RAILWAY SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



683 



provisions and salted meats can not be less 

 than 20,000,000 tons, and are probably moved 

 in greater measure by duplication in the way 

 of distribution. It therefore follows that very 

 low rates of charge for carrying freight by the 

 railway are only possible on the lines that 

 carry grain, coal, timber, or provisions in bulk. 

 I do not intend to say that this is the sole 

 factor in the question of low rates, but it is a 

 controlling factor. In order that the work of 

 a railroad may be done at the lowest possible 

 cost, there must be enough work to keep the 

 force employed up to the full measure of its 

 capacity, whether it be the force of men, loco- 

 motives, or cars. 



Freight is given, in the following table, both 

 in the actual tons moved by railroad in each 

 section, and also the tons per mile moved in 

 each section that is to say, the actual tons 

 moved any distance, long or short, i. e., the 

 dead-weight of merchandise carried any dis- 

 tance, and also what is called the ton-mileage, 

 which is what the traffic would represent if 

 each ton moved were moved exactly one mile: 



Reference has been made to the paramount 

 importance of articles of food in the traffic of 

 tho railways. Grain, meats, dairy products, 

 and other articles of food, constitute not less 

 than half the quantity of merchandise that is 

 moved over the various lines ; but, as a mat- 

 ter of course, the railway lines of the Middle 

 States take by far the larger part of this traffic. 

 The valuation put upon the products of agri- 

 culture in the census year by Mr. J. R. Dodge, 



statistician of the Department of Agriculture, 

 was as follows, for the crop of 1879 : 



Meats, dairy products, and eggs, valued at the 



farm $1,332,500,000 



Grain, valued at the farm 1,336,538,399 



Hay, valued at the farm 409,505,783 



Vegetables, valued at the farm 190.262,462 



Sugar, sirup, and honey, valued at the farm. . . 43,500,155 



Total food $3,312,306,799 



Fibers, cotton, wool, hemp, etc 840,423 398 



Tobacco 88,758.215 



Flax and other seeds 22,478,133 



Wines and beeswax 12,864,877 



Total $3,726,331,422 



There are some duplications in this estimate, 

 as of hay and grain, which are in part con- 

 verted into meat ; but these are farm values. 

 Transportation by rail to points of final distri- 

 bution or export added not less than $200,- 

 000,000 to this sum, and before the food reached 

 the consumers a very large addition must be 

 made for the final cost of distribution. An 

 approximate estimate of the ultimate value of 

 the food consumed by man within the limits 

 of the United States may be made from the 

 ascertained facts in respect to the cost of the 

 food of a given number of persons. The fol- 

 lowing table may serve for this purpose. 



The respective quantities of food served to 

 eighty adult women working in factories in 

 Maryland, and of seventeen mechanics and 

 eight women in Massachusetts, are first given, 

 and it may be assumed that the average of the 

 two tables represented in the third column 

 would be no more than a fair daily ration for 

 all adults. Such an average would represent a 

 cost of 23-85 cents per day, or $1.67 per week. 

 In the following table the two rations are given, 

 and the average per day. The weekly and 

 yearly average per person and the sum and 

 proportions of the average if served to a popu- 

 lation of 57,000,000 are computed as equivalent 

 to 50,000,000 adult consumers, as our popula- 

 tion is now or soon will be : 



This ration is above the average, both in 

 quantity and variety, especially in respect to 

 the colored and poor white population of the 

 South, but it will be observed that this supply 

 of food represents purchases made in consid- 

 erable quantities, and substantially at wholesale 

 prices. It can be readily proved that the less 

 sufficient rations which are purchased at retail 

 would and do bring the total cost of food up 

 to at least $5,000,000,000, to which must be 

 added for drink not less than $400,000,000. 



Upon this basis the proportionate expendi- 

 tures of the people of this country for food 

 and clothing, and also for the shelter of the in- 

 crease of population, may be approximately de 

 duced, and will be found in the following table: 



1. Food on the basis of the ration served to factory 

 operatives in Maryland and New England. Drink as 

 recently computed by David A. Wells : 



Food $4,340,500,000 



Drink 474,823,000 



Total $4,815,828,000 



