RAILWAY SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



679 



Upon the above basis, there were, in round 

 figures, 650,000 men employed in the construc- 

 tion of railways in 1882. The number of miles 

 in operation in that year was also, in round 

 figures, 100,000. Upon the data of the special 

 census report of 1880, compiled by Mr. Schu- 

 mann, it appears the number of employe's in 

 the service of railroads, including laborers, in 

 that year, was five a mile. At this ratio, the 

 force engaged in the operation of railways 

 in 1882 was 500,000. Total force engaged in 

 construction or in the service of existing lines 

 in 1832, 1,150,000. According to the census 

 of 1880, the total number of all persons en- 

 gaged in every kind of gainful occupation in 

 the census year was 17,392,000, divided as fol- 

 lows: In agriculture, 7,670,493 ; in professional 

 or personal service, 4,074,238 ; in trade and 

 transportation, 1,810,256; in manufacturing, 

 mechanical, and mining industry, 3,837,112. 



Assuming that the large immigration of 

 1881-'82 had caused an abnormal increase of 

 our population, the number of persons in all 

 gainful occupations in 1882 may be computed at 

 7 per cent, increase, giving the following result : 

 Agriculture, 8,207,428 ; professional and per- 

 sonal service, 4,359,532 ; trade and transporta- 

 tion, 1,936,973; manufacturing, mechanic arts, 

 and mining, 4,105,709; total, 18,609,642. 



Upon this basis it would appear that in the 

 year 1882 one person in sixteen and a fraction, 

 of all who were occupied in any kind of gain- 

 ful occupation, was employed either in the 

 construction or operation of a railway ; or one 

 in nine of all engaged in all other occupations 

 than agriculture. 



Next it will be observed that not fewer than 

 425,000 of those engaged in the construction 

 of railways were thrown out of that employ- 

 ment in 1884, constituting 4 per cent, of all 

 that were occupied in other employments than 

 agriculture in 1882, or 20 per cent, of all 

 common laborers aside from farm - laborers. 

 To this great force seeking other work has 

 been added a great army of immigrants, less- 

 ening but little in number each year. In this 

 competition of common laborers for work not 

 readily obtained within their capacity, except 

 upon farms, may we not find an explanation 

 of the periods of diminished consumption, 

 which cause commercial depression and finan- 

 cial crises ? These periods of depression are 

 more apt to be attributed to an excessive ex- 

 penditure or consumption of capital in the 

 railroads themselves ; but this explanation will 

 not serve. The capital expended in railway 

 construction consists of iron, coal, timber, 

 grain, meat, and other products of the soil or 

 of the mine, and each of the crises that have 

 followed the apparently excessive railway con- 

 struction of 1871 and 1882 has been charged to 

 an overproduction of these very commodities, 

 when in fact the cause of depression has been 

 diminished consumption. On the other hand, 

 nearly every mile of railway built in 1871 has 

 justified its existence by its utility, even if it 



has not been profitable to its owners. In the 

 same way, nearly every mile of the still greater 

 construction of 1882 will be justified in use, if 

 not in value to its owners, except such specu- 

 lative absurdities as the lines that have been 

 built parallel with the New York Central and 

 Lake Shore, from the Hudson River to Chicago. 

 It has been the speculative method, rather than 

 the measure of railway construction, that has 

 provoked disaster. This country is not yet half 

 served with the railway mileage that will soon 

 be necessary to its use, especially in the prairie 

 sections, where the u dirt- roads " are utterly 

 inadequate to the traffic, and the material for a 

 solid highway suitable for wagons is wanting. 



We have passed through the period of rail- 

 road inception and of detached sections or lines, 

 through the period of consolidation, through 

 the period of needed extension of through 

 lines, through the period of speculative con- 

 struction of useless parallel lines, and we have 

 now reached the period of adjustment to whole- 

 some conditions, and of construction limited 

 to the necessity for cross- ways, side-lines, spe- 

 cial or local roads, and the more complete con- 

 nection of the entire system of the country. 

 This latter necessity may soon require new 

 construction at the rate of 6,000 miles or more 

 per annum. 



Soon after Jan. 1, 1881, the writer prepared 

 the following table (see page 680) in order 

 to show the inadequacy of the railway service 

 of the country, then numbering 93,545 miles, 

 as compared with the adequate service of the 

 State of Massachusetts. To this table is now 

 added a column showing the number of miles 

 in each State on the 1st of January, 1884. The 

 mileage added in 1884, computed at 4,000, has 

 not yet been subdivided. I have no data for 

 computing the additions in other countries, 

 but they are relatively very small as compared 

 to this country. 



The United States had substantially one mile 

 of railway to each 540 inhabitants in 1881 ; in 

 1885, one mile to each 450 persons. Europe 

 has one mile to each 3,000 inhabitants, if Rus- 

 sia be included ; about one mile to each 2,540, 

 exclusive of Russia. 



In this treatise of 1881, the writer ventured 

 to forecast the probably necessary construction 

 of railways, in order to give other sections of 

 the country a service in some degree commen- 

 surate with that of Massachusetts, and for this 

 purpose he prepared the following tables, for 

 which no claim could be made, except as an 

 approximation to the probable need. In es- 

 tablishing the ratios in this rough-and-ready 

 way, consideration has been given to the gen- 

 eral configuration of the several States and 

 Territories, to the probability of diversity of 

 occupation, to climate, and in some measure to 

 relative fertility. Of course, the divisions are 

 very general, and can only give an approximate 

 idea of the future construction. It will be seen 

 that about 117,500 miles of new railroads may 

 be required, which, at the rate of construction 



