810 



RAILROADS. 



During the six roan in which full statistics of pas- 

 enrer and freight traffic of all tho niilrords in the 

 United States have been compiled the increase in 

 freight business has kept pace nod in some years has 

 largely exceeded the increase in passenger movement. 



In the following statement the statistics of freight ton- 

 nage, tonnage mileage (tons carried one mile), average 

 haul per ton, and average rates received per ton per 

 mile on all the railroads of the United States ar 

 shown for the six yean from 1882 to 1887 inclusive : 



TABLK XIL Freight Movement. 



As these figures show there was an increase in num- 

 ber of tons of freight moved in 1887 over 1882 of 

 191,584,377 or 53. 14 per cent, against an increase in 

 number of passengers carried of 139,194,730 or 48.16 

 per cent In the aggregate movement of each the 

 following snowing is made : Number of passengers 

 carried one mile in 1882, 7,483,059,934; in 1887, 

 10,570,306,710; increase, 3.us7.-_M' - ,.776, or 41.25 per 

 cent Number of tons of freight moved one mile in 

 1882, 39.3112.209,249; in 1887, 62,061,069,996; in- 

 crease. 22,758,860,747 tons or 57.90 per cent. x 



These enormous increases were directly the result 

 of the rapid extension of the railroad sy.-tem of the 

 country which opened up to settlement and commerce 

 infuiense tracts of land whose products were previously 

 comparatively valueless through their inaccessibility to 

 the markets of the country. _ 



The remarkably rapid and steady decline of freijrht 

 rates is shown in Table XII., and more fully in VII. 

 and VIII. The last two show that cast of Chicago 

 freight rates have declined from 2.9 cents per ton 

 per mile in 1865 to 0.718 cent in 1887; while west of 

 Chicago the decline has been from 3.G42 cents in 

 1865 to 1.014 cents in 1887. Unquestionably these 

 results could not have been attained otherwise than 

 by the many improvements in construction methods 

 already mentioned. 



Rail*. One of the most important items that 

 enters into the cost of a railroad is the rails used. 

 The style of nils used on the first lines built in the 

 country have already been dcscritx.-d and reference has 

 been made already to the gradual substitution of 

 heavy rails, which, after 1850, came into general use. 

 The first T ra i' 8 rolled in this country were rolled in 

 October, 1845, at the Montour rolling-mill, Danville. 

 Pa,, which was. built in that year. The invention (if 

 the Bessemer steel process dates from 1855. The first 

 steel rails used in this country were imported from 

 England l>y the Pennsylvania Railroad. The first ex- 

 perimental rails rolled in this country were made at 

 the North Chicago rolling-mill from steel made at 

 Wjnwdotte, Mich., on May 24, 1805. It was not 

 until Air-'ii.-t, 1S67, that the .making of Bessemer rails 

 was fairly established in this country. In that year 

 there were produced 2550 tons of steel rails. The 

 superiority of steel rails over iron rails was speedily' 

 established, but for a long time their general adoption 

 was retarded by the great cost of their manufacture. 

 But within the past fifteen years tho price has fallen 

 from $120 to $30, and the result is shown in the r.ipH 

 substitution of steel rails for iron as set lin-th in T.iMe 

 V HI-. Tin- production each year from 1867 to 1887, 

 inclusive, i.s shown in the following statement : 



167 



UN 



Tons. 



.' '-I 

 7, -'25 



V.:us. 



1870 

 1871 

 1872 



Tons. 

 34.1100 

 18,280 



94,070 



An interesting and instructive record of the com- 

 parative productiveness as invest incuts of the share 

 capital and bonded indebtedness of American rail- 

 roads is presented in the edition of 1'uor't Manual 

 of Railroad* for 1 888. It shows the average rate 

 per cent of all dividend and interest payments during 

 the past six years upon the aggregate capital stocks 

 and bonded debts of the railroads, and is arrived at by 

 dividing the total amount of stocks and bonds at the 

 end of each year into the total amount of dividends 

 and interest paid within that year. It is embodied 

 in the following statement of percentages : 



On debt. Genenl 



Years. On bonds, (inc. bonds). Dividends. Avenge. 



18X7 4.71 4.55 2.18 3.40 



1886 4.75 453 2.04 ::.L'ii 



1885 4.77 4.fi2 2.02 3.36 



1884 4.66 4.51 2.48 8.52 



1883 4.59 2.75 8.68 



1883 4.40 2.91 8.65 



These averages show clearly tlie fluctuating prosper- 

 ity of railroads. In view of this showing for the past 

 six years it is fair to assume that from the close of the 

 civil war to the present time the average return on 

 bonds per annum has been 5 per cent and on stocks 

 fully 3 per cent 



]'>r'i Minimi of Railroads for 188S gives also 

 an interesting comparison of the respective produc- 

 tiveness in the two years 1882 and 18S6 of Ameri- 

 can railroad stocks and bonds. It shows that in Iss2 

 on a total capital stock of $3,478,061,246, dividends 

 amegmtint $101,967,060 vm paid, the average rait; 

 of which per annum equalled 2.93 per cent, of the 

 total, while on the remaining $1,805,170,387, or 

 51.89 per cent of the total, no dividends^ were paid. 

 Upon this basis the average rate of dividends paid 

 in Iss-Jupon productive stocks was 6. 10 percent. 



In I8S6 the showing is not quite so encouraging; 

 for while the total amount of snare capital inn 

 $.VJ2, HIVJ.V!, the amount of productive c.-pitnl in- 

 i less than $'J,0<H),0(X). or to $1,67^669,744 

 per rent, of the total), while unproductive 

 capital increa-i-l more than $520.000,000. rising to 

 $2,32o.i'i'.'4,7.'>. tir:Yv!2 p'Tecnt. of the total. For this 

 reason the total amount paid in dividends averaged in 

 1886 only 2 per cent, on the total amount of capital 

 outstanding and 4.78 per cent on the productive cap- 

 ital (J. P. M.) 



