RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION 517 
Receipts Per Ton-Mile, by Districts. } 
Average receipts per ton-mile constitute a rough index of the 
general level of freight rates, weighted in accordance with the volume 
of the various items comprising the traffic and the distance carried, 
although a change in the character of traffic may change average 
receipts when actual rates remain constant. The year 1921 showed 
she highest average receipts, since which time there has been in 
each year a decline in all districts, except in the eastern from 1923 
to 1924. In no district, however, has the average fallen below that 
for 1920. 
Compared with 1913 the general average for 1925—1.098 cents 
per ton-mile—is higher by 53 per cent. This is somewhat less than 
the general increase in the average level of wholesale prices, which, 
in 1925, was 58.7 per cent above 1913. The differences in average 
receipts as among the districts are partly due to differences in the 
character of freight handled. The southern district includes the 
roads of the Pocahontas region which have a very large volume of 
coal at a low average cost per ton-mile. 
Table B.—Average Receipts per Ton per Mile of Class I Railways (Cents) 
Total 
Jnited 
States 
District 
District 
Year 
East- 
ern 
South- 
ern 
West- 
arn 
Year 
Total 
Jnited 
States 
East- 
arn 
South- 
ern 
West- 
ern 
0181 (eemaeans 
OLE E, cv mmmmsc 
MEL in mami 
61, eae 
Po enn 
JY Testi ition 
me 
).719 0.628 
(723.633 
722.648 
707 | 647 
07.646 
15.663 
e410 R13 
0. 674 
, 668 
630 
619 
622 
635 
MRR 
). 8" 
892% 
, 878 
, 842 
. 83€ 
.824 
044 
in .——— -— 
WII 
2 ees 
gon. TTT 
.973 0.014 0.873 L098 
L052 1.020 .909, L170 
L275 1.243 L079 | L422 
L177, L172] .980| 1.202 
L116 | L104 | .o59 | 19297 
Lue | Liez| Cees! 1208 
1. 008 L 108 928 1. 19F 
| Years ended June 30; others are calendar years. 
Source: Interstate Commerce Commission. 
EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES 
The average number of Class I railway employees in 1925 was 
1,746,000, as compared with 1,755,000 in 1924 and 1,858,000 in 1923. 
The total compensation paid to employees in 1925 was $2,860,000,000, 
as compared with $2,828,000,000 and $3,005,000,000 in 1924 and 1923, 
respectively. For the year ended June 30, 1913, the average num- 
ber of employees was 1,759,000 and the wages paid totaled $1,339,- 
000,000. In 1920 the average number of employees was 2,023,000 
and the total compensation $3,682,000,000. These data exclude 
switching and terminal companies. 
There was thus a reduction in both total compensation and em- 
ployees from 1923 to 1924, and a further reduction in employees 
between 1924 and 1925 but an increase of $32,000,000 in wages 
pald. Comparing these changes with those in volume of traffic it is