly authorized Agent or Attor- ney thereof, all sums of money that are now due from him to paid Com- pany, or that may hereafter become due, or that may in any manner come into his hands as such Agent and belonging to said Company, each day, or whenever required by the rules and regulations of said Company or the Local Treasurer or any general officer thereof; and shall do and perform all and singular the duties of such Station Agent that now aro, or may liereaf ter be, lawfully imposed upon said Agent by said Company, and attend diligently and faithfully thereto, then this obligation to be void, otherwise in full force and effect. [See next page.] Hi no a K u 00 N ^ E£ ISee preceding page.] And the above bounden — — - expressly agree that if, in any action at law or in equity brought upon this bond, or it in any legal proceedings whatever, it should become necessary to show the amount of money or other property of said Com- pany, or in which they should have any interest, at any time in the pos- session or control of the said „ - , or in any manner chargeable to him, the books, papers and records of said Company, in- cluding the printed or written instructions and circulars of any of the officers thereof, to its Agents, shall be admitted as competent evidence of whatever may therein be contained, without any other evidence of their authenticity than proof by some officer or stockholder of the Com- pany that they are in fact the books, papers, records, instructions or circulars thereof, or of its officers, and the evidence of any officer or stock- holder of the Company shall not be excluded because of any pecuniary interest he may have in such action or proceeding. >. [seal.] [seal.] [SEAL.] [Note.— On the back of the bond, blank places are provided which the sureties are required to fill up and swear to ; the statement which they must swear to recites that each of the sureties is the owner of real estate free from incumbrance and equal in value to the amount of the bond.] Shop Clerk's and Storekeeper's Bond. The form of Bond required from Shop Clerks is the same, generally, as that required from Agents. The clause reciting the conditions of the Bond reads as follows : " That if 'the above bounden shall at all' times hereafter, keep just, true and correct accounts of the time and wages of the men employed by- said Company, and shall make and forward to the proper officer of said Company, full, true and correct statements of the accounts of such shop, at the end of each and every month, or as often as requested, and the account to which said wages shall be charged; of all materials dis- bursed on account of the Company and the purposes for which such material was used ; of all labor performed bv operatives of the Company, for Individuals and Corpora- tions whomsoever ; of all materials furnished, from supply stores or -from the property of the Company to Individuals and Corporations ; of all moneys coming into his hands belonging to the Company, and of all materials received at his shop, whether transferred from other places or deliv- ered to the Company at his shop, by individuals or cor- porations ; and shall do and perform all and singular the duties of such clerk, that now are, or may hereafter be lawfully imposed upon him by said Company, and attend diligently and faithfully thereto, then this obligation to be void, otherwise in full force and effect." On the back of the Bonds for Shop Clerks, blanks are pro- vided which the sureties are required to fill up and swear to. The affidavit recites that the surety is the owner of real estate free from incumbrance and equal in value to the amount of the Bond. CO fl ifl a u CO a Erf 1 1 S IS O S g 1 * o O <1 o o Hi o o o pq p o o o o 00 u o ^ § ^ Amount. Kate. Amount. Kate. A mount. Itate. Amount. Bate. 1 4"i .2-3 Amount. Kate. 3* d£ Amount. * Kate. So Amount. Kate. Total Amount. Through Rate'. 2d Class. 1st Class. ® O Closing Number. Commenc- ing Number. Form. To | Frc m >,ffi '•B S^ > o 8,3 u. t* .o Is -3 » » o tS •_"ii o ^ J o "A lO ,p ».s" SS tf_ ^ 1 /=" £ © s o I to i P a ca o X 1 <£ *w s 8 %. ^2 cs 2| * ,3 fco„; 0£ p a • H CO -d ^s Q 03 3 6 *.