New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-12

| railroad would require 1000 DAYS work for exca-
waiting the cuts and making the banks for the fills
that is for the earth-work, as 1t called not count
| ing rock-work, masonry, piling, tresfle-work and
bridge-building. These, with tho engineering and
ties, would require as many more days work to the
mile, so that not less than 5000 days work would
be required on an average to each mile Of railroad
to prepare it for laying the track aud this would
not include the labor necessary for furnishing the
rolling stock aud equipment and for operating the
At 5000 days work to the mile, the building Of
railroads in the United States for the three years
succeeding 1873 required 76,O6S,OOO days work
| less than for the three preceding years, which
| would be an annual decrease OF 25,356,OOO
days work. In the labor required for the produe-
ton of iron and anthracite coal, there was like
decrease. In 1873 the production of rolled iron
alone Thy the returns OF the Steel and Iron Assocla-
toni was 1885, 40 tons. and IN 1874 10 was ,S39-
$50 tons, beng 126,SS5 tons less in 1874 than in
| 1873.
days work to produce ton of iron, including the
mining and smelling of the Calling ii five days
TO the ton it required G34, 425 days work less in
1874 than 1878 for the production Of rolled iron
In the production of anthracite coal il is esti-
mated that from three to five DAYS work are neces
sary to produce ton of coal and distribute to the
consumer; call the average four days work TO the
ton. The production OF anthracite coal in 1873 was
2I,6S0,959 tons and in 1874 it was Is, sos, $3.50
tons; being 1854, $50 tons less IN 1874 than IN
1873 which would require 7,530,54O days work
less than III 1873
In railroad building to prepare the roads for lay
ing the track IN the production Of rolled iron and an
thTacite coal il required these three branches of in
dustry alone $50 900 days work less in 1874 than
IN 1873. And this does not inc Jude the labor neces,
saTy for furnishing lumber food and clothing and all
necessary supplies for the labOTeTs who might per-
form this specified work. The stOppage in railroad
building-Or the comparative stoppage-ln 1S74-,75,
in addition TO leaving unemployed the labor that
had beerengaged in the preceding years, put stop
for tho time being to the great demand for iron, and
with 1t the great demand for coal. Hence came the
necessity for the reduction in the force, well as
price of labor all three OF these great branches OF
industry extending their influence over every
CAUSE OF THE DECLINE IN RAILROAD BUILDING.
But why should railroad building have stopped
at that time Certainly not because OF any scarcity
of money for at that very time and ever since
there was and has been more idle money to BIO
loaned at less rate Of interest than ever before.
Ii stopped from sheer exhaustion in that line OF
investment hasteDed somewhat, perhaps, by spirit
Of unfriendly legislation which spread over the
Ounry tending in the estimation of capital, to emp
pie aud greatly embarrass, if not to make worthless
For four yoars-ISG5 Cclose Of the war; to s0s in
clusive-there were built S,3f7 miles Of railroad
which included nearly all of the Pacific roads and
their branches. The next four yeaTs-lS60 to 1872
inclusye-24 Ol3 miles were built In 1873 there
were 7O,31O miles OF railroad IN the United states,
which had cost almost $5,0OO,OOOOOO, more than
half of which returns nothing 10 tue investors. Our
railroad system had then been extended Till there
was, on an average, one mile of railroad to every
575 persons OF the population. All experience IN
railroading, wherever tho experiment has been
tried proves that for railroad Ia pay hing there
must be, on average 10 the mile, not fewer than
In England the average per mile .9lO; in France,
2,04U; and yet few OF their railroads paw anything.
In every branch of mechanical aud manufacture
ing industry, production no TO 1873 had been stn-
uatcd beyond the capacity of the people 10 consume.
War consumption aud war destruction gave the first
impulse To enlarged production, increasing the de
mand and enhancing the price. An expanded cur
Tency of rredeemable paper lnade necessary by the
war stimulated q spirit Of wild adventure and an
unparalleled extravaganza in the mode OF living In
addition, an Unprecedented creation OF indebtedness
crippled all public and private enterprises
Tie municipal indebtedness of the country In
1879 was over a thousand millions of dollars more
than half Of which was contracted between 1866
aud S74. Oar large Indebtedness was greatly in
creased by the negotiations of foreign merchandise
from 1870 20 1873.
Ino importation Of foreign merchandise in 1870
foreign valuation gold 1916, 0jS, los. or at
the rate OF Gll 30 per capita of tine population In
1872 the imports were T626505,O77. and IN
1873 they wero 1912. 1920, or at the rate
OF SlG % per capita. being % per cent greater tnan
the average Tor twelve years Immediately pre-
ccding 1870. The amount per capita OF foreign I'M
p0rtatVns FOR twenty years preceding 1870 never
exceeded $40 per year.
The importation OF foreign merchandise lcoin val
uatoul for four years, 1871 10 1874 inclusive was
92,3JG,3Ol, 3l3, an amount exceeding tho present
National debt, aud 1880 S17,3O3 more than the en-
tire imports for eight years from 1903 10 1853.
The eXirayaganCe la fore GA impOrlatiOn-, which
eliminated IN 1873, is illustrated partially by
comparison Of the following articles;