Statistics of Bail ways in United States. 255 



lei to and north of Salouen river, reaching So and once again 

 seeing houses on April 15. They arrived at Batang early in 

 June, their route some distance west of it having joined the Im- 

 perial highway from Pekin to Lassa over which I'Abbe Hue 

 travelled. From Tatsien-lou, where the French Tibetan mission 

 is located, their route turned southward to Red river, which was 

 reached, at Manhoau, on September 21, when their journey 

 practically ended, as Hanoai was reached two days later. 



An excellent map of the itinerary, by Prince Henri, accom- 

 panies the article. 



A. w. G. 



Third Annual Report on the Statistics of Railways in the United 

 States to the Interstate Commerce Commission, for the year ending 

 Jane 30, 1890: Washington, Government Printing Office, 1891 

 (advance copy, pp. 1-100). — This pamphlet, by Professor Henry 

 C. Adams, is issued in advance of the full report, which is jjrom- 

 isecl to comprise about 875 pages. It contains a summary, digest 

 and discussion of the full report. 



It appears that the total railroad mileage on June 30, 1890, 

 was 163,597, an increase of 5,838 miles during the year. The 

 increase came mainly froin southeastern and western states. 

 This mileage was owned b}^ 1,797 distinct corporate bodies, but 

 entirely controlled in one way or another by only 747 companies. 

 To illustrate the extent to which consolidation of railroad proj)- 

 erty has gone, it may be stated that 47.5 per cent of all railroad 

 mileage is controlled by but forty companies,, and that 65.4 per 

 cent is controlled by seventy-five companies. The greatest mile- 

 age controlled by one company is 6,053, operated by the Southern 

 Pacific company. 



The total capital and bonded debt of railroad companies was 

 $9,871,378,389, or $60,340 per mile. Stock and bonds were about 

 equal in amount. Mr. Adams estimates the value of railroad 

 property by capitalizing at 5 per cent the dividends and in- 

 terest on bonds paid during the year, reaching as a result 

 16,627,461,140, or about -/}> of the nominal capital and bonded 

 debt. The justice of this method may fairly be questioned. A 

 comparison of the ruling prices of dividend -paying stocks with 

 the rate per cent of the dividend shows that 5 per cent stocks 

 are above par and that 4 per cent stocks average nearly par. 