£ / & m (3 5 n &0 o a ■ 25 > ■a O r%A^ O jj s id o- o 0* H o a "a d! a m 8s &8 ai a o 0-: 60 H a> *S- (0 1= 3 'A s_ c o o = '■3 h £ jO- a o' o fi> £ cob] CD a kfl iH a V h 00 -> o o ^ &1 e 05 © .3 a! hi "a K a 5 3 w H W ■S> O ■w W o « ^ <*> V ^ o 02 o a .a A a E C HI 3 January, February, March, . April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, 1 as 0) w MS '■1 &2 o3 ?H Pi o 1-3 -P CD 1-1 ■* » o W ■r-4 P H O t"B n 03 s« (1) M •H Pi n Ctf 03 Ph D CO 3 o y TJ CSS o ^ 1— 1 •H ai # a e a co E-H c g Eld -_, O m W OOB offl feet- *1 Folio of Riilroad Co's Ledger. § s ^J H 3 Ci S ^ « a" a * a M (4 3- s 5h CO a «. «. «, O (jn « a ,„ W> I* ■*3 ■a c •-Ja o2 < Is ll S o <3 CD Q o §■3 60 "3 o j to © a Agfa and ■'ond't'r's Ledger. ^ 3 «. e 09 a CD * t— a M h i-i a Qi 3 - t- O g O « 3 8 |-5 1 SO m o oa P 3 I 8 o o m <3> a OS Fol' Ac'u Con Led oof t's* dVs S3 I .a H.S ^ o «i s c *, ^ ^ s is ^ ^ a ■S 8 a o> BALANCE.* (Dr. in Black Ink.) (Cr. in Red Ink.) By amount Charges Advanced on Freight Forwarded. Total Amount to Debit. To amount due on uccount of Overcharges Unrefunded. To amount Prepaid Freight Forwarded. To ninount Advanced Charfrps on Freight Kec'd. To amount, Unpaid Freight Received. Amount Collections fo; Loading, "Unloading and Transferring Cars, Switching, Storage Dockage,Deniurruge,fcc, Folio of Agents' and Conductors' Ledger. •5 s =■ 2* pi e? to c V >. si o CD ^ ^ Q "a M « tf ft! s « BALANCE.* ( Ur. in Black Tuk.) (Cr. in Red Ink.j Total Amount to Credit. T&y nmount their proportion of Pro- paid Freight Received by them. By amount their Charges Advanced on Freight For- warded by them. " By amount due Foreign Co's acc't their proportion of Freight Forwarded. Total Amount to Debit, To amount our Proportion of Pre- paid Freight Received. * To amount our Charges Advanced on Freight Forwarded. * 1 *■ To amount of - our Proportion of Unpaid Freight Forwarded. -a ° 9 1.1 Folio of R. R. | Co's Ledger. i „ Hi i o 1-3 o < m o 5q M Ph * s ^ «, o © o a Q g <1 o o ••-> Ph ■s h1 > t S3* u c8 ■ b fi"S CO O s-3 5 '3 \ 2(8 «ss p s h ' H I s © sj e ry *w s °> a: "^ => oo ■< UJ DC 1— -J s u 3: 3 cud g O Ir- on UJ H us • r—i . " *- s 'S t a P3 cs (=1 >-3 CO i — i -*! (=1 CO I — I -< P=i CO p> -si !Z5 ■< i-3 1-3 pq CO o CO .1-3 l-H «H 00 CO 7Jl3 I o CD CO 0) ci ® T ti ^ -^ 3 K (h a a f^B*«i s'S s-S ffg »^ I, — 3 - 8 £ © .52 ■* « Og -^ « f -S 53 ■d g g tuotD 5 M «-< !□ « £_Q P CD k£8£ § a C 8i3-3 » o> ™ (D-d -o,2 ' jj ^»*3 5 g "C -p* CC .rH 03 co o • < CM 5a O m 4 a o s t) o H 1-1 M O GO s Amount. Name of Account. Freight Discount (Earnings.) Passenger Discount (Earnings.) 3«£ gag 0*% Amount. Name of Account. HO 4 H CJ Amount. Name of Road. ft ■0 V if °a ;8 CO*" P go) Ba J- o 3 00 « 00 H m & S Ph M H Sundry Ac- counts (to be specified by name.) Loss and Damage. Miscella- neous Ex- penses. Injury to Persons. r — _ Office and Station Furniture & Expen- ses. Rents. Superin- tendence. Agents & Clerks. Teaming. Q •a oq ;g ft) ■a s o at S •s s ° *3 o o a, P CD CD flr-n h (D V ED +3 tO .§& o u.S \J.a ® B ° a S sa Sot] 5B.O 5 ah afs ■s .1 SI 8 « p CO «2 5 co^ co a.SO 3js w la° «•-* a lag '3 oP *23 ■a ,n-° | «.5 0*0 "33 « 3 & 1— 1 o3 ■rH ^ £ +D 03 c3 fe 03 fH O cgPl -d ^ o3 « 5 o i— i o3 O U rt H b m o3 £ o ^> o £"*- * £ &»o »*" " ^.5 £ b"S •- 3*£Sh « § ° S S-^a ^J ^h ee ~ 3 '{* fl ■sSs.S'S'S*" 1.8 «S 1^3 ca.5 S eo ^g-gS§' ■sis -as? Is. ,B '-< B ,B .hO^ BB o*J.S S B 9 Tgr ass* gs a .-fg 8.3 ■— 'fl'iiJ-i a S » o »s"5 ^ < 3 H r/> ►af S Ol o s S ^ 13 13 QJ O £ ft! -a (q 1<5 as u o ) tH CM CO •* lO CO t- Folio of Station Agfa and Con- ductor's Ledger. Id 1 (And so on, a col- umn being pro- vided for each working day in the month.) 