Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-04-25
Curiosities of the Railway Census.
According to the census railway re-

According to the census railway re-
turns for 1880, there were l,l65 COM
panies, having in round numbers, ST.
900 miles of railways in operation in
this country-an aggregate almost
equal to track extending four times
round the world.
The cost of this gigantic system was
nearly five thousand six hundred and
sixty millions of dollars, of which about
two-ffths las been paid for and the
companies are in debt for the balance.
In the good time coming, when this
enormous debt of over three thousand
millions of dollars is paid of, and the
interest thereon ceases, it is probable
that railway speeds will be improved,
travelling rendered safer, and the charg-
es for freight and passage reduced.
The mortality upon our railways is
frightful to contemplate. According to
the census returns, the killed and
MANNED for the single year of 1880
formed an aggregate of S,2l5 persons.
If the companies were compelled by
law to pay an average of say FIVE
thousand dollars for every person kill
ed or injured, only short time would
elapse, probably, before this dreadful
account would be reduced almost to
nothing. There are very few railway
accidents that might not be prevented
if real care were exercised and the best
safeguards adopted. The passage of q
law subjecting every company to the
payment of a substantial fine for every
accident that takes place upon its prop
erty would doubtless stimulate the
managers to give more attention to the
safety of life and limb than they do at
present.
The demand upon our inventors for
the discovery OF new and better means
for saving life and preventing accidents
upon railways increases every year, in
a ratio even greater than the augmen-
tation of tracks. because the population
is more rapidly increasing, and the
present railways are not employed at
anything like their full capacity.
The freight carried in 1880 was two
hundred and ninety-one millions of tons,
for which the railways charged $l.29
per ton per mile, and made profit of
So cents per ton per mile.
The number of passengers carried
was two hundred and seventy millions
for which they each paid an average of
233 cents per mile, and the companies
made profit of 0G2 cents per mile.
If the passengers are counted by
weight, allowing Ia passengers to the
ton, then the receipts of the companies
for their two-legged freight was $32.62
per ton per mile and their profit was
$7.68 per ton per mile. This large
profit, when set opposite to the small
amount So cents profit per ton realized
from dead freight, seems to indicate
that great field is open to the genius
of railway managers in devising ways
and means to encourage the people to
travel.
The haulage of our railways now
employs over seventeen thousand loco
motives, and the aggregate cost to run,
them such as fuel, water, oil, repairs,
and engineers, is about ninety millions
of dollars, or not far from FIVE thousand
dollars year for each machine. The
item of fuel alone is thirty-three mil
lions of dollars. The larger portion OF
the fuel is wasted; much of it is blown
out of the smoke stack unconsumed in
the form of smoke and dust. There is
grand chance for inven tors to i'm
prove the locomotive by discovering
means to lessen its wastes and expen-
ses. The same remarks apply to the
other branches of the railway rolling
stock, consisting of oyer twelve thou
sand passenger cars and about four
hundred thousand freight cars. In
the year 1880 it cost the railway CON-
panies fifty-fve millions of dollars for
repairs for rolling stock. Is it not pos
sible for inventive genius to study out
some new mode of construction that
shall reduce this enormous loss