In the matter of interest on the capital employed the railways have apparently enjoyed an advantage which would seem to offset the natural tendency of interest rates to rise in response to the stimulus of augmented cost, in dollars and cents, of the commodities entering into the budget of expenditures of the average recipient of interest--that is to say, the advantage growing out of the fact that a large proportion of railway capital is secured under long-time contracts and that many of the contracts now in force unquestionably run back to a time before the extensive depreciation of the American dollar began. This advantage is a real one, but its extent is easily exaggerated. For the purpose of throwing light upon the effect upon the cost of railway transportation of the rise in interest rates which has characterized recent years an analytical study of railway indebtedness (including guaranteed dividends) amounting, in the aggregate, to $9,499,099,065 has been made. This sum represents indebtedness now outstanding and includes some duplication owing to the fact that certain of the securities represented in the aggregate are themselves based upon other securities deposited as collateral or held in the treasuries of the corporations making the secondary issues; duplication which could not be eliminated without adding vastly to the difficulty of the inquiry with no corresponding gain in the accuracy of the result. These data are also subject to the qualification necessarily due to the fact that all of the issues included were not sold at par. In some cases a small premium was doubtless obtained and in other cases a slight discount was required, but, nevertheless, it is believed that the data fairly indicate the general change in interest rates on capital loaned to railways. Of the total outstanding indebtedness of $9,499,099,065 the portion incurred during the years 1897 to 1908, inclusive, amounts to $5,466,340,252, or 57.55 per cent. The following table shows the amounts incurred at the different rates during each of the years named: Rate of Interest and Amount Incurred During Year and Outstanding. Year. 6½ per cent. 6 per cent. 5 per cent. 4½ per cent.