4th. 1 CO 1 : CN 1 | CO 1 j r-< - m "tl s d> o°SS a ■§ ft X £w*.S KgH e§^ 0) CD O » 5) CCO M '-! o m a ?fl« oo u $ a g g ^£ 5 c$ (c OOqC w o » tO - bo no . . o n —< U O £ O J CD *» CD 53*1 « £ sas _, .. CD i* S ft .2 ca cd 1 "fl * o Specimen of General Ledger Journal. GIVING THE ORIGINAL ENTRY FOR EXPRESS AND MAIL TRAFFIC. & American Express Company, To Express Earnings. For ambunt charged for transportation of freight and messengers of the American- Ex- pressCompany during the month of July,1876, upon the following named routes owned and operated by this Company, in accordance with contract of July 1, 1874, and subsequent modifications of same, for which see detailed statement on General Journal, A. N., Folio 540. Excess as per Express Company's re- ports on file. Eastern Division 1 : Blank to Clairmont, 26 days at $80.00, $2,080 00 Excess, Crcston to Parkville, " Central .Division: Clairmontto Banbury, " Wksturn Division: Banbury to Eaton, ' Excess, OakxladctoHelmBley, ' 43.00, 95.00, 75.00, 45.0(1, 95.00 1,248.00 2,470.01) 175.00 1. 950.00 100.00 1,170.00 . 45.00 U. S. Post Office Department, To Mail learnings, For this amount charged account of Mail service on the following named routes owned and operated by this Company during the month of July, '1876, on basis of rates of com ■ pensation contained in contract, taking effect July 1, 1875, for which see detailed statement on Journal A. M., Folio OifO. Kastbbn Division : Blank to Clairmont, 5.000.00 Creston to Parkville, 3,000.u0 Central Division: Clairmont to Banbury, Wkstbrn Division: Banbury to Eaton, 4,3 5 00 Oakulade to HelmBley, 2.750.00 Station Agents and Conductors, (General ledger account.) Richard Roe, Agent, Parkville, . 75.00 (Side ledger account.) To R. R. Companies and Foreign Ticket Agts., " Richard Roe, Agent, Parkville, For this amount credited to the above named agent, July 26, 1876, on General Cash Book, A. 2, Folio 02, in account of " Station Agents and Conductors;" it should have been credit- ed in account of " Kailroad Companies and Foreign Ticket Aaents," (said Roe not being an agent of this com pany ,) and is by this en try transferred to Kailroad Companies* and For- eign Ticket AgentB' Ledger. $3,428 2,645 3,325 8,000,00 6,500 00 7,07500 [Note. — The two first entries describe the manner of making the entries for Ex- press and Mail truffle upon the general booksof the company;- the last entry is merely a specimen of a transfer entry from one general account to another; each of the general accounts having a subsidiary ledger in which the detailed accounts are kept.] CD s t" r- a X u fr-t N F-. r» n Hi o i— i o Ph 02 5 § o - Folio of Gen' eral Journal or Catsh 1 look 3 O o o A D O o O fa o w S <1 g. 3 o a Folio of Gin- eral Journal or Cash Book. Pi o w o 330 correction sheet, received from Accounting Officer 314 disbursements 327 fire casualties 330 irregular payments 328 miscellaneous receipts. 280 overcharges 315 payment of vouchers and time tickets 327 Post Office collections 324 remittances 192 sales and care of tickets 264 ticket accounts 320 telegraph receipts 322 trial balance 311 way-bills - 304, 309 Stations, transfers of, instructions as to 357 Stop-OVer Tii kets 239 Summary of System . ..• 393 Superintendent, Division, office and duties of 78 General, office and duties of 59 Supervision of Agents 1 Monthly Balance-Sheets 2q8 Supplies Purchased, accounts for 398 Sureties for station agents, requirements as to 369 Telegraph Accounts, to be checked by traveling auditor 354 Telegiaph Receipts, instructions to agents as to 322 Through Way-Bills, routine as to : 455 Ticket A ccounts. routine as to 419 Ticket Agent, General, office and duties 100 Ticket Auditor, office and duties of 139. 190,430 origin of office 139 448 588 INDEX. Page. Tickets, auditing of, record books required 448 blank, directions for filling out, etc 257 collections of by conductors, manner of reporting 238 coupon, routine of accounts for 420 excursion and miscellaneous 441 foreign, no changes made in reports of 426 foreign coupon, routine as to 424 half fare 252, 268, 441 local card 437 local coupon, signification of term 420 do. routine as to 424 milk 234 milk, monthly report for. , 235 missing, routine as to 438 requisitions for 248 return, department for 430 sales and care of, rules as to 264 spoiled, routine as to 436 stop-over ". , 239 " unadjusted," routine as to 434 Ticket Book, local 249 coupon ■ 253 Ticket Report, coupon monthly 261 local daily 254 local weekly 255 local monthly 258 Ticket Punches ... 