Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1857-02-14
Aggregate Financial and Business Re.
suits Of Railroads In the U, States,
From the Railroad Record.

We have before Us the only document we
have seen ailording reliable basis for an
estimate OF the aggregate results of rail-
roads. While we believe there are some
serious errors in it, yet Il may be taken as
a basis upon which to frame our estimates
! of those results This is the Treasury Re-
port on the Finances for 1855 e. The Sec
rotary makes his estimate on the 1st Of jan
uary, sac. By adding to his elements q
proportion equal to the addition of running
/ lines in 1856, We shall have the results for
January i, 1857. We know not how the
Secretary procured his materials but they
have evidently been prepared with some
care, and valuable inferences may be drawn
from them.
The following table presents all material
points in geeeral aggregate;
Whole LunbsF Of p4iIas complete, 24,134
/" unfinished, 1854
Capital stock PAID IN. $3.50, zoe. GEO
Bonds Issued, o6g, G1e SEQ
Floating debt, $4,000, eco
Cost whaa comPletai, 1000, 800, 000
Unex pended coz:, lS5, eco, zee
Actual cost, sos ,GG0, eco
Receipts, 10000. a00
/ Expenses, $4,000, coo
Net profits. 80, o00, eco
Whole number Of passengers, II, COO, 600
Tons of freight carried, 24.00o $50
From this statement We make the follow
ing infcrences
/. The increase of miles of running road
in 1856 was about - per cent, and AT this
rate it will require but three gears more to
complete all the unfinished roads III tbs
country.
2. The acreage Of actual cost Of Ameri-
can railroads is S37 900 per mile All If
this, however, over S25, 600 PEI mile, has
been caused by a few long lines. whose ter
mini are in cities. Some Of these have cost
$50, Goo and $40 coo per mile.
8. The debt does NOT Rear 50 large pro-
portion to The cost as some suppose, being
but about is per cent.
4. The gross receipts arc Il per cent. on
tho gross cost, and the net profits are 81
per cent, Certainly this is more favora-
bic result than could have been expected =
One third of all the running railroads are
not more than half equipped. One fourth
of these are not really finished and scarcely
any of them have a double rack #. n
this state of things, the railroads q lis
country are able to pay s. per cent. a1d
il, as We see, the gross proceeds Of the goa i,
are increasing from year 70 yea. with great
rapidity, what may we not expect from thcul
when completed, fully equipped, aud enga-
ged in the vastly extende5 commerce Of our
fast growing internal States?
5. The number Of passengers average n
bout 5000 per mile On many of the roads
the number far exceeds this proportion,
though ON others it falls short.
The number Of asiles traverscd bv each
passenger orerages about 20. At 3 cents
per mile, each passenger pays about 50 cts. =
and the passengers average 81 500 for each
mile of railroad. We come now to a very
important question-how much of the rail
road debt of the Z. States is he'll by for
eigncrs? We imagine there are some great
errors of opinion on this subject The debt
OF the railroads do not form so large pro-
portion to the whole as many persons sup
pose, and the proportion held abroad is not
50 large as is commonly thought. The Sc-
cretary of the Treasury makes the following
estimates
Whole debt of the U. States,
Government, States, Cities, Counties and
Corporations, $l,407 ,51s. 1874
Held by foreigners. 3G2 500 900
Whole railroad debt, 3S5. coo eco
Stocks and bonds held by for
eigners, $4,000 600
From this it appears that only one ftM
part of the railroad debts is owned in Eu-
rope, and only one sefenM of the eutire
debts of the country. This is much less
than is generally supposed. No fact can,
prove more evident than this, the immense
increasing wealth Of this country. 1t seems
that the entire public dobt {of all doscrip-
tions) in this country is fourteen hundred
millions of dollars; and of this vast sum
trelre hundred millions are held 5y citizens
ofhis country!
While many of our companies have gone
to Europe for money, it is quite evident that
the value of American Stocks does not de-
pend on the European market. These stocks
are mostly distributed among our own peo-
pie. The losses which have occurred by
the depreciation of bonds aud stocks are
losses which have been distributed among
millions of people at home When we cou-
slider how few and small have been the COM
mercial failures in this country we are as
tonished 1t proves the existence of great
real wealth, and Of immense recuperative
.eommcrcisl energies