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CONCLUSIONS.

In this volume will be found a record of the operations of steam railroads, electric or street railways, telegraph and telephone companies and fragmentary records of what is left of the canals of Pennsylvania. The report covers a year ending the 30th of June, 1906. There has also been included in the report a record of some of the complaints and investigations which have been made after the close of the fiscal year up to the time of sending the last manu. scrip of this report to the State Printer.

Every salient feature of transportation and transmittal companies, classified as above indicated, is included in this report, either in the published extracts from the report or in the consolidated table. It is not possible to publish all the details, or complete copies of all the reports of companies which are filed in this office. If this were done it would make five volumes of the size of that in which this report is contained.

Great care has been exercised by the officers, clerks and employes of the Bureau of Railways in assembling and compiling the data which is exhibited in the consolidated tables. Some errors may be found, but it is a satisfaction to know that they will be exceedingly few in comparison with the limitless opportunities for making errors, and this fact reflects great credit upon those who Lave performed the work of assembling, compiling and consolidating the information contained in each report of these public corporations.

Beyond the question of accuracy and the convenient arrangement of data, there is presented in this report in the most convenient manner possible an exhibit of the wonderful magnitude of these transportation corporations. They are a power in the commercial world and in financial centers and are no small contributors to the magnitude of Pennsylvania, because they are not excelled in any State of the union as to the amount of capitalization, assets, public functions performed, revenues, expenses, dividends paid, or any other of the features of transportation which denote greatness of public services rendered and functions performed.

Some observations have been made by the Secretary of Internal Affairs beyond those which relate to capitalization, assets, liabilities, receipts and expenditures, operations, etc. These observations relate to the question of transportation in general, to the part common carrier corporations play in the affairs of the world, in the advancement of commerce and the relations which exist between common carriers, the State and the Nation. These observations have been made as a result of a study of the subjects re ferred to, made by the present Secretary of Internal Affairs, covering a period of twenty years. How these expressions and views relating to common carrier corporations and public supervision by State and Nation may read twenty years hence is conjecture. They are the results of the best thought which the Secretary has been able to devote to them after the experience and study, as before indicated, covering a period of two decades.

In the rapidity with which conditions change, in the increase of power of steam locomotives, in the change of power for street railways, in electric developments and the introduction and utilization of electricity for a motive power and in many other things which might be referred to, all that has been said in this report may seem to be "flat, stale and unprofitable" twenty years hence, but if this shall prove to be the case then it must be understood that what we say and what we do in sincerity in these times is done with reference to conditions as they exist now, in other words our point of view now' of things relating to transportation is the year 1906. The year 1926 will produce a new point of view from which the student in political economy will no doubt promulgate views and doctrines in regard to the transportation of passengers and commodities at great variance with those which are included in this report for the year ending June 30, 1906. Such have been the experiences of the past and undoubtedly changes will come whereby what we say today may seem frail in the near future.

It has been a great experience, a great opportunity, to study year by year covering a period of two decades, the figures which relate to the construction, the operation, the growth, the development and the business of street railways in Pennsylvania.

The unknown quantity to-day is electricity, and this not only because it has revolutionized the affairs of street railway corporations, but because of the fact that nobody can comprehend what its uses will be, not only on lines of transportation which are now street railways and those which are steam, but in many other directions in which there is a probability that it will become an important factor. It is but a few years ago that the present Secretary of Internal Affairs read a paper before the National Association of Railway Commissioners as to the development of electricity and the possibility of its introduction as a power upon the steam railroads in general. It was written from the point of view of, say, ten years ago, but in the light of subsequent events the best that can be said of it is that it shows how little even experienced electrical engineers knew so short a time ago about electricity. So, looking back over a period of twenty years we observe great changes, the old uses gone and new uses and powers introduced.

On steam railways the change has not been so decisive as yet. However, to operate a steam railroad from the point of view of 1887 would be to deprive the passenger and the shipper of much that conserves their interests to-day and would undoubtedly lead the corporations into the hands of the railroad sequestrator. The improved facilities and instrumentalities, the efforts to make everything convenient to the public, the increased facilities of cars and the increase of the power of locomotives, the reconstruction and the strength of road beds, bridges and all structures mark most decisively the fact that great changes have come on steam railroads in the period of twenty years, and as has been observed with reference to street railways, it has been an interesting study to observe the changes in the relation of steam railroads to the public and the exercise of governmental control over these great transportation companies of our country.

Following in the footsteps of progress on the lines of the Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia and Reading, the Lehigh Valley, the Erie, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, as we pass on from year to year we shall discover developments and advancements which have kept the pace if not the lead in all the industrial and commercial affairs of the State of Pennsylvania. Without these corporations and their instrumentalities the dawn of the twentieth century would not see the people of Pennsylvania, in all that makes a people great, occupying the most advanced lines in industrial affairs. Truly, the last twenty years in Pennsylvania mark a wonderful epoch in the existence of the Keystone State.

The Bureau of Railways has kept pace in these advancements since its formation. It has been crippled in the discharge of the duties belonging to it because of the fact that little assistance has been given by the Legislature to enable it to successfully perform its proper functions. Notwithstanding these unfavorable conditions, the exhibit of its work, which is shown through the reports of the last twenty years will carry some conviction as to the fidelity with which the duties pertaining to that Bureau have been discharged by its officers, clerks and employes. To these, entirely independent of what has been done by the present Secretary or by him in the capacity of Deputy Secretary and Superintendent of the Bureau of Railways, is due to a very large extent the credit which time will surely afford the Bureau of Railways of the Department of Internal Affairs.

Mr. W. W. Morgaridge, the present Assistant Superintendent of the Bureau of Railways, has been connected with the Bureau since 1892. Then a young man, having arrived at his majority, he at once seemed to grasp the importance of the work and it may be said of him that he has been efficient, devoted and constant in his efforts to immediately supervise the affairs of the Bureau, especially in assembling the statistical features as they appear in the consolidated tables

Mr. W. A. Neale has been in the Bureau for some eight or ten years. His devotion to his work deserves the highest commendation as does also that of Captain Thomas Wilson, a veteran of the Civil War, and of Mr. Robert Henderson, who has only been connected with the Bureau for a few years.

To these and to the others who have been employed, either permanently or temporarily, in the Bureau of Railways, the Secretary is greatly indebted for a work which he believes to be of no little credit to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Respectfully submitted,

ISAAC B. BROWN, Secretary of Internal Affairs. BUREAU OF RAILWAYS.

Department of Internal Affairs.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

Harrisburg, January 1, 1907.

Hon. Isaac B. Brown, Secretary of Internal Affairs of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:

Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith the reports of the corporations operating the Steam Railways, Electric and Passenger Railways, Telegraphs, Telephones and Canals, with condensed tables and comparative statements covering the details of operations for the year ending June 30, 1906, for transmission to the General Assembly, as required by law.

Very truly yours,

THEODORE B. KLEIN, Superintendent Bureau of Railways.

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