246 Tracers {freight} 227 Train Report of Freight Carried 207 Traffic Manager, Office and Duties of r3 Transfer Accounts at junctions, system for 375 advantages of do 379 Transler Balance-sheets, used by traveling auditors in trans- ferring stations, instructions as to 359 Transfer Balance-Wheels, nature of the adjusting transfer entry. 365 Traveling Auditors, Instructions to, as to : - accounts at junction stations 375 character of bond required irom agents 3^8 checking accounts out of balance 343 checking balance sheet 312 installation of new agents 357 personal examinations 333 prompt collection of charges on freight 302 reports required of examinations, etc 286 INDEX. 589 Page. Travt- ling Auditors, Instructions to, as to ; transfer, etc., of stations 357 should be subordinate to Accounting Officer 140 Treasurer, office and duties of 44 Treasury Department of U.S. Government, system of checks in. 122, 134 Treatment of Delinquent Agents.. 202 Trial Balance-Sheet, agent's, to be made monthly and rules for. . 311 Uncollected Freight Bills, List of 271 Uncollected Tickets, routine as to 438 U. S. Army, purchase of supplies system 122 U. S. Governmentwsystem of accounts 134 Utility of the Ledger .- 401 Value of Return Ticket Department 430 Vai ietie* of systems in vogue 387 "Variety of Freight Traffic 171 Various Pei sons accounts, routine as lo 281 Versatility of the General Ticket Agent ,, 103 Vx Report of (Agents') 2 Earning*, Freight, Daily Report of (Agents') 25 Elevators, Record of Bulk Grain delivered to (Agents') 38 Envelope for Stop-over Check 8 Excursion Tieket 44 Expense Bill, Freight (Agents') 19 Fares Collected, Conductor's Report of. 5 Foreign Coupons, Record Book of (General Office) 60 Freight, Arrival of, Notice to Consignees (Agents') 18 Bills, Uncollected, List of (Agents') 54' Carried, Train Report of (Conductors') 57 Correction Sheet for Way-Bills (Agents') 14 do. do. do. Freight Auditor's 15 Earnings, Daily Report of (Agents') 25 Received for Shipment, Receipt for 10 Freight Expense Bill (Agents') 19 Freight Forwarded Book. (Agents') 16 Monthly Abstract (Agents') 22 and Received, Abstract Book for (Agents) 21 do. Monthly Report ( Agents') 24 Freight Journal, Agents (General Office) 64 Railroad Companies' (General Office) 65 Freig lit Overch arge Book (Agents') 26 Freight Overcharges, Quarterly Report of (Agents') 27 Freight Received, Monthly Abstract of (Agents') 23. and Forwarded, Monthly Report (Agents') 24 and Forwarded, Abstract Book for (Agents') 21 and Receipt Book (Agents') 17 Freight Report for "Bad Order" Freight (Agents') 34 for "Over" Freight (Agents') 31 do. do. Accounted for (Agents') 32 for " Short " Freight (Agents') 29 for "Short " Freight Received (Agents') 30 Freight Tracing She* t (Agents') 28 Freight Unclaimed and Refused, Monthly Report for (Agents') 33 Freight Way-Bill (Agents*) 12 for Live Stock (Agents') 13 for Bulk Grain, etc., Notice of Extensions of (Agents') 37 Transfer, for J unctions 20 Grain in Bulk, Delivered Elevators, Record of (Agents') 38 Notice to Forwarding Agents of Extensions to Way-Bills 37 INDEX TO FORMS. 593 No. of Form. General Cash Book (General Office) 74 General Led ger Journal (General Office) 76 Inter-Division Ticket 43 Journal, Car Mileage, Railroad Companies* (General Office) 66 Conductors' (General Office) 63 Freight, Agents' (General Office) 64 do. Railroad Companies' (General Office) 65 General (General Office) 76 of Disbursements for Pay-Rolls and for Material Disbursed, etc. (General Office) 72 of Miscellaneous Labor (General Office) 71 Ticket, Agents' (General Office) 62 Tickets, Railroad Companies' (General Office) l 61 Junctions, Transfer Way- Bill for (Agents') 20 Labor, Miscellaneous, journal of (General Office) 71 Ledger (General Office) 77 Railroad Companies' Details of Miscellaneous Accounts on (General Office) 68 Ledger Journal, General (General Office) 76 Live-Stock Way-Bill, with Stub (Agents') 13 Local Card Ticket 40 Local Coupons, Record Book of (General Office) 58 Local Ticket Book (Agents') 45 Local Tickets, Daily Report of (Agents') 47 Weekly Report of (Agents') 48 Monthly Report of (Agents') '. 