The success of this Baltimore & Ohio reorganization plan was very largely due to the time at which it was put through. In other words, the reorganization was completed just when an unparalleled era of prosperity was fairly under way. The moderate reduction in fixed charges which it secured proved more than adequate when earnings rapidly grew. The net earnings of the property for the year ending June 30, 1898, were estimated at $7,724,758, and the new fixed charges were set at $6,252,351.[77] Net earnings for 1899 were $6,621,599. In 1900, on a mileage 11 per cent greater, they were $12,359,443, and fixed charges were $6,831,463 only. In subsequent years, with an increase both in mileage and in earnings, the margin between charges and income further increased. In 1903 $3,500,000 were spent out of earnings for additions and improvements; $7,370,482 were declared in dividends; and $2,947,681 were carried to surplus. In 1907 $3,000,000 were spent in additions and improvements, $6,965,245 paid in dividends, $7,480,385 carried to surplus. This situation was in no way due to the reorganization plan, and would have restored the company to solvency even if no reorganization had taken place. It may be said that the receivership did much to enable the road to take advantage of the later prosperity. The character of the receivers’ work has been mentioned. By June 30, 1899, they had spent as much as $17,000,000 for cars alone, $2,500,000 for locomotives, $2,100,000 for rails, and other sums for improvements and renewals of all kinds. The maintenance of way pay-rolls in three years amounted to nearly $12,000,000, and the total expenditure aggregated about $35,000,000; of which $15,000,000 were secured by the issue of receivers’ certificates, and the balance through car trusts, earnings from the property, and from the reorganization managers.[78] This was an indispensable and invaluable preliminary to a growth in earnings, but was, however, distinct from the financial problems of reorganization. In brief, the Baltimore & Ohio increased its nominal capitalization more, and reduced its fixed charges less than any of the seven other reorganizations of the nineties which we shall consider except the Erie. Its need was perhaps less crying, but not sufficiently so to explain the difference.