CHAPTER II.
COMPARISON WITH CENSUS OF 1890.

Difficulty of comparison.—Comparisons between the
statistics of street railways for 1890 and 1902 must be
made with great caution. In 1890 only 706 out of the
789 street railways in the country made reports to the
Census Office. The figures of trackage, cost of con-
struction, number of cars, number of employees, and
number of passengers for the remaining 83 companies
were either obtained from outside sources or were esti-
mated, The figures thus secured from sources other
than certified returns constitute from 4.20 to 10,36 per
cent of the totals for the respective items mentioned.
The returns of earnings and expenditures and of car
mileage were incomplete, even for many of the compa-
nies which reported fully other statistics; but these items
were not supplemented by estimates, so ‘that the figures
given as totals represent from 10 to 20 per cent less
than the actual totals for all companies. The degree of
error in the statistics of 1890 is more fully discussed
in connection with the analysis of the data on each
subject. The returns for 1902 were much more nearly
complete, as all but two companies covered by the sta-
tistics furnished certified returns, and in most cases all
inquiries in the schedule were answered.

Comparative summary.—Table 1 contains a summary
of the more comparable statistics for all street railways
at the censuses of 1890,and 1902, together with the per-
centages of increase.

Taste 1.—Comparative summary: 1902 and 1890.

Percent-
1902 1890 age of
increase,
Number of ompantes, operating and
rpantes, operating er 26.4
Length of Tine, iniiesi 16,651.58 187.8
Length of track, miles? - 22) 576.99 177.9
Gost of construction and equipment. $2,167, 34.077 456.7
Number of employees . 98.9
‘Number of passenger ca 5 85.5
Number of Jare passenger 4yr4,art oes | 2,008,0101202 | 1800
Fare passengers per mile of traci 4019,217 249,017 | $14.8,
Ratio of operating expenses to oper
ating exmings for companies re-
porting, per cent . - 51.5 63.4 |.

By length of Ine," as used throughout this report, is meant length of frat
roadbed.

main. track of of By “length of track” js méant total length of al
trackage, including sidings. “‘Thus,in the case ofa double track road, “length of
track?” Would be double “Tength of line.”

T exclusive of trackage of two railways carrying freight only,

Decrease.

The 1902 figures include, for cost of construction and
equipment, 967 out of 987 operating and lessor compa-
nies, while of the 817 operating companies, 797 re-
ported the number of employees, 811 the number of
fare passengers, and 799 earnings and expenses. The
figures for 1890, except as to ratio of expenses to earn-
ings, cover all companies, though some of them are
based partly on estimates.

The contributions of the different sections of the
country to the development of the street railway in-
dustry are indicated in the following table:

Tanie 2.—COMPARATIVE SUMMARY, BY GEOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS: 1902 AND 1890.

LENGTH OF 1INE, MULES,
Length of q Number of| | Number of
DIVISION, Year. | “track, passenger | fore passengers } ‘Total cost, | Number of
les. Total. || Bleetric, | Animal. | Cable. | steam, || C8" carried,

‘United States...) 1902 22, 576,99 j| 16,661.58 || 16, 280,62 195,21 113. 93 111,82 60,290 | 24,774,211, 904 | } $2,107, 684,077 1140, 769
1890 8, 128,02 5,783.47 | ‘914. 25 4,061.94 288, 22 524.06 82, 505 2, 028, 010, 202 ‘889, 357, 289 70, 764
Increase .. 14, 453.97 ||" 10,808.31 ||"76,516.87 | *8, 800,78 | @109.90 | 2412.91 27,785 | 2,761,201, 702 | 1,778, 276,788 70,005
Perventage! 177.8 187.9 |} 1,670.3 795.2 | 250.8 | 278.7 85.5 186.0 456.7 $8.9
North Atlantic. 1902 10, 164,89 7,879, OL 66,02 5,50 51,69 81,819 2, 618, 528, 979 1, 088, 982, 287 75, 928
1890 2, 951.85 278,22, 1, 658, 61. 47,270 ‘84.94 1M, 651, 1, 141, 187, 460 199, 404, 200 87,412

‘Increase ... 7, 218,04 7,305.79 | 21,692.49 241,77 | 288.26 16, 668 1,477, 341, 519 1, 628,
Percentage of increase 2.4 2,674.0 296.0 | 2a84 | 280.2 118.8 mer 129.5 eer ih
South Atlantic. 1902 1,670.15 1,182. 04 18.25 |.. 4,290 297,198, 541. 162, 507, 589 9, 839
1890 611.96 83,68 807.49 1,702 ‘101, 647, 174 ie 125, 671 4,189
Increase ... 1, 058.19 1,098.46 2294,24 588 195, 551, 367 146, 381, 918 5,700
Percentage of increase 172.9 Ys14.8 295.7 thet 2.4 8 187.7
North Central. 7, 815.32 5,081.59 5, 524, 28. 60,91 18, 643 ‘1,844, 000, 951. 705, 558, 983 39, 405,
2, 758.07 1,867.93 884,56 1,229, 90 i B35 688, 309, 887 110,741, 609 20, 814

Incrensé ... 5,001.76 8,763. 66 5,180.72 | 21,178.99 1

Percentageofincrease 188.8 201.5) 13336.5 296.9 "ae ene SS 7
South Central. 1,007.10 959,45 17.75 90 29.00 8,007 210,103, 861. 87, 204, 862 6,731

‘1890 778,05 ‘81,63 5659. 83 |. +} 181.59 2, 842 98, 005, 026 24, 602, 183 3,

‘Tnerease ... 858.78 204.05 877.82 | 2540, +90 | 2102, 2, 5 62, 692, 724 %
Percentage of increase 86.5, 30.8, 1,076.4 : 8 - | 23 69 ae bei BL 7
Western... 1902 1,604.18 1,115, 88 985, 84 47,28 61.18 81.18 8,081 804/879, 572 128, 845, 456 8, 866
‘1800 830.97 612,62 01.26 806, 21 102.56 112. 69 2,475 148, 860, 655 38, 488, 671 6, 069
Tnerense .. 502.76 894.68 2268.98 | 961, 4! 281.46 556 160, 618, 917 ‘84, 861, 785 797
Perventageot increase 2.1 980, 2 fais | aon) aad 22,5 111.6 230.5 a)

Of ths, $87 companies, 967 reported the cost of construction and equipment; while of the 817 operating companies, 797 v7 reported the number of employees and

$11 the number of fare passengers
4 Decrease.

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