Q. Do you not think that the best way to prove this complaint would be to show that you are not receiving due compensation?--A. If I was keeping a boarding house and you came to me and I agreed to give you two meals a day, and you afterwards exacted four, because you are mightier than I in forcing it, would it be necessary for me to prove that I was giving you something that you were not entitled to under your contract? Q. You ought to show us what your net profits are.--A. _It is impossible._ By the CHAIRMAN: Q. General Catchings calls your attention to this: In your direct examination I asked you if you had any suggestions to make to this commission in the matter of changes of law. You said you thought the law should be so changed as to increase your compensation to an adequate sum. Now, in answer to General Catchings, you say that it is remunerative; he asks you how much you make, and you can not tell; then he asks you why you recommend a change in the law if you will not tell the commission what you are now making by it, and if you can tell what your profits in carrying the mail are. That is what General Catchings is anxious to have you tell. By Mr. CATCHINGS: Q. I would like very much to know if we are under-paying these roads; we would like to pay them.--A. You ask a question that there is nobody but Omniscience could answer, because there is no possible method by which you can determine accurately what the cost is of carrying traffic. The Government did pretend at one time to divide the expense of operating as between passenger and freight, but finally abandoned it. Now, if you can not determine the cost between passenger and freight, how can you determine it between mail and other kinds? Q. There is one thing certain; if the roads can not determine it, the Government can not.--A. Is it not true that, in matters of this kind, no one would expect anything definite in the absence of definite information? Q. I do not see why you can not figure as well the cost of carrying these mails as you can the cost of carrying the express packages. I do not see why it ought to be more difficult for you to determine that.--A. There is not any single thing that a railroad carries, from a first class passenger to a cord of stone, that it can tell accurately what the cost is. _Tariffs are a matter of evolution._ Q. At least, your road is better off than the Flint and Pere Marquette, for they carry at a loss and you carry at a profit--A. I did not say we carry at a profit; but I say that is my judgment, sir.