49 Material Disbursed at Shops, Storehouse, Track and Roadway, Journal of Disbursements for, and for Pay-Rolls (General Office). 72 ]Hilk Tickets (Agents') 35 Monthly Report of ( \gents') -. 36 miscellaneous Accounts on Railroad Companies' Ledger, Details of (General Office) 68 Miscellaneous Labor, Journal of (General Office) 71 Monthly A bstract, Freight Forwarded (Agents') 22 Freight Received (Agents') 23 Monthly Bala net -Sheet, for Agents 52 Notice to Agents of Differences in 75 Monthly Report, Coupon Tickets (Agents') ■. 50 Local Tickets (Agents') 49 Freight Forwarded and Received (Agents') 24 Freight Over, Unclaimed and Relused (Agents') 33 M ilk Tickets (Agents') 3 6 Cash Credited Agents (Agents') S3 Monthly Statement of Foreign Tickets Sold (General Office) 59 594 INDEX TO FORMS. No. of F6rm. Notice to Agents of Diflerencesjn Monthly Balance-Sheet (General Office) 75 to Forwarding Agents, of Extensions of Bulk Grain Way-Bills, etc. (Agents') 37 to Consignees of Arrival of Freight (Agents') ; 18 "Over" Freight, Report for (Agents') 3* Accounted for, Report for (Agents') 32 Overcharge Book, Freight (Agents') 26 Overcharges, Freight, Quarterly Report of (Agents') 27 Pay-Rolls, Journal of Disbursements for, and for Materials, etc. (Gen- eral Office) • 7 2 Quarterly Report of Freight Overcharges (Agents') 27 Railroad Companies' Car Mileage Journal (General Office). ...... 66 Freight Journal (General Office) 65 Ticket Journal (General Office) 61 Ledger, Details of Miscellaneous Accounts on (General Office) 6g Receipt for Advanced Charges Paid 9 Freight Received for Shipment. ..; 10 Receipt Book for Freight Delivered (Agents') 17 Record of Bulk Grain Delivered Elevators (Agents') .-. 38 of Cash Received from Agents and Conductors (General Office) 73 Record Book of Advanced Charge Checks Outstanding Unpaid (General Office) 67 of Foreign Coupons (General Office) 60 of Local Coupons (General Office) 7 58 "Refused" Freight, and Unclaimed, Monthly Report of (Agentb'J. 33 Register of Various Persons Bills (General Office) 70 of Vouchers (General Office) 69 Remittance Slip (Agents') 1 (Conductors') - 4 Requisition for Small Change (Agents') 6 for Tickets (Agents') , 39 Roadway, Material Disbursed for, etc., Journal of Disbursements fur, etc , etc. (General Office '. 72 Round-Trip Ticket 41 Shops, Material Disbursed at, Journal of Disbursements for, etc., etc. (General Office). 1 72 Shop Clerk *, Bonds for 56 "Short" Freight, Report for (Agents') 29 Received, Report for (Agents') 30 State mint of Cash Credited Agents, Monthly (Agents') : .. 53 of Tickets Sold, Monthly (General Office) 59 Station Agents (see Agents at d heads desired). Stations, Transfer Balance-Sheet for (Traveling Auditors') 51 Stop-Over Check 7 Envelope for INDEX TO FORMS, 595 No. of Form. Storehouse, Materials Disbursed at, Journal of Disbursements for, etc., etc. (General Office) 7 a Storekeeper, Bond for 56 Tickets, Book 42 Coupon, Monthly Report for (Agents') 50 Excursion 44 Inter-Division 43 Local Card 40 Local, Daily Report for (Agents') 47 do. Weekly Report for (Agents') 48 do. Monthly Report for (Agents') 49 Mile ; 35 ' Milk, Monthly Report of (Agents') 36 Record Book of Foreign Coupons (General Office) 60 Requisition for (Agents') 39 Round Trip 41 Statement of Sold (General Office) 59 Stop-over 7 Ticket Book, Coupon (Agents') fc . ..... e 46 Local (Agents') 45 Ticket Journal, Agents' (General Office) 62 Railroad Companies' (General Office) 01 Tracing Sheet, Freight (Agents') f . . . 