PARAGOULD & MEMPHIS RAILWAY. The track of the Paragould & Memphis Railway Company connects with the Cotton Belt at Cardwell, Mo., and extends from that point through Paulding, Mo., where it connects with the Frisco, and thence to Manila, Ark., where it interchanges some traffic with the Jonesboro, Lake City & Eastern, with which, however, it has no physical connection. There is a short branch extending from Card-well to a point known as Fort Scott, Ark. The length of the tap line aggregates about 27 miles. Its book valuation is $220,000, or more than $8,000 per mile. There are station buildings at Cardwell and Manila, and it uses the Frisco depot at Paulding. The tap line has 2 locomotives, 1 passenger car, 1 caboose, and 53 freight cars; 20 of the freight cars are owned, however, by the Cardwell Mill & Lumber Company. The tap line has 3 station agents, 2 train crews, and 14 trackmen.

The Paragould & Memphis Railway Company was incorporated in 1902, with an authorized capital stock of $525,000, of which $60,000 has been issued. A majority of the stock is owned by members of the Vail family, who own stock in five manufacturing companies served by the tap line, namely, the Decatur Egg Case Company, Card-well Stave Company, Buffalo Stave Company, Paulding Stave Company, and Indiana Stave Company. The tap line has also executed a first mortgage in favor of a bank, securing a loan of $25,000, and a second mortgage for $90,000, on which the interest is unpaid, in favor of the Decatur Egg Case Company. The Egg Case Company is no longer in active business, but owns considerable land and timber on the tap line or in its vicinity. At the time of the incorporation nine miles of the track was already in operation, being owned by the Egg Case Company, and turned over by it to the tap-line corporation in exchange for stock.

It is claimed that the tap line hauls very few logs for the mills of the Vail interests, which obtain their principal supply by wagon from timber from off the tap line. A considerable quantity of logs is hauled by the tap line, however, for independent mills at a charge of $1.75 and $2 per 1,000 feet, log scale, which is equivalent to 1-3/4 and 2 cents per 100 pounds. These are net rates made on the understanding that the tap line shall haul the manufactured product.

The product of the mills at Cardwell is hauled a distance of about 1 mile to the Cotton Belt, or 4 miles to the Frisco. The product of the mills at Paulding is apparently switched a short distance to the Frisco or moves about 5 miles to the Cotton Belt at Cardwell. Such traffic as is interchanged with the Jonesboro, Lake City & Eastern is drayed from one track to the other at Manila, the expense being jointly borne by the two companies.

The claim is that only 25 per cent of the traffic of the tap line is supplied by the controlling companies. It hauled during the fiscal year 1910, 75,470 tons of forest products, and also 596 tons of agricultural products moving outbound, in addition to which 404 tons of coal and 1,819 tons of supplies and miscellaneous material came in. During the same period the passenger earnings aggregated $1,553.98. There was a net surplus on June 30, 1910, of $19,727.94, which had been expended, however, in betterments. No dividends have been paid.

In this case we think the allowance on the products of the mills of the Vail companies should not exceed a reasonable switching charge, which we fixed at $3 per car on the product of the mills at Paulding and Cardwell when delivered to the trunk lines at Card-well and Paulding, respectively, and $2 per car when delivered to the nearest trunk line.