August 23, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



'25 



Sault Ste. Marie, where connection is made witli the Canadian Pa- 

 cific Railroad, under whose control the Duluth line has passed. 

 The Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie has completed an 

 equally important line between Minneapolis and St. Paul and the 

 " Soo," and has also constructed an extension north-west of Min- 

 neapolis to within a short distance of Bismarck, Dak. Between 

 Chicago and St. Paul two important new routes have been opened, 

 — the Chicago, Burlington, arid Northern, and the Chicago, St. 

 Paul, and Kansas City. The latter company also extended its line 

 south-west to Kansas City, to which point the most important ex- 

 tension of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad within 

 the three years was built. Running far west to Helena and Butte, 

 Mont., the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway Company 

 completed a line which is the most northerly east-and-west line of 

 importance in the United States. 



The total number of miles of railroad in the United States at 

 the close of 1888 was 156,082, of which 7,028 miles were con- 

 structed during the year, the rate of increase being 4.7 per cent. 

 The mileage of lines making returns of their share capital and 

 funded and floating debts equalled 154,276, against 147,999 for 

 1887, the increase being 6,277, the rate of increase being 4.24 per 

 cent. 



The share capital of the mileage completed at the end of 1888 

 equalled $4,438,411,342', against §4,191,562,029 in 1887, the in- 

 crease equalling $246,849,313, the rate of increase being about 5.9 

 per cent. 



The funded debts of all the lines at the close of the year aggre- 

 gated $4,624,035,023, a sum $437,091,907 in excess of the total of 

 1887 ($4,186,943,116), an increase of nearly 9.5 per cent. The 

 other forms of indebtedness of the several companies at the close 

 of the year equalled $306,952,589, against $294,682,071 for 1887, 

 the increase being $12,270,518. The total share capital and in- 

 debtedness of all kinds of all the roads making returns equalled at 

 the close of the year $9,369,398,954, an increase in the year of 

 $696,211,738 over the total of 1887 ($8,673,187,216) the rate of in- 

 crease for the year being about 8 per cent. The cost per mile of 

 all the roads making return as measured by the amount of their 

 stocks and indebtedness equalled very nearly $60,732, against 

 $58,603 for 1887. 



The gross earnings or receipts of all the lines (including elevated 

 railroad) from which returns were received for the year equalled 

 $960,256,270, of which $251,356,167 were received from transpor- 

 tation of passengers ; $639,200,723 from transportation of freight ; 

 and $69,699,380 from the transportation of mails and express mat- 

 ter, profits of leased lines, and other miscellaneous sources of revenue. 

 In the latter sum are included the gross earnings of elevated rail- 

 roads. The gross earnings of all the lines for the year ending Dec. 31, 

 1887, equalled $940,150,702 ; the increase for the year 1888 equal- 

 ling $20,105,568, or 2.14 per cent. The earnings in 1887 from 

 transportation of passengers equalled $240,542,876 ; from freight, 

 $636,666,223 ; from transportation of mails and express matter, 

 etc., $62,941,603, against $69,699,380 for 1888. The earnings per 

 mile from which full returns were received in 1888 equalled $6,540, 

 against $6,861 for 1887, the decrease equalling $321 pei' mile. The 

 net earnings of all the lines for 1888 equalled $301,631,051, against 

 $334,989,119 for 1887, the falling-off equalling $33,358,068, the rate 

 of decrease being about 10 per cent. 



The amount of interest paid in 1888 equalled $207,124,288, 

 against $203,790,352 in 1S87. the increase being $3,333,936, the rate 

 of increase equalling more than 1.63 per cent. The amount paid 

 in dividends in 1SS8 equalled $80,243,041, against $91,573,458 in 

 18S7, the fal,ing-off equalling §11,330,417, the rate of decrease be- 

 ing about 12.4 per cent. 



The number of persons transported in 1888 by all the lines was 

 45'>353'655. against 428,225,513 for 1887, the increase for the year 

 being 23,128,142, the rate of increase equalling 5.4 per cent. The 

 number of passengers carried one mile in 1888 equalled 11,190,- 

 613,679, against 10,570,306,710 for 1887, the increase equalling 

 620,306,969 persons carried one mile, the rate of increase equalling 

 very nearly 6 per cent. The distance travelled by each passenger 

 in 1888 equalled 24.78 miles; in 18S7, 24,68 miles. The amount 

 received per passenger per mile equalled 2.246 cents in 1 888, 

 against 2.276 cents in 1887. Had the passenger rates for 1887 



been maintained for 1888, the earnings from this source would 

 have equalled $255,034,086, a sum §14,491,210 greater than that 

 received. 



