Q. What does the value of the real estate stand on your books at? A. Eight hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars, in round numbers.

Q. Consisting of what? A. Buildings entirely, which are used; that is, the buildings and ground and depots are all.

Q. Your company owns the fee of the land? A. Yes; and it is entirely clear.

Q. This $900,000 is a mortgage securing those bonds? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Clear except that mortgage? A. Yes; that covers everything, of course; I mean there is no separate mortgage on it.

Q. How much dividend did you pay last year? A. Six per cent. Q. On the stock? A. Yes, sir.

Q. And 5 per cent. on the certificates? A. Yes.

Q. That stands there to-day virtually as stock issued out of the surplus? A. Yes, sir.

Q. So that the road actually last year paid upwards of 10 per cent.? A. Yes, sir.

Q. On the capital stock which was issued by it? A. Yes, sir. Q. At what is the stock of your road quoted now? A. I think it is quoted at 170, is the last I have seen in the papers.

Q. Do you know what the certificates of indebtedness are quoted at? A. I think about 103 in the same paper, was the quotation. Q. What rate of dividends have you paid for ten years? A. I think not higher than 8 per cent.

Q. Not higher than 8? A. No, sir.

Q. Has that been usually the dividend, 2 per cent. a quarter? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Up to last year? A. I think in the year 1893 I think we passed two dividends and in 1894 we passed three.

Q. At what does your equipment, including the horses, stand charged on your books? A. Three hundred and fifty-eight thousand dollars.

sir.

Q. Three hundred and fifty-eight thousand dollars? A. Yes,

Q. And your construction account stands at what? A. Three hundred and fifty-seven thousand dollars.

Q. And real estate? A. Eight hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars.

Q. Into what do you put the balance of the $3,200,000? A. The value of the franchise is the principal part of it; I might state here for your information that my recollection and knowledge — this was a charter that was given to a variety of individuals in 1863, and they afterwards, or there was a company formed, and they issued the capital stock for the purchase of that franchise so the company really never got very much for the capital stock.

Q. You balance your book in some way, and in doing that you charge $865,000 to the real estate account, $358,000 to equipment and $357,000 to construction? A. Yes, sir.

Q. To what do you charge the balance? A. The cost of the franchises and the

Q. That is a forced entry, is it not; that is an arbitrary amount to balance? A. If your capital stock is $1,200,000 you must have a separate entry to represent the cost of the franchises; that is the way it stands on our books.

Q. Yes. A. The total cost of the road, including franchises and all, is $2,789,000.

Q. That is the cost of your road and equipment and real estate? A. No; that does not include the equipment; that is the cost of the franchises, construction and the real estate; in addition to that we have the cost of the equipment, which is $358,000— I am giving these in round numbers, making the cost of the road $3,147,853.80.

Q. You make up the balance of that by cash on hand? A. Yes, sir; in the way of supplies and cash on hand and other small items. Q. So you charge the account with the capital stock? A. Yes, sir.

Q. As cost of the franchises? A. Yes.

Q. Was anything actually paid to the city for that? A. I do not think so; I never knew that there was at that time.

Q. You charged the real estate with $385,000, construction with $357,000; that makes you $127,000? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Then you add cost of equipment, supplies and cash, making up the $3,200,000? A. Yes, sir; that is it.

Q. What kind of a rail do you use? A. The most of our rail is rail that has been down for years; it is a center-bearing rail; all our new relaying has been the side-bearing rail.

Q. You have not been able to relay any center-bearing rail in several years? A. No, sir; we have not attempted to; we have a little of the girder rail in two places; that is, the side-bearing; that is all the new work we have put in of any extent, although we have been relaying some lately a little.

Q. To electrify your road, will it require a reconstruction of it? A. Yes, sir; I think entirely.

Q. When you undertake it you have got practically your franchises? A. Yes; that is all.

Q. Of value? A. And material.

Q. And your real estate, of course? A. Yes; that real estate stands at just what it cost.

Q. For ten years can you tell us the dividends paid by your company each year? A. I could not exact, but I do not think that it exceeds 8 per cent. in the years it was paid, and the five dividends that we passed.

