The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-08-21
A Pause in Railroad Building.


tFrom the Phil'a LcdRerl
The Rail,Ddy Monitor quotes II as the
Opiniop Of ''s0mO OF the less sanguine Of
our railroad men that the ENTHUSIASM OF
railroad construction will very soon
abate," as "the growth Of the country
aud the earnings Of the existing compa-
nies are not enough to justify the building
Of new railroads, except TO very modeF-
ate degree" Railway building In Amer
lea run 10 tho extreme It did for two
reasOus-tlrst, because the country was
prosperous and had the money to spare;
and, second, because the leading railway
interests had become consolidated and
powerful to an unprecedented degree and
inspired tho people with confidence In
such investments The completion Of the
Pacific Railroad Is supposed TO have given
q great impetus TO railway construction,
and probably did from the magnitude Of
the enterprise. No doubt the Influence Of
tue line will be powerful when 1t shall be
felt, but that time has not yet come. The
managers no doubt committed an error In
connecting at the east with but single
poInt,instead OF making their road the
focus Of radiating lines from all points
Thousands OF miles Of railroads have been
built OF lato years ,tnat will require con-
slant Improvement, siding,S standing
tracks, iron bridges, ETC., and II the in
crease Is not pushed again rapidly this
can DO donO on toleTable reasonable
tGrms.. The Abatement then, oil tho rail-
road leVeriWAl mob DO q decline Of interest
Il the system, but rather q pause for reCu.
pUration. All existing lines require 10
have permanent interests otsom6 kind Gre
ated along their routes, 10 order to enable
them to do a profitable business, and II
the surplus capital in the market be allow.
cd TO find its way into banking, mining
and manufactures 1t will be better for the
country than merely TO multiply compel
ing lines. BY way Of encouragement It
is shown that our single roads pay bet
ter percentage OF net profits than the Eng.
lIsh double track roads. II Is worthy Of
note, also, that tho good show Of our llnes
Is obtained by taking only 57,S2S miles Of
fully equipped lines, and emitting 1000
miles, companies owning which are
either too young 10 have issued yearly
report or their statistics for other reasons
have failed to be published" That the
progress Of the system has been ex'
CepIlonal Is shown by the fact that
Of 79,6SS miles set down in the
Railway Monitor as built 10 July /,
1878, no less than S0G49 miles, or very
nearly One.hall, were In tho Western
States, q region comprising not even one
third Of the settled area Of the Republic.
New England Is set down for only 6,74l;
Middle States, l4090; Southern States,
1871; Pacific States, 367S Its, there
fore, apparent that the movement has not
been general or well distributed, but has
been distorted Tor the benefit Of a single
section, and that tho very one where all
the hubbub has been raised by the farm.
ers. 1t Is scarcely q matter Of surprise
that the West has grown so eXlraordina-
rily while the most OF the expenditures
for new railroads have bVen In that quar-
Ter. In 1865 the mileage Of railroads at
the West was 12,S47, little more than
one.third OF what 1t Is az present. The
Middle States and New England have
furnished most Of the capital TO build all
these railroads, yet these two wealthy and
densely populated districts had together
1888 miles Of railroad In 1906, and they
have now but 20077, although no one can
doubt that If railways pay at the West
they would pay much better in the POM.
lous East Even the Southern State an.
pear to have done better. In 1885 thew
had 0,6S2 miles, and in 1873 their total
was 1891.