The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-17

Net earnings .......-.............S 356, 227. SS3
Other income. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 10l,26, 1888
Total revenue ....................s ,457, 5O4 $50
OF this sum there was distributed for in
terest on bonds 1926, $3.50 Alb, for other in
terests s., 800 1897. for dividends $50, 719, 757,
( or rentals $64, 1855, 1872 and for miscellaneous
accounts $S1 ,01S, 045, leaving a balance of
$40, $50, 722 unexpended. The proportion OF
operating expenses to earnings was 6S, SO
per cent. The average rate Of interest on
the bonded debt was AS per cent, and the
average rate of dividends was .85 per cent
Out of the 214, 52S miles of track including
sidings, there are ,75S miles Of iron rails
There are SO, 563 locomotives in the country,
23,OS3 passenger cars and !, lis, 2S6 freight
oars. The length of railroad in the United
States is as great as that of Europe, Asia
and Africa combined, in fact, the whole
outside world except the rest Of America
and Australia.
In q predatory note the publishers say:
In 1867, when the compilation OF the first
number was undertaken, the length of all
railroads in the country was 80, $50 miles,
The statistics herewith presented show a
a total mileage, Jan. / 1892, Of l7O,61l
miles, the increase in the quarter century
being l3l ,35l miles, or 435 per cent. In the
past twenty-five years the mileage of rail-
roads in New England, where the develop
meus has been without speculative feature
has increased from 8. 93S miles to $500. In
the six states comprising the middle group
the increase has been from 8, 100 miles to
20, 42S miles; and in the south, from 9,940
miles TO 30, 10 miles.
Throughout the western states, from the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers on the east to
the Rocky mountains on the west, COM
prising vast empire 1,626, 800 square miles
in extent, where the progress Of the nation
has been most rapid and its increase In
wealth most marked, the railway has been
the great instrument In opening up new
territory to settlement and furnishing the
means OF transportation, without which
these lands would be still undeveloped and
unproductfYe. In 1857 there were only
1877 miles OF railroad in these states,
against 100, 500 miles In 1891. OF this mile
age only small portion in 1867 was west of
the Mississippi, where there ore now SO, 900
miles Of line. Ia 1857 the mileage in the
states on the Pacific coast was 431; in 1891,
12, 6l3 miles
The rate Of increase 10 the mileage of orr
railroads 10 the period named, vast as it has
been, has been greatly eclpsed by their
operations of all kinds. In 1866, from care
fully prepared data, the tonnage Of our
railroads did not exceed A, S72 500 tons, the
mileage for that year being SO, S01 miles. In
1891 their tonnage equaled 704. 1893 ,G09 tons
for ITO Sol miles of lice. At $40 the ton the
value Of the merchandise moved in 1866
equaled 1857. 45O, 020; of that moved In 1891,
Sl4, 0S7 ,972, 100. These statements sufficiently
show the magnitude and rapidity of in
crease OF the mileage and traffic of our rail-
roads, and the importance as well es The
great labor Of recording such increase, and
Of presenting results in a manner to be
available at glance TO every man OF affairs
as well as TO all interested in the progress of
a nation,