And yet, despite all these considerations, the fact that from 1909 to 1912 the net profits of the companies were from 17% to 65% of the value of their properties, coupled with the common sense knowledge that in those years there was no inward or outward compulsion upon the directors of the companies to charge one cent less than the traffic would bear, makes it certain enough for practical purposes that the express companies' profits were unethically swollen.

Whatever the profits before 1913, however, they have sadly dwindled since, as the following figures of the Interstate Commerce Commission will indicate:

The Express Companies of the United States — Part 11

Fiscal Operating Operating Net Operating Year Revenues Expenses Revenue

The Express Companies of the United States — Part 11

1909 $132,599,191 $120,305,182 $12,294,009 or 9% 1910 $146,116,316 $131,608,035 $14,508,281 or 10% 1911 $152,612,880 $141,025,251 $11,587,629 or 8% 1912 $160,121,933 $151,831,956 $8,289,977 or 5% 1913 $168,880,923 $163,088,205 $5,792,718 or 3% 1914 $158,891,327 $157,128,012 $1,763,255 or 1% 1915 $148,994,960 $145,037,555 $3,957,415 or 3% 1916 $179,206,649 $167,063,210 $12,143,439 or 6%

The Express Companies of the United States — Part 11

1916 $196,137,768 $185,523,071 $10,614,727 or 5% 1917 $229,455,188 $227,256,116 $2,199,072 or 1% 1918 ... ... $5,579,601 _Deficit_ (First five months)

NOTE:--In studying the above figures, it must be remembered that approximately one-half of the operating revenues are paid to the railroads for transportation, so that for practical purposes the ratio of the total operating revenue to the net operating revenue with respect to the direct business of the express companies--the collection of packages for the railroads and the delivery from the railroads--would be approximately twice the percentages in the above table.

_GOVERNMENT POSTAL EXPRESS VS. PRIVATE EXPRESS COMPANIES_

At certain periods of each year, the Post Office Department takes a count of the packages mailed in the parcel-post, the postage collected on them, and their total weight. These periods of count are the first two weeks in April and the first two weeks in October. By multiplying their sum by 13, we can thus obtain a fairly accurate figure for the total number of parcels mailed within the year in 1917--roughly 1,120,000,000. On the other hand, the number of parcels carried in that year by the express companies may be put at 280,000,000. (Note 1.)