November 9, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



725 



aid them in approximating coincidence of date 

 of report with the close of the period reported 

 upon. It is, nevertheless, a report worth wait- 

 ing for. It gives us the mileage of all the rail- 

 ways of the country ; a classification for the 

 purposes of the report ; data relating to equip- 

 ment, number of men employed; capitalization 

 and valuation of property, magnitude of the 

 freight traffic, of the passenger movement, pub- 

 lic service, earnings and expenses and profits, 

 gross and net. A condensed summary follows 

 and a general balance sheet. Bailway acci- 

 dents are discussed, recommendation made and 

 a completely tabulated set of figures secured 

 by the Commission is appended. It is a useful 

 compendium to engineers, to railway men, to 

 economists and to that rarer class, statesmen. 



The total mileage, June 30, 1899, was 189,- 

 294.66 miles, a gain of 2,898.34 for the year. 

 It is interesting to note that this increase has 

 occurred mainly in the Southern States. The 

 track mileage was 252,364.48, a gain of 4,831.96 

 miles, single track and sidings. This track is 

 distributed among 2,049 railway corporations, 

 of which about one-half are ' operating roads ' 

 and the balance leased lines or purchases, with 

 142 ' private roads.' Of the total, 35 have been 

 reorganized during the year, 20 have been con- 

 solidated and 42 merged in other lines, while 30 

 were abandoned, averaging, however, but 10 

 miles each. The larger systems are made up 

 of a number of lines, each originally independ- 

 ent, aud still holding, often, original charters. 



Locomotives number 36,703, of which more 

 than one fourth are passenger engines, one-half 

 freight and the balance switching and special- 

 service engines. Cars in service numbered 

 1,375,916, of which 33,850 were for passenger 

 traflBc and 46,556 assigned to the service of the 

 company. Increasing economy of transporta- 

 tion is shown by a gain in density of traffic, 

 both passenger and freight. Two-thirds of the 

 trains were fitted with the train-brake, and 

 nearly all with the automatic coupler, obviously 

 an immense gain in safety over the conditions 

 of but a few years since. 



Employees numbered 928, 924, or 495 per mile, 

 a gain in two years of 105,448, with a decrease 

 in number per mile of 20, indicating, again, 

 gain in economy of operation. Their pay was 



$522,967,896, a gain of $27,912,278 for the em- 

 ployees' account during the year. This is 40 

 per cent, of the gross earnings and 60 per cent, 

 of the operating expenses. ' ' The fact indicates 

 the extent to which wage-earners are interested 

 in the conservative management of railways." 



Capital aggregates $11,033,954,898, a gain of 

 $215,400,867, more than twice that of the 

 preceding year. Of the stock, $5,515,011,726, 

 or 59.39 per cent., paid no dividends ; but even 

 this is better than the preceding year, in which 

 66.26 per cent, paid nothing. The funded 

 debt, which passed its interest, amounted to 

 $572,410,746, and was 10.45 per cent, of the 

 total, a better statement than that of 1898, 

 when 15.82 per cent, thus failed to meet its 

 obligations. 



Of the freight traffic, mines furnished 51.47 

 per cent. ; manufactured products, next in or- 

 der, 13.45 ; agriculture, 11.33; forestry, 10.89 

 — a distribution probably very surprising to 

 many. The number of passengers carried one 

 mile was 14,591,327,613, a gain of over 10 per 

 cent. ; the number of ton-miles of merchandise 

 was 123,667,257,153, a gain of eight per cent. 

 The gross earnings were $1,313,610,118 ; net, 

 $482,090,923; net dividends, $94,992,909. Op- 

 erating expenses aggregated $896,968,999, and 

 practically an equal sum was distributed to 

 employees and outside recipients as au addition 

 to their incomes in form of wages, dividends, 

 etc. The total surplus for the year was $58,- 

 064,877, to be compared with the deficit of the 

 preceding year, $6,120,483. 



Gross earnings were $7,005 per mile ; operat- 

 ing costs, $4,570, and income $2,435. The rev- 

 enue per unit was, per ton-mile, 0.734 cent; 

 per passenger-mile it was 1.925, practically two 

 cents. Per train-mile, the revenue was $1.01 

 for passengers and $1.79 for freight. Costs per 

 train-mile are $0.9839. 



Accidents remain a serious item, 7,123 people 

 having been killed during the year and 44,620 

 injured, an increase for the year of four per 

 cent, killed and over eight per cent, injured, 

 notwithstanding the great increase in the use 

 of automatic couplers, this being the dangerous 

 point in railway operation. Of these totals, 

 the passenger list of killed amounted to but 

 239, about three per cent., but employees con- 