28 Track, Material Disbursed for, Journal of Disbursements for, etc., etc. (General Office) 72 Train Report of freight Carried (Conductors') 57 Transfer Balance Sheet, for Transferring Stations 51 - Transfer "Way-Bill for Junctions 20 Treasurer, Local, Cash Credited to Agents, Monthly Statement 53 Unclaimed Freight, and Refused, Monthly Report of (Agents') 33. Uncollected Freight Bills at Station, List of (Agents') 54 Various Persons Bills, Register of (General Office) 70 Vouchers, Register of (General Office) , 69 Way-Bills, Freight (Agents') 12 Agents' Correction Sheet for (Agents') 14 Bulk Grain, etc., Notice to Forwarding Agents of Extensions (Agents') 37 Freight Auditor's Correction Sheet for (General Office) 15 Live-Stock, with Stub (Agents') 13 Station Record Book for (Agents') "16 Transfer, for Jqnctigns (Agents') . , , , , , . ■ . - 1 20 Railroad Gazette PUBLICATIONS. ANY BOOK on Railroad or Engineering work will be sent on receipt of retail price. Address and make checks and orders payable to The Railroad Gazette, yj Broadway, New York. Railroad Gazette, published weekly ; the best Railroad and General Engineer- ing Paper published in America. $4.20 per year. Specimen copies free. BOOKS. Catechism of the Locomotive. By M. N. Forney. 625 pages, 250 Engrav- ings. Priee $2.50. Economic Theory of the location of Railways. By A. M. 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Describing the duties of station agents, conductors and clerks, in connection with the finances and accounts, and explaining the sources of railway revenue ; the avenues through which it flows into the treasury ; the records that must be kept ; the general balance sheet or summary of accounts required and the checks and safeguards that should surround the collection and custody of corporate funds. " Although our institutions vary very much in this respect with those existing in the United States, we admit that the perusal of his book, which treats a rather dry subject in a very interesting manner, offers to the profession many useful and vaoiable sugeestions." — Journal of the German . Railway Administration Society (Berlin), 1877. " Our author ha** the ability to tell, in a clear, interesting style, what he wishes his readers to know, so that throughout the book the attention is kept active and is rewarded." — Bankers* Magazine, Nov., 1877. " The work is, * * * not only a guide in every way trustworthy and useful to perplexed railway auditors, accountants, and Wall street, but ev(;ry investor in railway securities should po sess a copy, not only as a work of refer- ence, but as a handy volume from which he may be enabled to acquire such technical knowledge as he may need concerning one of the most important branches of railway economy." — Public Accounts. Railway Finances and Accounts — Disbursements. 260 pages ; price $2.00. Explaining what becomes of the revenue of a railway company, or the items that make up its expenditures ; how they should be apportioned to the divisions of a road ; also the extent of the dis- bursement accounts ; the manner of keeping them and by whom they should be kept. " Another companion volume by the same author and publishers, h ' Railway Disbursements,' a work containing direct and comprehensive rules and for keep- ing the disbursement accounts of a railroad." — Commercial and Financial Chronicle (New York). " If a complete and satisfactory system of keeping accounts were all that is required * * * we should recommend all committees of Enelish bondholders of American railways, and all holders of American railway securities generally, to unite and insist upon the adoption of the suggestions for keeping accounts set forth by Mr. Kirkman in the little work before us." — The London Railway Neius. «We * * * receive with pleasure this valua le addition to American class literature, at the same time commending Mr Kirkman for the energy and spirit displayed by him in thus sharing with the public the benefits of his long experience. "-^-Noah's Sunday Times, Nov. 25, 1877. (tit.) ftailway Service— Trains and Stations. 