ME. MIDGLEY S ARTICLE. CONTINUED. 425 



Motive power is another leading item of expense. This 

 is largely dependent upon the character of the route. If 

 fuel is abundant, the operating expenses are correspondingly 

 reduced. But if, as in the case of the North-western and 

 Milwaukee & St. Paul, there is scarcely a coal mine or a 

 forest within reach of their far-extending systems, their cost 

 per mile run is considerably increased, and should be taken 

 into account in adjusting rates. Other roads again have 

 heavy grades, up which engines of the largest capacity can 

 not haul more than ten or fifteen cars at a time, while the 

 same engines on other lines could easily draw fifty or sixty 

 car loads. 



A still more apparent consideration is, that the facilities 

 provided are only partially used. The current of eastward 

 trade largely exceeds that running in the opposite direc 

 tion, and it sets most heavily eastward when the return flow 

 is the slightest, and vice versa. Empty cars, therefore, 

 abound each way. This disproportion is so great that, upon 

 a leading trunk line, of the track and rolling stock there is 

 frequently employed about sixty per cent, in one direction, 

 and twenty per cent, in the opposite. The waste of expendi 

 ture becomes an extra charge upon the freight actually car 

 ried; and the drawback will continue until wise measures 

 shall tend more equally to diffuse the trade currents and 

 balance their volume in opposite directions. For, it should 

 be borne in mind that, whether a freight engine runs with a 

 full or a partial load, the items of expense are the same. 



Expenses are lessened when the volume of freight in 

 creases. This is a fundamental principle of cheap transpor 

 tation. To forward a single letter, by special messenger, to 

 California would cost hundreds of dollars ; but, deposited in 

 the government mails, three cents pays for its transporta 

 tion. This cheap service is possible, because simultaneously 



