The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-02-19
Punch. brothers, punch with care,
Pumch IN The presence VI The nAssenl alre u


less they are not few. Thus it happens
that IN this luminous Centennial era we
are promised the conjunction of a brilliant
drama and matchess histrionc talents.
The Merits of American Railways.
As regards the number OF rails LAID and
the amount Of capital invested. our rail-
way system has for some time been con-
| coded 10 be the most important ON the
globe. Not that any American company,
| whether the Union Pacific or the Pennsyl-
| wanna Central can vie in extent Of track
with "a colossal French corporation known
rs the Paris yous-Mcdiicrranean But il
j. fac that in the short interval between
$50 and lSi3, greater length of road was
built within our territory than Great Brit
ain had compasscd in forty years. With the
close, moreover, of 1874. the United states
were able to exhibit scvonty-thrce thou
sand miles of railway, rs against about
ninety thousand apportoned between all
the other countries of the world.
These figures are in themselves SO start
ling that the mind instinclivcly seeks To
| qualify and eXtenuate their significance.
| Thus notion is current I'm Europe, and
seldom repealed with any vehement pro-
tests on the part OF Americans. that the
| unparalleled expansion of our railways
has been gained at the expense OF solidity
and security; that American lines are the
merest skeletons, their equipments. ac-
| commodations, and whole economy being
deplorably meagre and inadequate. This
is an assumption, however, easily exploded
by the most summary reference to some
features of our system, TO whose merit
| foreign engineers bear testimony by quiet
| ly adopting them for their own roads.
Nothing pertaining TO this branch of en-
gineering has exacted more attention than
the shape of the rail and the construction
Of the locomotive. For well nigh half q
century English experts have debated the
relative value of the Brunei and Barlow
rails respectively modelled on an inverted
L aud V, while in the United states we
had early hit upon and uniformly en-
ploycd pattern vastly superior to either,
which already has been borrowed by Ger
many, and is plainly destined to superscde
all others ms well in England ms on the con-
| tinent. Again, what constitutes the most
effective mode of volutation is rather n
complicated problem which French and
English railways have solved by the
| Champion engine Of six wheels, acknowl-
edged TO be less serviccable than our eight
wheeled locomotive for those curves OF
short radius sometimes resorted to in
traversing large cities, and which in
mountainous districts are inevitable.
We should bear in mind that until the
introduction OF sleeping and drawing
| room coaches, American lines never pre-
tended TO offer iiIst-clnss carriage. New
ertheless our ordinary cars. toleraby VEN
tllated, allowing freedom of motion, and
connected by continuous cord with the
engineer, exhibit some decisive advantages
over the air-tight. isolated boxes. unpro-
vded with means of cgress or alarm, to
which many foreign roads cousign their
passengers. And even our method of
warming cars by stoves, doubtless open to
objections, is still preferable to the total
absence Of heating apparatus complained
OF on most European railways, or TO such
clumsy makcshifts az the portable tank
and water bottle which the traveller is ex-
| pected 10 secure al his own cost.
Turning TO II capital point of administra-
ton, we find the receipt and delivery of
luggage marked with degree Of prompt
ness aud precision that we like to think
| are distinctivcly American. Our baggage
masters nre accustomed TO gauge by the
eye whether n trunk falls within the regu-
lation weight, whereas the eXasperntng
formalities of the French system require
every box or parcel destined for the van 10
wait its turn at the scales. Noitherare our
| people exposed to the insulIerabe red
tapism and delay incident to the recovery
Of property at the place of arrival or in
suited by that farcicul contempt for the
value of time characteristic of French
| functiOnaIics.
Finally, comparison Of statistics demon
stIates that casualties are not Il whit more
frequent on American than ON European
railways. IL is true that the average cost
of our lines is considerably less, and their
initial structure at all events less substan-
tial. and that Notwithstanding some short
comings IN the road bed, certain trains,
for instance the New York and Chicago
special, are allowed to attain rate of
speed nearly equal to that Of the Liverpool
and London mail The fact however re-
mains that during the official year 1s72-73,
on the Erie, which is popularity supposed
10 be one of our most dangerous lines, but
n single person was killed and but seven
injured out of some four millions of pas
sengers. In the same period the Atlantic
and Great Western transported about a
million travellers, OF whom two only were
Killed. one by his own imprudence, and