The Michigan Central

HAS BEEN MAKING MORE MONEY THE PAST YEAR.

It Set Aside $70,000 to Build a Second Track from Dexter to Ypsilanti. -- Number of Passengers Less.

The Michigan Central held its annual meeting Thursday and re-elected its old board of directors.

The annual report shows some interesting statistics. The gross earnings from all sources amounted to $14,046,148.91 an increase of $348,909.60 over the preceding year and the net earnings of the year were $3,500,176.73. Of this a pro rata share had to be turned over to the Canada Southern railway company per agreement and the total net income from traffic and rentals per share $4.40 amounted to $824,253.54.

Two dividends were declared, and these with the $70,000 set aside for double tracking the road from Dexter to Ypsilanti, left a balance over all of $4,733.64. This would have been much larger but that the taxes of the road were jumped $78,000, in round numbers, over those of 1897.

The freight statistics show a material improvement over the previous year, but the passenger business fell off. The toinage moved was 8,682,110 last year, as against 7,027,176 in 1897, and the increase in earnings amounted to $488,996.29.

The passenger department suffered in traffic both ways; on eastern business because the road would not participate in the cut rate that was maintained from St. Paul and other points to the east, and the business was diverted; and on western business because the other lines cut under the rate on Pacific coast business, and the road did not get its share. The total number of passengers moved shows an increase of 143,771, the year's figures being 2,600,032.

The computation as to the number of passengers moved one mile show a decrease of 9,899,567 as compared with 1897. The decrease in earnings on east bound business was $105,007.68, and on west bound business it amounted in round numbers to $125,000. Purely local business showed a substantial increase, jumping very nearly $90,000. The cost of moving each passenger per mile shows an increase in price. In 1897 the cheapest sort of traffic was the immigrant business, and the road moved this class for 1.02 cents per mile. Last year it was reduced in number of passengers and the receipts were 1.18 cents per mile. The rate per passenger per mile shows a very close approach to the regular two-cent-a-mile rate, as the east bound business paid 2.061 per mile, and the west bound business 2.05 per mile. This made the total average of all 2.029 for 1898, as compared with 1.948 in 1897.

The road has 1,642.53 miles of track, right of trackage of 14 miles more in Chicago and 254 miles of second track, besides 922 miles of side tracks, making a total of 2,820.52 miles all of which is laid with steel rails except 172 miles. To conduct its passenger business the road has and used 364 cars of all sorts, from the buffet sleeper to the baggage car, and it cost last year $168,558 to maintain these cars. For its freight business it used 13,862 cars, and they were maintained at an expense of $13,557. To haul all the cars, and do the switching and the like, requires 461 locomotives and these ran an average of 36,094 miles. They cost 15 cents and a fraction per mile for each mile they were run for waste, fuel and the like, and each ran about 27.7 miles on a ton of coal.