The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-07-13
RAILROADS.

THE editorial review OF Poors railroad man.
nal, soon TO be issued, of railroad operations In
the United States for 1881 contains some inter
esting statistics, from which the following is
taken:
The year 1851 has been one of extraordinary
activity in railroad affairs Within the year o.
3jS miles of railroad have been built the great
est number for any one year. TAe greatest
1871.
Tho cost Mt $4,000 per mile, Of the lines con.
strneted during tho year was S2SS, $4,000 In
addition Mt least s75,, ,OC0 were expended on
lines In progress, and $780, 900 coo, which is at
the rate OF only 81, coo per mile on old roads
improving their tracks, In building new stations
and in adding to their equipments, The total
amount expended In construction during the
past year was, IN round numoerS, o. 100000.
| II now seems probable that the mileage to DO
open in 1852 will equal that Of lSSl. Up 70 tho LIST
of June, 1882 S6l7 miles of line were opened
against l,7Sl for the same period In 1851 Tho
same rate OF increase will not be maintained for
! the remainder of tho year hut the aggregate for
II OF new mileage Is not likely to DO much short
| Of l0,000 miles.
The earnings Of all he roads In operation in
the country the past year equNed S725, 1926 ll9,
being az increase over the previous year of SllO
VOlOJO, Vie rate of increase being nearly l6 per
cent The earnings equaled sl3 60 per head Of
Our population. Their net earnings were 1916
66bll9, an increase of..S2l 100000 over those of
| 1850, Their current expenses wero Silg $50, GGl
The amount of interest paid duriug the year on
their funded debts was Sl2SSS1002; the amount
paid on dividends was sgS,SA, 200 against s77,-
| liz, al for 1850.
The cost of operating the railroads for the year
was fii9,CG5,U7l, or 81 per cent OF their gross
earnings, The total amount expended In their
construction Of new lines and In operating and
Improving the old ones was over $3.50 600 0)J-
the sreater part Of this vast sum being paid In
wages, The number OF persons employed in
operating them the past year average fully IL To
the mile of operated line, or 100000 In all The
number employed in the construction of our
railroads equaled 0000 increasing the total
number OF employees to LOO 600, or about one.
thirty.seeond part of our population, estimated
at 80 20l,O00,
The tonnage trantportodo all the railroads In
tho country in 1851 cannot have been less than
$500 tons to the mile, or 5000 00O tons In tho
whole, Tho exact amount can not be given,
from the want OF returns from large number
of companies Tho tonnage transported by the
railroads making return TO the legislature OF
Pennsylvania In ISL and having
a, mileage OF 1921 miles olunled
nearly 1oi0 tons to tue mile, the average for the
whole country may be estimated at one-half the
average for that state. The number OF tons
Transported the past year by the Boston & AL.
bnny, Sn mi es way 3,593,g?3 tons; by the New
YORK Central Hudson River 9g3 miles. ll,59l..
$40 tons; by the New York. Lake Erie & Western,
gss miles, II ,OSe s23 tons; by the Pennsylvania
l,lSmtles lS22g, S65 tons; by the Philadelphia &
Reading, so miles l0,sil,sO tons by the Lake
Shore Michigan southern, i,177 miles, g,1lL sos
tons; by the Chicago, Burlington d Quincy, 2.7Tl
miles, 6,1lO,75O tons and by the Chicago &
Northwestern, 26li miless, 6,66e III tons. The
total mileage If the above roads was 10, o..
miles The total tonnage was $3.50, Ga tons, the
average being about 5000 tons to the mile Atan
assumed value OF $50 per toutho value OF The ton.
mage moved on all the railroads OF the United
states the past year less onetnird for dupllca.
ton, was, say Sl2 1000 0eO. 900 or more than .0C
per head OF Our whole population.
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