802 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
The addition of each dollar per acre for this charge would in¬ 
crease the ratio in the first three oases as follows: 
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, Janesville to state line, 
.019. i 
Chicago and Northwestern, Princeton to Marshfield, .09. 
Chicago, St. Paul,, Minneapolis and Omaha, Chippewa Palls 
to Holcombe, .10. 
It must be admitted that where the line is constructed by a 
company whose business is of sufficient magnitude to keep 
right of way men employed regularly, the cost of securing the 
right of way would be materially diminished, but it cannot be 
wholly eliminated. I 
The amount of land donated to the railroad companies does 
not seem to be large enough to have made any great difference 
in the foregoing figures. Just how much, would be a matter 
very difficult for the roads themselves to determine, but the 
officials of the three companies that have built these lines are 
agreed in saying that the amount of land donated was rela¬ 
tively small. 
It is possible to put a partial check upon the figures of the 
state board for one of the lines—that of the Chicago, St. Paul, 
Minneapolis and Omaha an Chippewa county—since the fig¬ 
ures in the appraisal sheets of this road show the “actual a- 
mount of money disbursed for this realty.” 6 The total num¬ 
ber of acres in this right of way is 408.54, and 
the total cost to the railway company was $15,998.10, making 
the average price per acre $39.18, as opposed to $42.50, the 
figure determined by the state appraiser from the records of 
the sales used. Using the same ordinary value as has been 
used in the table on page 800, we should have a ratio of 3.61 
instead of 4.01 as there given. The difference is considerable, 
but the lower (and probably more accurate) figure is yet far 
above that finally adopted by the engineer of the board, 
e For this information and for other helpful suggestions, I am in¬ 
debted to Mr. T. A. Polleys, tax commissioner for this road, who has 
done much valuable work in collecting data in this and other states. 
