The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-11-04
COMPARISON OF WAGES.

France -..---.-.. .---.-..- Z5SSo9 ZlZSt
AustT1a-Hungaria. l29, i64 22 3.
Russia -.-..-..--.-. -u3-@Sl y oi
The average wages paid to the same
classes of labor in the United States
being about s479 16 per annum, it fol
lows that American railway labor costs
more than double that of Continental
Europe.
The natural inference would seem
to be, that as result of requiring to
pay so much more for labor, American
railways would also require to impose
much higher rates for transport This,
however, is very far from being the
case The average rate charged in 1850
for the transport of merchandise of all
descriptions carried on the railways of
the United States was only Ol.2s per ton
per mile. This figure is believed to be
about one-half of the average rate
charged on the railways of the United
Kingdom And yet, as we have else
where shown, the railways of the
United States are able, in general. to pay
as good dividends as those of the United
Kingdom, even with a much smaller
average volume of traffic per mile of
line open. With such facts as these
staring them in the face. English rail-
way directors can scarcely fail to admit
that, so far as economy of working is
concerned-disregar for the present
the almost equally important question
of efficiency of service-the railways of
the United States are in the front rank
That the United States are great
nation is a fact of which Europe is fire.
quently, and perhaps rather too obtru-
sively, reminded. 1t is nation great
in area, great in population, great in re-
sources, great in variety OF climate,
great in natural waterways, in agri-
culture and manufactures, in pros
perity and accumulated wealth, and
in a hundred other directions scarce
ly less important. But what we
have now specially to deal with
is the greatness of the United States
in reference to railway development
Within the limits of the United States
territory, within that compact, homo
geneous, closely knit and widely rami-
fed nation, there has been laid down
something approaching one-third of all
the railways constructed throughout
the world. 1t is not alone in regard to
the extent of their system, enormous
though that be, that the people of the
United States occupy an unique and
pre-eminent position. They are equally
sui generis in reference to the high per-
fection, in an economic point of view,
to which they have succeeded in bring
ing their railway practice. The coun-
try does not naturally offer any excep-
tional advantages or facilities for the
attainment of this end Labor is
exceptionally dear, rs well as the
materials that generally enter into
railway construction on a larger
scale. The railway system of
the United States has advanced by leaps
and bounds until, within an interval of
less than single decade, it has enabled
the enormous agricultural and manu-
featuring interests of the country to
command the cheapest freights of any
nation in eithe- the new world or the
old.
From a variety OF causes the rail-
roads of the United States have within
the last twelve or fifteen years accom-
plished one of the most remarkable
economic revolutions of either ancient
or modern times. The average rate at
which the goods traffic of the country
is carried has been reduced by some
thins like one-half, and in some ex-
ceptiOnal cases by much more than that.
''In the preceding chapter (page 365)
we have shown that on the New York
Central & Hudson River line between
1865 and 1883 the average gross earn
ings received from all descriptions of
traffic fell from OS. A to 90 90 cents; the
average expenses from So to 0O.6S
cents and the average net earnings
from OO.93 to OO.22 cents per ton per
mile. The New York Central line had,
therefore, in 1855 reduced its average
profit for moving ton of freight one
mile to a fraction over n fifth of cpe
cent In other words, one ton was