14 Ira Ryner 



foreigners were again investing in American enterprises, it being 

 estimated that England alone had something like $400,000,000 

 so invested.^ From 1848 to 1859, the number of miles of rail- 

 way in operation increased from 5,996 to 28,789.^ That this 

 increase was excessive may be demonstrated by the fact that sta- 

 tistics fail to show anything like a corresponding rate of increase 

 either immediately before or after this period. 



Several factors contributed to the impulse given to railway 

 construction. Our production of coal was increasing rapidly. 

 According to Mulhall, the state of Pennsylvania alone from 1830 

 to 1850 constructed seven canals and twenty-seven railroads for 

 the express purpose 'of transporting coal. The following table 

 shows the increase in coal production :^ 



Year Tons Year Tons 



1851 4,448,916 1855 6,608,567 



1852 4,993,471 1856 6,927,580 



1853 5,195,151 1857 6,644,941 



1854 6,002,234 



The production of pig iron increased from 563,775 tons in 1850 

 to 712,640 in 1857.* There was also an increased demand for 

 transportation facilities to move agricultural products. Cotton 

 production especially demanded more ample means of conveyance 

 as shown by the table :^ 



Year Bales 



1840 2,177,835 



1850 2,337,718 



1860 4,861,293 



That of i860 was the highest production previous to 1879, and 

 it is to be noticed that the rate of increase for this decade was 

 decidedly higher than in the preceding decade. There was also 

 an enormous increase in wheat production, as the following table 

 shows :'' 



1 Sumner, History of AmeHcan Currency, 170. 



'^ Statistical Abstract of the United States, year 190?. 



^Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, April, 1900. 



^Ibid., August, 1900. 



* Burton, Crises and Depressions, 294. 



^Statistical Abstract of the United States, year 1902. 



156 



