LOCOMOTION BY EIVEK AND RAILWAY. 



Hudson. It will no doubt create surprise, considering the immense 

 facility of water transport afforded by this river, that a railway 

 should be constructed on its bank, but it must be remembered that 

 for a considerable interval during the winter the navigation of the 

 Hudson is suspended from the frost. 



5. It is difficult to obtain authentic reports from which the 

 movement of the traffic on the American railways can be ascer- 

 tained with precision. I obtained, however, the necessary statis- 

 tical data relating to nearly 1200 miles of railway in the states 

 of New England and New York, from which I was enabled to 

 collect all the circumstances attending the working of these lines. 



It appears from calculations, the details of which will be 

 found in my work,* that upon those railways the total average 

 receipts per mile per annum was 4694Z., and that the profit per 

 cent, of capital amounted to 8*6 per cent. 



6. It appears by recent and well-authenticated returns, that the 

 "Western lines, most of which are of recent construction, and derive 

 their revenue almost exclusively from the transport of agricultural 

 produce, have proved even more profitable than the Eastern Bail- 

 ways, whose traffic is chiefly passengers. A large proportion of 

 these Western lines paid from 7 to 10 per cent., even before they 

 were quite completed, according to a report obtained by the 

 ' ' Times. ' ' f This prosperous result was obtained even from the lines 

 which traversed uncleared districts and dense forests. The source 

 of this advantage is the profit sure to be obtained from the transport 

 of agricultural produce. In these districts there are no inland 

 markets. The farmer is obliged to send his produce either to the 

 sea-coast or to the bank of one of the great rivers, where alone 

 markets are found. There alone are the manufacturers, and there 

 alone the exporting merchants established. It has been proved 

 that agricultural produce can, at least in the United States, be 

 transported on railways at one-tenth of the expense of its carriage 

 on common roads. In the following table (page 53) is given the 

 comparative value of a ton of wheat and of maize at various dis- 

 tances from the farm-yard, the cost of its transport by each mode of 

 conveyance being deducted from its cost at the place of production. 



It appears, therefore, that the whole value of wheat is absorbed 

 by the cost of its transport 330 miles on a common road, while 10 

 per cent, of its value is absorbed by its transport the same distance 

 by railway. In like manner, while the entire value of maize is 

 absorbed by its transport over 160 miles of common road, no more 

 than 9| per cent, of its value is absorbed by transport to the same 

 distance by railway. 



* Railway Economy, chap. xvi. f September 3, 1853. 



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