TRANSPORTATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 639 



cents per ton per mile. Between this rate and that of 17.27 cents there 

 is a difference of 14.57 cents, which represents the minimum saving to 

 the pubhc on the transportation of merchandise. Without raih-oads, or 

 some equivalent convenience, the freight traffic could never have at- 

 tained its present dimensions, because the public could never have paid 

 to move so much material at the old rates. But it may be instructive to 

 observe that the tonnage figures for 1882, given by the Railroad 

 Commissioner, show that, if paid for at the old rates, the excess of 

 cost on the transportation of freight' alone, would have amounted to 

 (122,0-43,275x14.57) $17,781,705.16. The data for estimating the saving 

 in traveling expenses are not as precise as those we have for calculating 

 the saving in the carriage of freight, but we may, perhaps, safely assume 

 it to be in proportion to the ratio of the number of passengers to the tons 

 of freight carried one mile by the railroads in 1882, i. e., as 48,000,000 is 

 to 122,000,000. AVe shall thus have : 



Gain on freight $17,781,705 



(122 : 48 : : 17,781,705 :) Gain on passengers 7,000,000 



Annual gain in cost of transportation by railroad . . $24,781,705 



Avhich is equal to seven per cent, per annum , on $354,000,000, and to 

 nearly seventeen per cent, per annum on $145,442,292, which is the total 

 value of all property in the State, real and personal, including railroad 

 property to the amount of $14,877,250, as stated in the Report of the 

 Comptroller General for 1882. 



The cost of all the railroads in South Carolina may be estimated at 

 about fifty million dollars, so that the public is now annually receiving an 

 equivalent of about fifty per cent, on their cost, over and above all 

 interest and dividends paid by the railroads to their creditors and 

 shareholders. This should be remembered when complaint is made of 

 insufficient accommodations and high charges by the railroads, especially 

 since these great public works have, in nearly every case, proved unre- 

 munerative to their builders. 



Another point of gain is, that the railroads are built and kept in order 

 by the corporations owning and operatinrj them, the annual outlay being 

 taken out of the earnings at even 2.7 cents per ton per mile, whereas the 

 wagons of 1820-34 made no contributions even to the repair of the roads 

 which they incessantly lacerated, and, besides paying enormous rates of 

 freight, the public was obliged to keep up the roads and rivers. 

 . While the extension of railroads has been taking place, there has also 

 been an expansion in the freight traffic of some of the rivers, notably, the 

 Santee and Pee Dee. 



