WHO OWNS THE RAILROADS 339 



investors and that the stock, on the whole, becomes more 

 and more widely diffused as we go eastward, especially 

 towards the New England states. Thus from the preceding 

 tables it appears that the six principal New England railways, 

 with stock aggregating $172,000,000, show the exceedingly 

 large number of 36,540 stockholders. Likewise Table IV., 

 including those New England railways with stock of $1,000,000 

 or over, shows an exceedingly large number of stockholders 

 in view of the small capitalization of the roads. In short, the 

 twenty seven railways included in this table have their aggre- 

 gate stock of $93,294,375 distributed among 20,347 stock- 

 holders. When to the railways of Table IV. are added the 

 roads with stock of less than $1,000,000, the railway com- 

 mission reports of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and 

 New Hampshire show the total number of stockholders for 

 the roads represented in these states, and for which calcu- 

 lation can be made, to be 28,923. The average stockholding 

 in these roads for Connecticut is placed by the reports at 

 approximately $7,041. Maine follows next with an average 

 holding of $5,486, while Massachusetts and New Hampshire 

 have the extremely low averages of $3,146 and $3,451 re- 

 spectively. If we could carry our inquiry to all the rail- 

 ways represented in all the New England states, it is safe to 

 assume from the above calculations that the total number of 

 stockholders of New England railways would be considerably 

 in excess of 70,000. If, however, we extend our inquiry to 

 the smaller roads outside of New England the average seems 

 considerably larger. Thus the average amount of stock per 

 holder in all the railways considered by the reports, and for 

 which calculation could be made, is, approximately, $156,638 

 in Minnesota, $110,600 in Louisiana, and $72,320 in Kansas. 

 Of the remaining states for which calculations were possible, 

 the greatest average stockholding ($49,484) is shown in 

 Arkansas, Alabama follows next with an average of ap- 

 proximately $43,239, and then Michigan with an average of 

 $33,859. In New York the average stockholding for such 

 roads, other than proprietary and lesser surface steam rail- 

 way companies, is approximately $18,582, and in Virginia 

 $15,849. 