The number of tons of freight transported on our railroads in 

 188S equalled 589,398,317, against 552,074,752 tons in 1887, the 

 increase equalling 37,323,565 tons, the rate of increase being about 

 6j per cent. The value of the tonnage moved in 1888, estimating 

 its value at $25 the ton, equalled §14,633,957,925. The number of 

 tons transported one mile in 1888 equalled 70,423.005,988, against 

 61,561,069,996 tons moved one mile in 1887, the increase of service 

 performed for the year equalling 8,861,635,992 tons moved one 

 mile, the rate of increase being about 14.4 per cent. 



When " Poor's Manual for 1888 " was published, it recorded the 

 greatest amounts, in the aggregate, ever earned, either gross or net, 

 by the railroads of the count-ry. In the midsummer of 1888 the 

 situation presented many hopeful aspects, and it was widely be- 

 lieved that the period or depression had passed. The volume of 

 business throughout the country was larger than ever in its history, 

 and an improvement in earnings was therefore confidently looked 

 for. But unfortunately, while the traffic was large and of increas- 

 ing proportions, the rates received for its transportation, owing to 

 the fierce and unbridled competition in the West, drooped continu- 

 ally. 



It appears that in the seven years 1882-88 the tonnage increased 

 228.907,942 tons, or 63 per cent. In the same period the mileage 

 of lines in operation increased 49,588.91 miles, or 51 per cent. 

 Computed on the basis of tonnage per mile of road, the traffic of 

 1882 was 3,650.5 tons per mile ; of 1883, 3,744.7 tons per mile : of 

 1884, 3,526.2 tons per mile ; of 1885, 3,578.6 tons per mile ; of 1886, 

 3,853.4 tons per mile; of 1887, 4,030.1 tons per mile ; and of 1888, 

 4,055.2 tons per mile. It thus becomes apparent that the traffic of 

 the past two years was the largest ever carried by the railroads of 

 the country. During 1888 the volume of freight traffic was ex-, 

 ceptionally large; and, with an increase of eight miles in the aver- 

 age length of haul per ton, the earnings from this source should 

 have been, had fairly remunerative rates prevailed, sufficient to 

 insure a continuance of dividends by the great trunk lines rather 

 than their suspension, as has been the case in so many instances. 



The tonnage-mileage of 1887 was 61,561,069,996, for transport- 

 ing which the railroads received an average rate of 1.034 cents per 

 ton per mile, producing a revenue of §636,666,223. In 1888 the 

 tonnage-mileage was 70,423,005,988, which produced an average 

 revenue per ton per mile of .907 of a cent, or, in the aggregate, 

 §639,200,723. Had the rates received in 1887 prevailed in 1888, 

 the difference of about i^ mills per ton per mile would have given 

 the railroads an increased revenue of §89,189,819, sufficient to pay 

 more than 2 per cent upon the total amount of capital stock out- 

 standing at the end of 1888, upon all of the roads contributing to- 

 ward this grand aggregate. 



The causes which led to this unlooked-for result are now thor- 

 oughly understood. The sentiment is unanimously expressed that 

 the chief elements of disturbance in the railroad situation in the 

 West have been, first, the unprecedented activity with which the 

 railroad systems of that section have been extended, as a result of 

 the desire to secure entrance to the newly developed lands in the 

 West and South-west ; second, the partial failure of the crops, and 

 the consequent loss of a large proportion of the traffic which had 

 been calculated upon ; third, the complications resulting from the 

 application of a new and radical law, — the Interstate Commerce 

 Act ; and, fourth, the spirit of hostility and repression evinced by 

 the legislatures of some of the Western States. 



To these several causes, which were in themselves sufficient to 

 demoralize the business of even so powerful a system as that of the 

 raili'oads, might be added a fifth and perhaps most potent cause of 

 all ; that is, the very mightiness of the contestants and the magni- 

 tude of the interests involved. In no period of the world's history 

 has there been such vast aggregations of capital engaged in com- 

 mercial enterprises as are now to be found in this country. Nor is 

 there any country in which competition in business is freer and 

 sharper than in ours. In this general competition the railroads of 

 the country have taken active part. The construction of new lines 

 has been encouraged in every part of this country, in no section 

 more strongly than in those which are now displaying the most 



