of the property at all--that no logical distinction of expense even as between passenger and freight traffic is possible. This being so, how futile it is to expect to be able to set off the expenses due to any particular portion either of freight or passenger service, and especially to any individual shipment. It may oftentimes be possible to determine the _extra_ cost due to individual shipments. This, of course, mainly applies to what are called movement expenses. Thus the haulage cost of a 2,000-ton grain train from Chicago to New York has been estimated at $520. But how small a part this is of the total cost, the preceding analysis must have made clear. In the Texas Cattle Raisers' case, detailed analysis of the extra cost for the traffic in cattle was presented.[49] The starting point in this attempt was necessarily an allocation of freight and passenger expenditures, which, if defective, would vitiate the entire subsequent calculation as to costs. In this instance, it was the judgment of the Interstate Commerce Commission in its final decision in 1908, that no such separation of expenditures was possible as a basis for the determination of cost of service. FOOTNOTES: [29] _Quarterly Journal of Economics_, XXII, 1908, p. 364 _et. seq._ [30] U. S. Statistics of Railways, 1908, p. 165 (and annually thereafter), gives an outline of these expense accounts for all railways over five hundred miles long. [31] Treated in vol. II, chap. XV. Begins in U. S. Statistics of Railways, 1909, p. 76. [32] Changes in accounting rules in 1907 prevent its continuation to date; but the data for 1909 under the new system are reproduced alongside. [33] U. S. Statistics of Railways, 1908, p. 165, and annually thereafter gives data for all large roads. [34] The sharp decline in traffic in 1911, especially after the suspended advance of rates, as affecting maintenance expenditures per mile of road, is shown as follows: =================================== | 1911 | 1910 -------------------+-------+------- Baltimore & Ohio | $5931 | $6336 Union Pacific | 3296 | 3363 Great Northern | 2375 | 2653 New York Central | 8681 | 8087 Northern Pacific | 2451 | 3413 Pennsylvania | 9088 | 9792 Multiplying these differences into thousands of miles of line shows the great economy resulting. [35] _Cf._ pp. 259 and 422, _infra_. [36] The provision of plant and equipment to carry the "peak of the load" is often a serious handicap. [37] For an instance of detailed analysis of cost, the general investigation of soft coal rates to the lakes in 1912 is highly suggestive. Two-thirds of revenue went for operation and maintenance, one-third for return upon plant. This was the first attempt to justify an advance in rates for a large volume of traffic on the ground that it did not contribute its proportionate share of earnings. 22 I.C.C. Rep., 604.