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TRANSPORTATION IN NEW ENGLAND

that one station each week equal the total population of Boston.

To have this great transportation machine work smoothly, with the fewest points of obstruction and interruption—the least amount of friction—and with the greatest harmony among all its constituent parts, means, in the long run, the furnishing of the best transportation service to the people of New England.

The operating revenues of all of the properties for the last fiscal year were in round numbers $155,000,000, The operating expenses were $112,000,000. Of operating expenses approximately $66,000,000, or 59 per cent, was paid in wages,—an average payment to each employee of about $700 a year. The remaining 41 per cent, or $46,000,000, was paid for fuel, supplies, etc., but a large part of it goes indirectly to labor engaged in the production of the materials purchased. This large payroll is an important factor to the communities served by the properties, as much of the money finds its way each month to merchants and

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