280 pages ; price #2.00, Illustrating the importance of uniform rules, and explaining the duties of officials and employers in connection with the train service ; also the rules and regulations to be observed by them. It describes the manner of organizing and operating trains ; the signals required ; the general regulations that should govern the management of the freight and passenger traffic ; including the management of trains by telegraphic orders. " He is writing for American readers, and much that he says will be new to most of ours. Jn order to offer the broadest view of his subjects, he has been careful to add copious foot-notes to his text, in the form of quotations from the rule books of the leading English and continental lines, by means of which his readers may trace the points of difference between the American system and that of loreigners." — London Railway Sheet and Official Gazette, Sept 14, 1878. "The author has already acquired a great reputation by similar writings. * * *_ The author's intimate knowledge of railway matters, and the care with which he prepared his book render it especially valuable to the profession." — Journal of the German Railway Administration Society (Berlin), Sept. 20, 1878, page 968. " * * * The book will be read with much interest by those connected with the Railway service; its details are numerous and well connected." — La "Revue Industrielle, Paris, Sept. 11, 1878. "The work is manifestly likely to serve a useful purpose. * * * The general public has but a faint conception of the ceaseless vigilance necessary to render the operation of important railways safe and efficacious, and while Mr. Kirkman's book will furnish useful informrtion on this subject to all who desire it, it also suggests numerous useful modifications, improvements or additions, which are worthy of the attention of railway officials." — Railway World, Aug. 17, 1878. "'Railway Service* fully maintains the reputation which its author has ac- quired by his other works." — London Railway News, 1878. " The book is an invaluable compendium of the present state of knowledge of the science of which it treats, and no railroad man can afford to be without it " — The Railroader, J uly, 1878. "The book must commend itself to railway employees generally." — Hera- path's Railway Journal (England), Aug. 3, 1878. "The author appears to have intelligently and conscientiously performed his part in the preparation of this volume by availing himself of the regulations of all the great companies of the United States and England that affect train and station service, and entenng'minutely into the requirements of well-regulated railroad operations." — The Chicago Evening Journal, July zo, 1878. "The instruction as to timing of trains, regulation of speed under special circumstances, the causes to be recognized as governing tram movements, pro- tection of trains in event of obstruction or accident, with the characteris ics and significance of signals, will be found of a highly disciplinary character." — 'Ike Engineering and Mining' Journal, Ozt. 5, 1878, "The book has an excellent chapter on the English, and another on the Austrian service. It shows, indeed, a wide knowledge of the subject oil the part of the author." — Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1878. . "Here will be found details of the various- systems of signalling, pointing, issue of tickets and collection of fares, and all other matters that come within the sphere of railroad organization. Considering the transatlantic origin, of the book, it is surprising how well the author has invested it with interest for the English' reader."— Railway Service Gazette (England), Aug. 9, 1878. (IV.) Railway Service— Baggage Car Traffic. 270 pages ; price $2.00. This book illustrates the peculiar features of the Baggage Depart- ment and its accessories, including baggage-car traffic ; also the Parcel Traffic or Express Business of railroads in this country and Europe, and describing the duties of officials and operatives con- nected therewith. A prominent feature in this book is the new sources of railway revenue it calls attention to and provides for. "The work is an exhaustive treatise, written in popular style, on the American system of handling baggage. * * * There is w