Q. In 1893 and 1894? A. Yes, sir; since then we have not paid but at the rate of 6 per cent.; last October we renewed.

Q. Do you think it was 8 per cent. prior to October, 1893? A. Perhaps in 1883 it might have been 10, but I think since 1884 it has been 8.

Q. I do not care about it to a cent, but was that substantially it? A. Yes.

Q. So the road for ten years prior to 1893 practically paid 13 per cent. on its capital stock? A. It would be really more than that, because the certificates bore 6 per cent. up to within two years, when the change was made.

Q. It would be 14 per cent. then? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you have any system of reducing fares or selling quantities of tickets at a time at a lesser rate than 5 cents? A. No, sir. Q. It is simply a flat rate of 5 cents? A. Yes, sir.

Q. At what hours of the day is your traffic the heaviest? A. For about two hours in the morning, say from 7 to 9 o'clock, and from half past 4 until half-past 6 in the evening.

Q. And is there any one class of people that patronize your road during those hours more than any other? A. Mostly the laboring classes.

Q. Don't you think your road could afford to reduce the fares during those hours? A. I hardly think so, and meet their expenses under this transfer system; I do not think we get anything out of that; I think it is an expense to us; we have to increase our accommodations so much to meet that particular travel.

Q. The capital stock that was issued just as a mere matter of love and gone up to $1.80 cash value has been paying practically 14 per cent. dividends for some years, might stand a slight reduction of fare between those hours when the laboring people are using the road to ride to and from their work, could it not? A. I would hardly think that they could, simply because we are giving those people the benefit of a full ride on our road and the Third Avnue road, where the largest part of our crowded travel goes that we virtually get 2 cents each way.

Q. The Third Avenue gets the worst of it? A. Very little difference.

Q. But they are liable to carry passengers further on their trains than you do on your trains? A. Very likely, as a matter of distance.

Q. You see, Mr. Landon, your stock does not represent any money invested; you have constructed your road with the bonds and accumulations, and accumulated surplus, of $1,100,000 on which you are paying interest? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Now the investment would be pretty good if the stock represented the actual cash investment of $1,200,000 investment by the stockholders and paying 10 or 12 per cent. dividends; what rate of interest do the bonds bear? A. Five per cent.

Q. What are they quoted at? recollect of seeing.

A. I think about 114, the last I

Q. How long do they run? A. They were issued at 40 years, I

think.

(Witness refers to memorandum.)

Forty years from 1892.

Q. You funded the debt at that time? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Have you ever had under advisement the subject of reduction of fare at any time? A. The original charter, I think, provided a six-cent fare, and that was voluntarily reduced to five cents.

Q. Since that time have you? A. No, sir.

Q. What is the assessed valuation of the property in the city? A. I could not speak from memeory, for it is made up in various lots.

Q. Can you tell me what the real estate is assessed at? A. What was the first question you asked?

Q. The assessed valuation of the property in the city? A. No, I do not know; I could not give it from memory.

Q. Could you give the assessed valuation of the real estate? A. That we own?

Q. Yes? A. No; I thought that was what you referred to; it is in various lots; I do not recall what the aggregates were.

Q. Do you know what your road is assessed at per mile? A. No, sir; I could not say that from memory.

Q. About what is the distance, Mr. Landon, from the Grand street Ferry on the East side, to Desbrosses street Ferry on the West side, by your line of road? A. I think it is 24 miles.

Q. And about what is the distance to Cortland street? A. I think about 23 miles.

Q. How long does it take you to make the trip? A. To Desbrosses street?

Q. Yes? A. I think the time is 22 minutes.

Q. Going across? A. Yes.

Q. Forty-four minutes for the round trip? A. Yes, sir, without counting the stand time.

Q. What wages do you pay your conductors and drivers? A. Two dollars a day.