708 



UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



1,173,523 tons cleared at Puget Sound, 724,666 

 tons entered ami 816,834 tons cleared at Galves- 

 ton, 520,153 tons entered and 595,229 tons cleared 

 at Pensacola, 549.1 98 tons entered and 505,273 

 tons cleared at Mobile, 458.105 tons entered and 

 636.622 tons cleared at Newport News, 344,082 

 tons entered and 372,919 tons cleared at Port- 

 land, Me., 200,593 tons entered and 392,294 tons 

 cleared at Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., 267,568 

 tons entered and 343,555 tons cleared at Savan- 

 nah, 210,884 tons entered and 226,837 tons cleared 

 it Brunswick, 165,378 tons entered and 178,662 

 tons cleared at Passamaquoddy, 176,073 tons en- 

 tered and 144,163 tons cleared at Pearl River, 95,- 

 007 tons entered and 52,645 tons cleared at 

 Charleston, and 1.750,073 tons entered and 1,705,- 

 508 tons cleared at all other seaports. The na- 

 tionality of the tonnage entered and cleared in the 

 foreign trade at American seaports during the 

 year ending June 30, 1900, is shown in the follow- 

 ing table: 



The number of sailing vessels, including canal 

 boats and barges, registered as belonging in the 

 United States on June 30, 1900, was 16,280, of 

 2,507,042 tons; the number of steam vessels was 

 7,053, of 2,657,797 tons; total merchant marine, 

 23,333 vessels, of 5,164,839 tons. The tonnage 

 owned on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts was 2,727,- 

 892 tons; on the Pacific coast, 601,212 tons; on 

 the Northern lakes, 1,565,587 tons; on the West- 

 ern rivers, 258,456 tons. The steam tonnage em- 

 ployed in the foreign trade in 1900 was 337,356 

 tons, and the total tonnage of American vessels in 

 the foreign trade was 816,795 tons; steam tonnage 

 in coastwise trade, 2,289,825 tons; total tonnage 

 of coasting vessels, 4,286,516 tons; steam ton- 

 nage in the whale fisheries, 3,986 tons; total ton- 

 i-.a-re in the whale fisheries, 9,899 tons; tonnage in 

 cod and mackerel fisheries, 51,629 tons. The total 

 tonnage of American vessels, 5,164,839 tons, shows 

 an increase of 6.18 per cent, over the previous 

 year, which recorded an advance of 2.41 per cent, 

 over 1898, in which year there was a slight decrease 

 in American tonnage as compared with 1897. There 

 were 504 wailing vessels, of 116,460 tons, built in 

 the United States in 1900; steam vessels built, 

 22, of 202.528 tons; canal boats, 38, of 4,492 

 tons; barges, 483. of 40,310; total, 1,447 vessels, 

 of 393,790 tons, compared with 1,273, of 300.038 

 tons, in 1899 and 952, of 180,458 tons, in 1898. 

 On the New England coast there were 199 vessels 

 built, of 72,179 tons; on the entire seaboard, 1,107 

 v. -els, of 249.006 tons; on the Mississippi river 

 and tributaries, 215 vessels, of 14.173 tons; on the 

 Great Lakes, 125 vessels, of 130,611 tons. Amon<' 



IP sailing vessels built in the United States in 

 1900 svere 10, of 28.903 tons, built of steel, and 

 of the steam vessels 80, of 167,948 tons 



Railroads. The length of railroads in opera- 

 tion in the United States on Dec. 31, 1899, was 

 190,833 miles, 3,981 miles having been added dur- 

 ing the year. The total length in 1889 was 161,- 

 320 miles; in 1879, 86,556 miles; in 1869, 46,844 

 miles: in 1859, 28,789 miles; in 1849, 7,365 miles; 

 in 1839, 2,302 miles. Of the total mileage in 1899, 

 the New England States had 7,447 miles; Middle 

 Atlantic States, 22,206 miles; Central Northern 

 States, 40,849 miles; Southern Atlantic States, 

 21,232 miles; Gulf and Mississippi valley, 15,717 

 miles; Southwestern States, 36,942 miles; North- 

 western States, 31,227 miles; Pacific States, 15,209 

 miles. The total capital stock, returned for 187. 7S1 

 miles in 1899, was $5,742,181,181 ; funded debt, $5,- 

 644,858,027; floating debt, $305,777,858; total lia- 

 bilities, $11,692,817,066; average total cost of con- 

 struction, $62,268 per mile. The gross earnings in 

 1899 were $1,336,096,379, being 11.4 per cent, on 

 the total liabilities, receipts from passenger trallic 

 being $297,559,712, from freight $922,436,314, and 

 miscellaneous receipts $116,100,353. The interest 

 paid on bonds and other debt was $245,250,364 

 during 1899, the average rate being 4.12 per cent., 

 and the dividends paid on stock amounted to $109.- 

 032,252, an average rate of 1.90 per cent. The 

 gross earnings per mile were $7,161 on the average; 

 net earnings, $2,400 per mile, the percentage of 

 expenses to earnings having been 66.49, against 

 68.16 per cent, in 1898, 69.74 per cent, in 1897, 

 and 70.43 per cent, in 1896. The number of passen- 

 gers carried in 18"9 was 537,977,301 ; passengers 

 carried 1 mile, 14,859,541,965, making average 

 passenger receipts per mile just 2 cents; freight 

 carried, 975,789,941 tons; tons carried 1 mile, 126,- 

 991,703,110, making average freight receipts 0.73 

 cent per ton per mile. The gross earnings of 190,- 

 406 miles for the year ending June 30, 1900, were 

 $1,480,673,054, or '$7,776 per mile of line, $366,- 

 860,760 of the total being passenger and $1,048,- 

 268,875 freight earnings. Operating expenses 

 amounted to $956,814,142, or $5,025 per mile. The 

 net earnings were $523,818,912, or $73,110,747 more 

 than in 1899. Including $60,675,700 of income 

 from investments and other sources, the total net 

 income was $584,534,612, out of which $109,400,147 

 were paid in dividends, $27,555,388 more than in 

 1899, and the total deductions, including interest 

 on bonds, rents for leased lines, and $44,390. 165 

 of taxes, were $395,811,056, leaving a surplus of 

 $79,323,409, compared with $53,064,877 in 1899. 



Telegraphs. The Western Union Telegraph 

 Company had 192,705 miles of line and 933,153 

 miles of wire in operation on June 30, 1900. The 

 number of messages sent during the year was 

 63,167,783. Receipts were $24,758,570, and ex- 

 penses $18,593,206, leaving $6,165,364 profits, show- 

 ing an average toll per message of 30.8 cents and 

 an average cost of 25.1 cents. The Postal Tele- 

 graph Company has 26,042 miles of cable and land 

 lines, with 169,236 miles of wire, and during 1900 

 sent 16,528,444 messages. The total length of tele- 

 graph lines in the United States open for public 

 business, excluding railroad, Government, and pri- 

 vate lines, exceeds 210,000 miles. 



The Bell Telephone Company, on Jan. 1, 1900, 

 had 1,239 exchanges and 1,187 branch ollices, and 

 .">( 19.036 miles of wire on poles, 15,087 miles on 

 buildings, 489,250 miles underground, and 3.404 

 miles submarine, making a total of 1.016.777 miles. 

 The total number of circuits was 422.620; number 

 of employees, 25,741; number of subscribers. 632,- 

 946. The aggregate length of telephone wires oper- 

 ated is 1.518.609 miles, the number of conversa- 

 tions about 1 .(i(;6,000,000 per annum. 



Presidential Election. The nomination of 

 William McKinley, of Ohio, who was elected 



