as the railways of the country in detail and in aggregate. In this case we shall eventually have valuations of properties as they were in 1914.
In the meanwhile the Interstate Commerce Commission has made only one statement on this subject, which occurred “In the matter of the applications of carriers in official Southern, and Western classification territories for authority to increase rates,” submitted July 6, 1920, and decided July 29, 1920. In this case the Interstate Commerce Commission said:
“We find that the value of the steam-railway property of the carriers subject to the act held for and used in the service of transportation is, for
the purposes of this particular case, to be taken as approximating the following:
Eastern group, as defined by the carriers............ $ 8,800,000,000 Southern group, as defined by the carriers........... 2,000,000,000 Western group, as defined by the carriers, including
both the Western and Mountain-Pacific groups here-
in designated ............0 00. c cece eee eect eens 8,100,000,000
Total... ccc ccc cece e eee e ee eeeee $18,900,000,000 “The aggregate amount carried as book cost of road and equipment by
all classes of carriers reporting to us, as of Dec. 31, 1919, is set out below according to the territorial groups defined in the applications of the carriers:
Eastern group........... cece cee eee te ent eeees $ 9,038,194,615 Southern group............. ccc cece ccc eeeeneeeee 2,183,923,124 Western group........ 0.0 cc ccc ccc cee e eee e ee eeenes 8,818,454,872
Total, all groups............... 0. c eee eee $20,040,572,611
On this subject I invited the advice of Mr. L. F. Loree, president of the Delaware & Hudson Co., and I can not do so well as to quote in full his communication, dated Oct. 11, 1921, which I do with his permission:
1. “In this statement I have not given consideration to total market value of railroad securities, nor to the value of the railroad property determined by capitaliz-
